Sharing Good Practice
MARKETING YOUR SCHOOL
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE STORYTELLING!
BY ANGEL LOZANO
role of DNA and genes in inheritance.
We took some photos as they
worked, asked the teacher to send
us a couple of paragraphs detailing
the experiment, and published the
students’ story. In another instance, a
teacher mentioned to me that one of
our Grade 11 students, a goalkeeper,
was involved during the preseason
with Chelsea, the Premier League
football team. With permission from
his parents, I interviewed the student
and wrote a brief article about him for
the local media. They loved the story
which was published along with the
name of our school.
A
ccording to the latest ICS
Research Report (February
2018), there are 9,318
international schools in the
world. How can you set yours apart? A
difficult task but not impossible – the
key is storytelling. All schools say that
they offer an excellent education, great
results, fantastic university placements
and so on. While parents obviously
consider all of these aspects, they fall
within their expectations and so are
sometimes not enough to differentiate
one school from another. When you
talk about schools, you talk about
precious human beings, and one of
the wonderful attributes of the human
being is the capacity to be creative.
When you have human beings, you
have stories. When you have stories,
you have the number one element
of a successful marketing strategy:
Marketing Content.
marketing process by letting you know
what is taking place or which student
has a great story to tell. Explain that
these stories also promote what
the teachers are doing at the same
time, in front of the parents and the
school community. Once the teachers
understand what you want, you will not
miss a good story.
For example, a science teacher emailed
to let me know that her tenth-grade
students were doing an interesting
experiment in the lab relating to the
It is up to you to discover that content
and determine how to ensure your
potential audience sees it. The first
task is relatively easy. As you leave
your office and walk around the
school, observe what the students are
doing and talk to the teachers. They
are the source of any story. The faculty
know the students; they organize field
trips, experiments, plays, games and
outdoor lessons. They will provide
the stories you need and enable you
to show what happens inside and
outside of the classrooms. Encourage
the faculty to become part of the
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Class Time
As you talk to the teachers, stories
like these will come to your attention.
Publish them on your website and
social media channels. Technology
brings great advantages in our
digital era. As well as looking at the
school website to find out about the
curriculum, mission, and history of
the schools they are considering,
prospective parents often look at the
social media channels. Social media is
very important because it shows the
“life of the school”. It is there, in the
“life of the school,” where they will
discover if the students of your school
are happy, engaged, and enjoying
their learning journey. It is all about the
storytelling.
Angel Lozano started his professional career in the United States in the television
industry as a producer. He returned to Spain and focused his career on corporate
communications. In 2015, he worked as Brand Director for North London
Collegiate School Jeju (South Korea). Currently, he is the Director of Institutional
Advancement at TASIS The American School in England.