I work for a small fairly new school on a very small island, which may be good in getting the word out for the options in post secondary education is very limited. However we have relationship with all the high schools to paticipate in career days, exiting exercises, and any opportunity to reach their seniors. When we go into these events we cirulate a mailing list and get all the seniors contacts, we have started building an electronic data base for this category. We send out message through email and text message, text messages cost adds up after awhile, but its effective especially during registration time.
Other means we have utilized is presenting on our offerings to the Rotary Club, Hotel and Resort Association (we have atleast one member of our team as a member of each body).
Further we put up posters in strategic places like fast food restaurants, and convenient stores.
We give a press release on all new partnerships, and invite both local tv stations to come in and get the story. We also on ocassion show case student accomplishments as they progress in the corporate world and academically.
Referral from our students are good likewise, and we are utlizing our website trying to better develop our FAQ's.
One of our big challenge is follow-up, for we have a skeleton staff and we all are stretched in several directions. We need a system to better be able to measure the fruits of the relationships we have already.
I'm looking forward to implementing what I can from this course.
Currently our school is only using newspapers as our means of publicity. (besides word of mouth)
But we are in the works of creating our website and venturing off to publications to spread information on our school.
We are also having pens made with the school information.
I believe that in order to improve our results we definitely need to advertise more in high schools and more new letters/publications/flyers. I don't think that there ever is too much advertising.
Hi Miriam, When setting up a school or any business it is critical to put a business and marketing plan in place and a budget. You'll need the financials for the application and you'll certainly need a budget to run your school. Typically schools take a year or so to be profitable. No doubt you will have a lot of competition so it is important to develop ways to reach qualified students and do it with a modest and effective marketing budget and plan. Public relations is relatively inexpensive. YOu have to be smart and benefit from all opportunities. So this is the perfect time to consider how you will market your school. Good luck, Susan
We are in the beginning stages of our application for licensure. We have not started publicizing.
HI Shan
Good idea. Happy grads are a great source of leads. If you have a graduation invite all the friends and relatives of the graduate. You'll have more people seeing first hand what you offer. If not Petsmart, then maybe other pet stores - large and small. Thanks, Susan
Hi Susan,
I will tap into my students for feedback. PetSmart has their own training program, although
not the best. I have had several students come to
my school after having attending theirs.
Hi Shan
It's about patience, persistence, evaluation, change, creativity. Ask your students and grads where there are more students. You'll be amazed by their ideas. Also have your working grads talk about what they are doing. Their enthusiasm will provide a lot of motivation to enroll. You might also ask your local petsmart type stores if you can give free presentations about dog grooming and other interesting topics to pet owners. Thanks, Susan
Thanks Susan,
I already leave baskets with my cards and dog bones attached at the Vets Offices, but I will try an advertisement for the school as well.
I do have a few dog parks in the area that might work well.
Shan
Hi Shan
Seems like you are doing a lot of great community outreach. A question might be - can you participate in the same events and do things differently to get results? Can you participate in other events and get more results? People don't realize the $$ oppportunities as a pet groomer. And that it is possible to have ones own business very easily and with not a lot of capital investment. Perhaps at career fairs you can focus on the job and income potential as a pet groomer. Have some happy grads help you out. Great that you are making your website work for you. That and referrals are the best source for qualified leads. Networking events are great. Can you do something fun at these events to get attention and again to demonstrate the earning power as a pet groomer? Since animal oriented events bring in business (but not enough) how can you do something differently or team up with more like minded groups? What about doing something at a dog park? Also how about working with all vet offices in the area to promote your school. It's about figuring out what the right events are and then persisting. By the way, you might want to work on putting together a report about job placement. Make it very detailed and then go to your local WIA (Workforce) offices and make a case for them to provide tuition vouchers. Good luck, Susan
This past year I have tried several advertising
methods. Career Fairs (2) did bring some interest
however, most of the participants were looking for jobs or financial aid for schooling. Financial Aid for my school isn't possible because the course is only 288hrs/9wks and my
tuition isn't enough.
I have my website on the first page of Google,
which I believe has been the best at bringing
inquireies about the school and new clients for
dog grooming.
I joined the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce and
have attended several networking events.
I go to a monthly networking event sponsored by
a local newspaper and I have advertised in it as well.
I have participated in Humane Society Events, such as Bark in the Park, Bark in the Ball Park,
and stride for strays (Animal Coalition of Tampa). All have brought business but not enough.
I also met and left business cards w coupons for $5.00 off the first groom at local Vets Offices, which works well to bring in new grooming business.
I want to get more students. That is my goal and my biggest problem. What suggestions other than what I have been doing do you suggest?
I read about the Newsletter idea, but I'm not sure about that.
That's true Luis. Free listings and publicity are not the only ways to bring in leads. But it does put your school name in print in a variety of different ways. And often at little cost. The more times people see the name, and in as many places as possible, then the more likely your offerings will become familiar and people will think of your school when they needs training. A goal of a good marketing plan is to put the name out there in as many ways as possible. It helps give more weight to paid ads. Also what is important is to measure measure measure to see how each marketing and advertising strategy is working. It's interesting that an ad one month might work and the next month not. So evaluating results and making changes is important. Thanks, Susan
Nothing diferent. I only disagree with one answer in the final test. It is the one related to pay radio or TV. As you said before in the chapter, they are complement, but we can not relay on get free advertising and have the same results without it. A great plan includes all marketing tool, but public service announcement itself will not bring the same amount of leads.
Hi Amy, Great that you are using outside specialists for marketing. How are they doing for you? There are some very effective companies who handle advertising. Perhaps you can work with them on the public relations projects. These are all the ways to build a brand and get the name of your school out into the community without having to pay a lot - or anything. This includes articles you get in local news media, listings, write ups about your grads, participation in events, and more. Thanks, Susan
We use an outside contract for our marketing. We use Tv advertising, billboard advertising, we have a website, we advertise on the radio on several radio stations locally.
That's a good thing to watch, Karin. City codes. You might have to be creative in getting some kind of signage visible to the public. Perhaps a school sign is allowed with the types of courses or some other information about what the school offers. Thanks for the reminder, Susan
Our city does not allow us to put up advertising signs. They are very strict about that.
HI Karin, Sounds like you have a lot of low cost publicity opportunities. If you are on a main road have you thought about signs and banners? You can put up signs to announce class start dates, new programs, open houses, and more. You might be able to have people stand at the roadside with signs. It may sound silly, but done effectively with a professional sign, it does get results. It tells people that a school is located there. Be sure your staff is very welcoming. Thanks, Susan
I am with you on that. We are also a very small school and have tried a lot of different ways of advertising - many magazines, Tv, newspaper, even street bench advertising. We are located at a main road, which is prime location for every business due to heavy traffic. But lately people rarely stop and inquire about courses. Our best advertising is our website and word of mouth of our former and repeat students.
Hi Jeff, Yes, you have identified some challenges. We also agree that an inside PR person makes more sense and behaps with a bit of outside consulting depending on what kind of projecta you are launching. Perhaps someone in student services can also be given the PR responsibilities and then they be given some help. It is certainly less expensive than hiring an outside firm. And changes and initiatives can be put in place quickly. Thanks, Susan
We currently have a discreet outside source handling our PR although I wouldn't consider them a PR professional. I would prefer to have someone internally who really knows about our school handling public relations, I suspect that this individual would know more about our schools market and what our school has to offer. The problem here is that someone in house just doesn't have the time, ultimately it would be more beneficial to spend some extra money and hire a proper Public Relations professional.
