Most people make personal new year’s resolutions, but if you’re a school marketer, we think you should add these professional resolutions to the list.
Here are our top five new year’s resolutions for school marketers.
1. I will review the marketing strategy.
Schools are busy places. There are always urgent tasks to deal with and as a result, the ‘big picture’ jobs are often pushed to the bottom of the list. It’s critical that your marketing strategy is not ignored and is reviewed each year. Are you still trying to achieve the same objectives? Have your competitors changed? Do you have new challenges to tackle? The new year is a chance to take a step back and realign the plan to keep you on track for the next 12 months.
2. I will get my editorial calendar in order.
Once your strategy is sorted, what tactical activities need to be planned on your editorial calendar? Your editorial calendar is the day-to-day plan of how to achieve the objectives from your marketing strategy. This is an opportunity to map out campaigns and significant calendar events, and then line up the blogs, media releases and social media posts to bolster those key dates throughout the year. Content creation and social media shouldn’t be ad hoc – plan it before the year starts and your life will be much easier.
3. I will make time for learning.
The world of marketing evolves rapidly — especially in the digital space. No matter how busy you are, it’s vital that you make time for learning. Subscribe to marketing podcasts (including our School Marketing and Communications podcast!) and listen to them on your commute; do the occasional online course on Facebook marketing; or – if you’re feeling brave – venture down the Google rabbit-hole to boost your digital knowledge. It’s worth blocking out time on your calendar for learning to give it the attention it deserves and avoid other things taking priority.
4. I will create a ‘no interruption’ zone.
We know that you work in an environment that can be hectic and distracting at times. If you can, create or find an area that can be your ‘no interruption’ zone. Make it clear to your colleagues that when you are in this space, you’re doing work that needs deep focus and no interruptions. You can also turn on your out-of-office message so colleagues know to expect a delayed reply when they email you.
5. I will ask ‘Why?’ before springing into action.
Your time is finite. You can’t do everything and, in fact, you shouldn’t do everything. The trick to knowing what is important is to ask ‘Why?’ before springing into action. This will help you work out the real objective behind staff requests and whether there is a better way to achieve it. Use prompts like, “What are you trying to achieve?” or “What is the ideal end result?” By asking more probing questions, you might discover a better and more elegant solution to the problem.
We hope these resolutions get you off to a great start once Term 1 comes around.
