Why your next strategic plan should look more like your school—and less like a corporate brochure.

Let’s be honest: most strategic plans are a bit… dull. Packed with jargon, weighed down by charts, and often forgotten the minute they’re published. But what if your school’s strategic plan could do more than tick boxes? What if it could tell your story, fire up your community, and actually drive impact?

That’s exactly what The Dalton School set out to do—and delivered in bold style. They transformed their strategic vision into something dynamic, personal, and—dare we say—fun. Spoiler alert: It’s not your average five-year plan.

What if you could predict a prospect’s next move before they had even considered it?

Thanks to improvements in data collection and machine learning, forecasting customer behavior has become a reality. It’s called predictive intelligence.

Predictive intelligence technology can have a transformative effect on your sales and marketing efforts — but only if it is deployed properly. 

To effectively implement this powerful tool, school leaders need a firm grasp of the types of data involved and a clear understanding of how that data fits together. Here’s how to make the most of a predictive intelligence system. 

A digital experience (DX) ecosystem is the extended set of enterprise software solutions needed to satisfy the full digital customer journey experience. But before we explore the full DX ecosystem in depth, it is important to understand that the core of any DX ecosystem is the digital experience platform (DXP).

The digital experience platform is an integrated, centralized enterprise software framework intended to provide a unified customer experience across most digital touchpoints. The DXP is essentially a core set of software technologies that enables the creation, delivery and optimization of personalized, content-rich digital experiences in order to engage customers and drive them to a desired action.

The benefits of a DXP are numerous, but at the most basic level it gives a company the ability to differentiate from their competition and drive more customer engagement and ultimately more revenue. The need for a connected and consistent experience is also critical to building both customer satisfaction and loyalty during the full customer journey.

The proliferation of AI in school marketing and admissions is crucial for its ability to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and personalization, addressing key challenges faced by professionals.

These challenges include shrinking budgets, limited team capacity, and a market that increasingly expects unique, individualized digital experiences.

AI-powered tools can automate repetitive tasks such as application processing, lead nurturing, and email campaigns, freeing up time for staff to focus on strategic efforts. By analyzing data, AI can identify trends, segment audiences, and predict enrollment behaviors, enabling targeted marketing strategies and improved conversion rates. Overall, AI enhances productivity while providing a data-driven, customer-centric approach to school marketing and admissions.

This article will highlight some of the most successful AI integration use cases in the Independent School sector and provide you with an inside track on the best technology currently available.

As the new school year begins, the landscape for 2024-25 presents both fresh challenges and exciting opportunities for school marketers. With evolving platforms, shifting user demographics, and the rise of new platforms, staying ahead of the curve is crucial to delivering effective content to your audience.

In this blog, we’ll examine updates across key channels and make predictions for the upcoming school year.

X (formerly Twitter)

As many School Marketers will already know, leveraging social media can revolutionise the way events are promoted, by ensuring that students, parents, and the broader community are well-informed and enthusiastic participants. Whether it's a fundraising gala, sports day, theatrical performance or an open house event for your prospective families, the success of these events often hinges on effective promotion.

When seeking to promote an upcoming event on social media, it’s important to ask yourself: who, what, where, when, why and how?

With the Summer Term comes an abundance of content; from post-exam celebrations to sports events and school productions. Your school becomes a bustling hub of activity and this is usually reflected in your social media content. However, once that final school bell of the year rings, school social media content tends to dwindle quite dramatically. Whilst the summer break does offer families a chance to wind down and relax, away from the school environment, it’s important that Marketers don’t take their foot off the pedal as it is important to keep reminding both your current and prospective audience just how great your school really is.

To empower your school’s storytelling this year, we have provided some suggested content ideas, to enable your key stakeholders to remain in-the-loop during the down-time:

Content Ideas

A school's social media presence is much more than just a marketing tool - it's a vibrant canvas that reflects its unique community. Crafting compelling school profiles on social media involves weaving the stories of various community members into a cohesive, engaging narrative. Whether sharing stories about students, alumni, parents, or staff, each group brings a distinct perspective that enriches the school's online identity. Here’s how schools can perfect their profiles by shining a spotlight on these essential community members.

Despite the marketing and admissions departments being considered two separate entities, in today’s increasingly competitive educational landscape, compelling content produced by the marketing team has become an essential element of successful admissions strategies.

Schools are no longer just centres of learning; they are brands that need to be nurtured, understood, and trusted by prospective families and their children.

Creating A Captivating Website

In many school marketing departments, marketers often find themselves fixated on gathering written and visually lead content, often neglecting the potential of audio. While such traditional content has benefits, podcasts present unrivalled accessibility, captivating storytelling, and a sense of community that resonates with students, teachers, and parents alike.

From flexible listening opportunities to the power of audio to spark imagination and inclusivity, schools should explore how a school podcast can enhance the educational experience, cultivate deeper engagement, and celebrate the diverse voices within your school community.

Deciding On Content

When deciding to start a school podcast series, it can often be difficult to know exactly what kind of content to include. Podcasts quite literally give a voice to your community,  so in essence,  the answer to podcasting content is simple; to encourage your school community to discuss what is important to them.

Podcast topics that we often find to excel for schools are…

‍ Student Spotlights - have students discuss their achievements, experiences of school life, and what is it like to be a member of the school community.

‍ Teacher Talks - have teachers discuss different educational issues, approaches, and school initiatives.

Alumni Adventures - have members of your alumni discuss the cool and inspirational things they have been up to since graduating.

Committee Corner - have students introduce their group/club and detail how they contribute to the school community

If you are struggling for inspiration check out some of the winners of our School Stories Awards for the Best Use of Audio and Best Use of SoundCloud/Spotify who have some excellent podcasts.

The 4 P’s Of Podcasting

Once you have decided what the topic of your podcast will be, it’s important to follow the 4  P’s of Podcasting: Planning, Production, Promotion and Publishing.

1. Planning