Banach

Banach, Banach & Cassidy’s

"Why should we market the schools? After all, we already own them." That's how educators reacted to marketing ... 30 years ago. They just didn't understand the implications of change, the forces of the marketplace, and the value that comes from addressing people's needs and wants.

Today, school people are using the M word with increasing frequency. Teachers and support staff people are saying that we need to do a better job of marketing. School board members are calling for help in the design of marketing programs. And central office people from a variety of responsibility areas are looking for ways to market their programs and the schools they serve.

But what is marketing? Is it just another word for communication? Is it advertising? Is it engaging people? And how is it related to planning for the future?

Let's begin with a definition: Marketing has to do with discovering, defining, and delivering what people need and want. Marketing is also helping people see things that they haven't seen before. Sometimes, accommodating this definition isn’t as easy as it seems.

What does it take, for example, to discover what people need and want from their schools? Some people will say that students only need the basics. Others will agree that the basics are important, but they'll also say that students need to know how to use technology or how to work in groups or how to develop an appreciation for the arts.

Marketing requires that you engage the people in your community to help them define what an education is and isn't, and then -- to the best of your ability and available resources -- you deliver what they need and want.

In short, marketing is a process. It begins with analyzing the environment in which your schools function, and projecting what you want your schools to become. Analysis is the first -- and the most important -- step in the marketing process.

Marketing is not buying 500 bumper stickers, nor is it getting news media coverage, nor is it one newsletter a month during the school year. These may be components of a marketing initiative, but -- by themselves -- they are not marketing.

Theodore Levitt of Harvard said that the purpose of marketing is to create and keep a customer. The definition is as on target today as when Levitt first said it more than three decades ago. In fact, it’s more on target for schools today that it was 30 years ago.

So, marketing is the process of discovering, defining, and delivering what people need and want, and its purpose is to create and keep a customer.

The Marketing Process has Five Steps

Marketing is a five-step, common sense process:

1. Analyze the environment in which you function

2. Develop a strategy based on your analysis

3. Put your plan in writing

4. Execute your plan (Do what you said you were going to do.)

5. Evaluate the results

It’s important to note that the process is cyclical. Evaluation leads back to analysis which leads to checking strategy which leads to updating the plan, and so forth.

Let's begin developing your marketing program by conducting a simple analysis: Do you really know what people need and want from your schools? Let's look at just one target audience of your marketing program -- parents.

Given a choice, here's what parents are looking for in a school:

They want -- more than anything -- to know that their child is safe and secure. They are more interested in this than in test scores and the size of the budget. If parents are uncertain about their child's safety, it's difficult for them to be interested in anything else.

Once parents perceive their child's school as safe and secure, they express an interest in the quality of staff, the nature of the instructional program, the human interactions between teacher and student, and the standards and expectations of the schools.

And this is exactly how people choose schools when they have a choice. They look for safe schools with a caring environment where their child will learn what he or she needs to function in the real world.

This has everything to do with marketing. How safe are your schools? How have you communicated this to parents? If there are problems, what steps are you taking to correct them? How are you keeping people informed about the action you're taking?

How caring are your schools? When is the last time you asked your parents to rate you on how you treat them?

And what about the quality and diversity of the instructional program ... how are you explaining this to the parents of every child?

Marshall McCluan said that the image was the reality. The same is true of perception -- what people perceive is what they believe, and what they believe is usually repeated as fact. Marketing addresses perceptions. That’s why it can help us learn what people are thinking when they talk about a good education or quality instruction or the real world. In short, marketing can help us understand what's on people's minds.

When it comes to schools, most people don't care how good you were, and they don't know how good you are. But they do have perceptions about you and your schools ... and that's the reality you have to address.

Even this simple marketing analysis (looking at just one target audience) raises interesting questions. For example, what about your reporting system -- how do you report progress and problems to parents? Do you surprise parents with bad news? What’s in the notes that teachers send home? Are your parent conferences, newsletters, and annual reports focused on what parents want to know? Test yourself: Parents are interested in the staff members who work with their youngster. For example, they ask: Who is my child's teacher and what qualifications does he or she have? Is my child's teacher an interesting person? Does my child's teacher want me involved in the educational program, and -- if so -- how?

Parents also are interested in the school curriculum, the process of instruction, and indicators of school success. How are these items reported? Low on the interest list of most parents is school financial information, unless there's a shortage that affects their child. (If articles about school finance have limited appear to readers, why do schools keep featuring them as part of the superintendent's message on the front page of every newsletter?)

Analysis is a fascinating exercise. It can be enlightening, exhilarating, and frustrating ... simultaneously. But unless you understand your marketplace and the target audiences in it, you'll develop a plan that leads nowhere.

So, step one in marketing schools is to conduct an analysis. It is the first and most important step in the process. It takes time, and it requires everybody to do some thinking.. But in an environment where people have choices and a host educational alternatives from which to choose, this is what it takes to be “ahead of the curve.”

Focus on Strategy

Development of a strategy is the second step in the marketing process. But before you can develop a strategy, you need to ask some questions about your schools and the way they operate.

Let's start our discussion by asking what you want to market, to whom, and why. Those questions lead us to a strategic marketing concept called targeting... and the key question associated with targeting is this: Who cares?

When you tell us what you want to market, it's legitimate for us to ask, who cares? And it's the answer to this question that determines the odds of your communication being "on target."

Have you ever wondered why newspapers have sections? It's because some people care about sports while others care about cooking. And some people care more about entertainment than both cooking and sports. You can turn to what you care about because the newspaper people organize the news to meet your needs. That's targeting.

Think about television. There are programs for those interested in history, theater, gardens, science, old movies ... the list seems endless. In fact, if you want you can watch news, weather, or sports all day long. That's targeting.

And the Internet has potential for becoming the ultimate targeting medium, addressing each person's needs and wants individually. That's targeting.

But how do we apply the concept of targeting to schools?

Let's assume you want to market a new third grade reading initiative. To whom do you want to market the third grade reading initiative ... or, put another way, ask who cares about the third grade reading initiative, anyway?

If you say, "parents of third graders," you're probably right. But parents of youngsters in kindergarten, first, and second grade may also care to receive messages about the third grade reading initiative. That makes them targets, too.

What about technology ... who really cares? The audience is bigger than you think. It includes students and parents, of course. But it includes students and parents at almost all grade levels! And it includes teachers and administrators ... and members of the business community ... and, no doubt, others. Do all these audience have the same informational needs? Probably not. High school students are probably interested in different aspects of technology than parents of fourth graders, and what interests high school students may not be of interest to the business community.

This is what makes targeting more difficult than it seems at first glance. Something you want to market may have a relatively narrow audience (as in the case of the third grade reading program), or a broad audience with diverse interests (as in the case of technology). To communicate effectively, you need to determine who cares about what you want to market and what their interests are.

By the way, this analytical work is what makes targeting effective. You send your messages to those who have an interest in what you're doing ... and you forget about those who aren't interested. Targeting is effective and efficient at the same time.

Now let's apply the targeting strategy to something most school districts do -- a districtwide newsletter. Think about the front page of your last newsletter. The most important position in the newsletter is at ten o'clock (or , generally speaking, the left-hand column just below the masthead). Research indicates that a readers' eyes naturally go to this position when they pick up a newspaper, magazine, or newsletter. And that's why your most important story should go there. Ten o'clock is where you put the story with the greatest possible interest and the most target audiences.

But what do we tend to put in this position? A five-year-old picture of the superintendent over a boring headline -- something like, "Message from the Superintendent's Desk" or "The Superintendent Speaks." And, more often than not, the focus of the article is some aspect of school finance or the budget.

We have three things going against us here: First, the picture -- an outdated mugshot -- isn't captivating. Second, the headline is boring. After all, who really cares about the superintendent's (or the principal’s) message? And, third, as we've already discussed, the budget isn't highest on the interest list of most readers.

Granted, the budget is important and if it gets too far out of wack it can get a superintendent fired, but what a child is learning and who is helping him learn are more important topics to most readers, both parents and nonparents.

From the ten o'clock position people read clockwise around the page. That means your second most important article should be above the masthead of the newsletter ... at the twelve o'clock position. Your third most important story should be at two o'clock ... or in the right hand column. And at the bottom of the left hand column there should be a box that tells what's inside the newsletter so readers can easily find articles that interest them.

How can one apply targeting strategies to electronic communication vehicles such as websites? Simple. The same strategic rules apply. If someone isn’t interested in the topic of a printed article, they probably won’t care about the topic when it appears on your website.

In a rush to join the crowd and develop a website, many folks have forgotten that websites (just like publications) have to be relevant. Before you post something to your website, think about what relevancy it has for whom. (This is simply another way of asking, “Who cares?” which is the key targeting question.) They’ve also forgotten that many people in many communities either don’t have access to the Internet or – more likely – won’t take time to go in search of school news.

Let's take another publication, the school lunch menu (the most widely read school publication in America). We've been printing lunch menus for a long time and most of us have been doing them wrong.

We put twenty boxes on the paper, five for each week. Then, in each box, we tell people what's for lunch on a given day. So, on Monday we have pizza, on Tuesday we have hamburgers, and so forth. Wrong.

Put ten boxes on the paper, five for week one and five for week two. Use the rest of the space to send targeted messages home. Talk about school successes. Invite readers test themselves on school facts. Share information about school events. Put the other ten boxes -- weeks three and four -- on the other side of the paper ... with more facts and success stories.

Some principals react to this by telling me it will cost more to print on both sides of the paper. I tell them to spend the money. There simply isn't any cheaper, more effective way to get your message in the communication center of the home -- the refrigerator -- for 30 days.

For each informational item you carry in the menu, ask yourself, who cares about this? Remember the target audience. Know who reads the lunch menu and what interests them. Then write to that audience about that subject. That's targeting.

Now, let's return to the all-important marketing process. You have analyzed your marketplace. That analysis should give you insights into a strategy which helps you determine what you need to market, to whom, and why. In short, analysis will help you develop a strategy for targeting to people who are interested in your messages.

Targeting also can help you conduct a self-assessment of your organizational effectiveness. For example, if you don't know what you want to market, you have some strategic thinking to do. And if you don't know to whom you want to market ... or if you discover that your audience is really small ... or if you find out that those who care have multiple interests, you've got to some strategic rethinking to do.

For everything you want to market, learn to identify your target audience and its needs and wants. Sending the wrong message to the wrong person at the wrong time is not only lousy targeting, it's a waste of your precious resources.

The Right Strategy for You

There are four basic marketing strategies. Your position in the marketplace determines which strategy you should use, although it is possible that you'll apply all of the strategies at different times.

All this aside, let's focus on dominant themes and look at the strategy that's appropriate for many public schools -- lead dog.

The lead dog marketing strategy is the one used by marketplace leaders. So, how do you tell if you're one of them. Start by asking questions about your identity. (Remember, analysis is the first and most important step in the marketing process.)

Here's an example: What are the top five school districts in your state? Use any criteria you want to name them. If your school district is on the list, you're a market leader and should use a lead dog strategy. But maybe your one of the best school districts in a particular region of the state. This, too, might mean that you can use a lead dog marketing strategy. And, at a micro level, you might have the best educational institution in your community ... or in your school district. That, too, might prompt you to use a lead dog marketing strategy.

Here's what lead dogs do:

First, they run fast. Everyone is following them. To keep their leadership position, they have to run faster.
Second, lead dogs have a destination in mind. This means that they run smarter! They know where they are going. They have a vision.
Third, they lead the competition. They do whatever is needed to be the best. They improve their programs, their customer service, their responsiveness. They do whatever it takes to keep their leadership position. And, they never forget that people expect quality work.
Fourth, they reinforce perceptions of greatness. Leaders let people know that they are number one. Hertz says it most directly: We're number one! But others clearly communicate their leadership position, reinforcing perceptions of greatness. Hallmark reminds you to … care enough to send the very best. And, the folks in St. Louis don’t let you forget that Budweiser is The King of Beers.

If you're doing a good job, no one will know unless you tell them. One of our school district clients has it all – unmatched student achievement, high test scores, zilch dropout problem, positive community perceptions, great facilities, etc. The schools are always winning awards and producing merit scholars. By any measure, the district is among the best in the state. Do they hide these facts? Are they embarrassed to admit how good they are? Nope. The district often tells citizens what they have come to believe: We’re good … and we can prove it! That’s lead dog marketing.

Another school district boasts that is has the most National Board Certified teachers in its state. That, too, is lead dog marketing.

Now, as we say in The ABC Complete Book of School Marketing, you might be able to use a lead dog strategy for your entire district. If not, you may be able to use that strategy to market an outstanding program.

While most educators and school board members want to market their school district as a leading, progressive, future-focused enterprise, sometimes this self-perception isn't the reality? You need to determine if those you serve see you as you see yourself. If their perceptions aren’t as lofty as yours, a lead dog strategy probably won’t work for you. Don’t try to convince people that you are something that you aren’t. (Lying to yourself is the first symptom of trouble ahead!)

What Do People Think About When They Think About You?

Positioning has to do with your identity in the marketplace. To discover your position or identity, ask this question: "What do people think about when they think about you?" Be aware that your answer to the question doesn't matter -- it's how the people in your community answer that matters.

Do the people in your community like your schools? Do they believe the schools have a vision of the future? Do they think the people running the schools know what they're doing? Or do they look at your schools as run of the mill and at the teachers as people who only work nine months each year?

You might think your schools are wonderful, but that may not be the perception. You have to deal with the perceptions of people in your community. That's the reality of marketing.

Positioning has to do with what happens inside your head. You know you have established an effective position when people use you to describe all products in a category. For example, people don't ask for tissue; they ask for Kleenex. They don't ask for a copy; they talk about making a Xerox. And, people don't say, “How would you like to go out for a cola?” They say, “Would you like to have a Coke?”

Kleenex, Xerox, and Coke are pretty well established positions in people's minds.

To start establishing a position, you need to relate your message to what people believe, value, or have experienced. In other words, you have to make your message relevant.

School people aren't very good at this. Here's an example. It's a public communication from a state superintendent of public instruction. Ask yourself what it means, let alone whether it's relevant:

"... Elements of the special education task force recommendations are beyond the scope of credible analysis without at least a tentative approval to go beyond speculative hypothetical analysis to an active analysis involving strategic and tactical planning for implementation."

This passage doesn't communicate anything.

Let's look at some words that are easy to understand but leave the wrong impression. Ask yourself what position these words create for your school. Take the words school improvement. They imply that something is wrong, because, after all, it needs to be improved. Or, restructuring. That implies that we are changing things because they don't work. Or, downsizing (rightsizing, smartsizing, etc.). The implication is that we over-sized (or wrong sized or dumb sized).

Have you ever heard of a car improvement program? Did any of the major auto manufacturers ever say, "We're making some real junk here. We need to restructure and have a car improvement program."

No. Ford went about making better cars under the banner Quality is Job 1, and Cadillac focused on … creating a higher standard.

Faced with similar problems one organization works to improve while the another works to create higher standards. Which is more appealing to you?

Some positioning proponents say you have to make your communication resonate -- to communicate in such a way that people can finish the sentence you start. Let's try it. See if you can complete these sentences: Fill in the ____. This rings a ____. I wouldn't touch that with a ____. I want you to remember this for the rest of your ____.

And people do remember this kind of thing for the rest of their lives. See if you can complete this sentence: You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with ____. This commercial for Pepsodent hasn't run in about 30 years, yet most people can complete the sentence. It resonates.

Here are two educational themes that resonate. See how you can use them to help position your school: People are saying that an education is more important today than ever. We need to say that back to them.

In a recent survey that we conducted people told us that “… you can't get ahead without an education.” Several people actually used these words to express their belief: "You ain't goin' nowhere without an education." We need to resonate in people's heads by telling them that they're right. An education is more important today than ever before, and -- they're right -- you ain't goin' nowhere without one. (And guess who is there, ready to provide it for them?)

People read and watch commercials for products that they already own. They read and watch things that reinforce their beliefs, values, and experiences. That's why resonating communication works.

Do You Need a Theme?

No discussion of positioning would be complete without a few words about themes ... or positioning statements. Let's try a few, and see if we can relate them to targeting.

Fly the friendly skies. What's the airline? The positioning theme is four words in length, and upon hearing the words, most people can tell you that the airline is United. (When United became an employee-owned airline, the theme was changed to Fly our friendly skies. To some this implied that the friendly skies now belonged to the employees, not the customers. Now United has a new positioning theme. Is it as friendly? Is it customer-focused? Do you even know what it is?)

It melts in your mouth. The candy is M & Ms ... but what's the target? A child? Teachers? Mother?

Be all you can be was the theme of the U.S. Army. If you're up to the challenge, it implied, the Army will help you become your best. Was this positioning the Army so that it appeals to dropouts? Guess again! And, what’s the target for the Army’s new theme (An Army of One)?

When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight .... You know the company. Did FedEx violate some basic rules here? Some people say that good positioning themes have seven or fewer small words. Think of the target. This message is not targeted to forty-five year old functional illiterates. They don't send overnight mail. The theme is targeted to those who want to rest easy knowing that their package will be delivered the next day (a message reinforced in current FedEx advertising).

A key check-point: Make sure that your theme is believable. You can’t be The best there is if your test scores are in the bottom quartile. You can’t be Friendly, neighborhood schools if the staff is grouchy and every student rides a bus. If you don’t believe your theme, no one else will.

Now, let’s talk about tangibles and intangibles.

Products with intangible characteristics (such as education) need to be associated with reassuring tangibles. The surrogate of the tangible is called a metaphorical reassurance. Metaphorical reassurances are often related to appearances and visualizations, and people use them to form perceptions and make judgments.

What are some of these metaphorical reassurances? The classic is Mr. Whipple (a metaphorical reassurance) demonstrating that toilet tissue (a tangible) was “squeezably soft” (an intangible).

The appearance of your school buildings is a metaphorical reassurance. Odds are that most people in your community haven’t been in your school in a long time (perhaps never!). So, they judge what's going on inside by the way your school looks on the outside. That’s why it’s important to make your building look good. It’s a metaphorical reassurance that good things are happening inside. Cut the grass, remove the litter, and make sure the message on the marquee is properly spelled and that it doesn't refer to last month's events.

The appearance of people is another metaphoric reassurance. Name some professionals -- doctors, lawyers, dentists. How do they dress? Like professionals. The old cliché is true: If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. If you look professional, you must be a professional. Looking good is reassuring.

And what about the quality of your publications. They are metaphorical reassurances too. They represent you. Look at them. Then ask yourself, "Do I want this out there representing me?" What kind of a message am I sending when I send this publication?

You can work on your identity by asking the key positioning question: What do people think about when they think about our schools? Once you know the answer you have two options: reinforce the position or change it.

What Can You Do About Your Communication Problem?

When we work with school staffs and the topic is communication, someone will usually say that "we need to improve the way we communicate." Occasionally they'll make reference to what they call "a communication breakdown."

When we ask what should be done about this communication breakdown, invariably the answer is, "We've got to get more good news in the newspaper."

But who in America is most likely to read a newspaper today? (Married people ages 65 and older, unmarried people ages 65 and older, and married people ages 45-54 are the top three readership groups. Least likely to read a newspaper today are married people age 30 and under who have children, unmarried people age 30 and under who may or may not have children, and single parents.)

Quite simply, those most likely to read a newspaper may not be primary targets for the school message. And, so, while it never hurts to have positive news in the newspaper, we need to broaden our approach (that is, to use a multimedia approach or what marketing people call a "marketing mix.")

Let's retreat for a moment to step one in the marketing process -- analysis.

In the annual PDK/Gallup Survey of Public Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, survey respondents are asked what grade they'd give the nation's schools, all things considered. Every year about 20% of the respondents gave the nation's schools a grade of A or B.

When Gallup asks respondents to rate the schools in their community, the A and B rating doubles to about 50%. And when the pollsters ask parents to rate the school attended by their oldest child, the rating soars to almost 70% A and B.

So, what’s the lesson? While we need to have school district communication and marketing plans, we believe that the key to effective marketing is at the building level and is personal -- that school staff member need to build relationships with folks in the community one person at a time.

So, if you want to improve communication, here's what you can do about it. You can market yourself personally. This means that the teacher, the custodian, the secretary, the bus driver -- all these people need to develop their own marketing program -- a program targeted to the people they serve.

To help you get started, let's look again at a primary target audience -- parents. And, let's ask what parents want from their schools.

First, parents want to know that their children are safe and secure. (This is not a recent survey finding. Parents have always been concerned for the safety and securing of their children.) Let people know about the training that bus drivers receive. Tell students and parents how to wait for and ride the bus. Have secretaries call parents when students are absent or when they become ill at school.

Once safety and security are assured, the most important thing is who is in front of their child. In fact, some people believe that a school only can be as good as the teacher in front of their child. So, if you're in front of a child, let people know who you are and how good you are. Show them you are competent and caring. Explain how you take an individual interest in their child.

Third, parents are interested in what their child is learning ... and how their child is doing. They want this communication to be frequent and personal. They don't want the quarterly report card to be the only way they can find out what is happening ... or, more correctly, what has happened.

Fourth, parents are interested in their child's learning environment ... they want an environment where the people are friendly and caring, where the people in the office responsive, where their child knows someone in the school besides the teacher. Sometimes it all begins with a smile from the custodian or a greeting while passing through the lunch line.

And, finally, people want to feel that they can get to the principal. They want to believe that the principal is a relatively normal person, that there is some kind of a plan to move the school forward, and that the school is always concerned with becoming better than it already is. (Being perceived as "on the ball" is a plus.)

These are perception kinds of things ... and they are things everybody in a school needs to address.

Good staff members know how to market themselves. They are the people other people think about when they think about your school. They are the people who create positive perceptions ... and they are the people who turn these positive perceptions into the reality.

So, begin from a position of strength. People believe in your people, and, odds are, they have a high level of confidence in them. That's where you should start marketing. Use BB&C’s MARKETING PLANNER to get started.

Banach, Banach & Cassidy, 68050 Hartway Road, Ray Township, MI 48096-1433

586/784-9888 – FAX 586/784-8412