In an environment where children are taught to focus on doing their best, isn’t it adverse for the Marketing Coordinator to complete a school competitor analysis? Yet in doing so, you seek to improve your own services and enhance the communication experience for prospective parents. You want to ensure that your audience receives the right information, when they want it.
Does your school competitor analysis include these 4 things?
1. First impressions count
The school’s website is typically the first port of call for parents interested in finding out more about an educational institute. Step into their shoes and navigate the website. How easy is it to find information? Does it include the right balance of information? How is this information presented? Does the website provide opportunity for parents to contact staff for further details?
2. How social are they?
These days it’s a given that all schools have some sort of presence on social media, but the implemented strategies can vary immensely from school to school. Which social media platforms can your competitors be found on? How active are they? How do they respond to posts, reviews, tweets, or comments? Analysing your competitors’ overall social media strategy (if any) can be a source of great insight and help you grow your own social media presence. Note – just because another school is on every single possible platform, doesn’t mean you should be.
3. Further down the track (or buyer’s journey)
After conducting preliminary investigations, prospective parents will handpick schools that present as viable solutions, and then delve further. They will obtain the prospectuses of these schools and make a direct comparison – so you need to as well. Consider the content, alignment with other school communications, imagery and ease of access. At this crucial stage, you need to ensure your school stands out from the crowd.
4. The other end of the spectrum
How visible are your competitors? Can they be found before prospective parents even begin exploring school choices? In other words, do they have a school inbound marketing strategy that involves regular blog posts? Whilst many schools do regularly post updates to their website, this predominantly involves internal school news. Content marketing is still a relatively new area. Filling in this gap where your competitors are absent will put you at the forefront of parents’ minds.
So how does your marketing strategy compare to that of other schools? In performing a school competitor analysis, you can better understand your own strengths and weaknesses, and identify opportunities for the future.
