Niche Marketing Plans
Marketing a Catholic School
Small and medium size catholic schools can compete and even outperform larger competitors. All it takes is the right marketing plan.
A single characteristic divides today's best catholic schools from companies at the bottom of the food chain.
When done effectively, marketing is a coordinated and comprehensive strategy that raises the visibility of your catholic school and drives the customer acquisition process.
Building A Community Around Your Brand
Social media is an up and coming marketing channel, primarily because it coalesces a community around brands. Although they invest heavily in other marketing channels, most catholic schools are struggling to find ways to communicate directly with customers - and for businesses, that's the whole point of maintaining an active presence in social media. Direct mail campaigns featuring mailing lists from a reliable list partner can jumpstart a social media drive by expanding your customer base and alerting them to your social media presence.
Give Word of Mouth Marketing a Try
Industry-leading catholic schools rely on a certain amount of word of mouth marketing buzz to communicate brand values and product messaging.
Word-of-mouth is unpredictable, but it's not completely out of your control. A skilled marketer can use online and offline marketing tactics to boost consumer discussions about your offerings. Mind you, there's a difference between word of mouth marketing and viral marketing -- if word of mouth marketing is a new concept for you, you might want to hire a marketing consultant.
Generating Buzz
Never underestimate the value of good buzz with consumers. There are multiple ways owners can tout the benefits of their product offerings, but the most effective promotions are personal recommendations or word of mouth advertising. For a catholic school, buzz is a critical consideration in the marketing mix. The process begins with developing communication vehicles and mechanisms that invite discussion. As you begin to promote brand discussions, you will need to also develop systems for monitoring the things that are being said about your company and using positive mentions to your advantage.
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