The business case for school marketing

Seminar brief:  Do you want to work in a full school with engaged parents, strong community links and a strong income flow? Simon will explain the ‘marketing’ process and share examples of schools that have taken a formal, strategic approach and achieved these goals – without spending vast amounts on advertising! 

In this seminar Simon Hepburn will explore: 

• What ‘marketing’ really is – and why it starts with listening, not spending.
• Engaging your whole community behind a consistent purpose and goal.
• Using the resources you have – including students and buildings – to save money!

In his work Simon regularly visits amazing schools – but schools that don’t ‘bottle’ and share what makes them great, and as a result end up feeling in the shadow of other local schools. 

Take home points:

• All schools have amazing stories and people – but they need to be freed from being seen as just job roles to help you share your messages.
• There’s no ‘magic bullet’ in communicating your key messages – you need to find what works for your stakeholders (and social media isn’t working like it used to!)
• Schools responded to the challenge of COVID with some amazing innovation in communication – but some of this is already being lost.

This session is for: All school business leaders, senior leaders and governors

Speaker name/title: Simon Hepburn, founder, Marketing Advice for Schools 

About the speaker: Simon spent 10 years working in marketing in industry and consultancy. This included managing a £1.5m advertising budget for Reed, advising Vodafone on improving its image as an employer, and developing a new practice in one of the UK’s leading reputation management consultancies, communications management. He retrained as a teacher at the Institute of Education, London, and spent 11 years working as a full-time teacher and head of department in both state and private schools. He now combines part-time teaching with marketing training and consultancy and has worked with over 300 schools. He is the author of ‘Marketing Your School‘ and ‘Recruiting Teachers‘.