With so many schools offering first-class education, your school’s brand is your opportunity to differentiate your school from the crowd. It’s how you’re identified and remembered – It’s fundamental. But, who is responsible for maintaining your school’s brand, reputation and everything in between? Well, everyone contributes in some way, whether it be the quality of teaching, the principal’s involvement or the well-represented students. But, lets delve deeper.
Your school marketing team.
Your school marketing team plays a leading role in all of the above and this is why they need to be continually energised. It’s their job to generate innovative ideas, produce all marketing materials, deal with communications, handle PR matters and reach out to prospects; all while maintaining an overarching identity that represents your school in a positive light.
Embrace them, invest in them and value them.
Here are seven simple ways to energise your school marketing team:
- Invest in professional development
Employees are most energised when they are treated as individuals. Ask them what areas of work development they may be interested in. Provide opportunities for your team to complete professional development courses that may invigorate their work for your school. - Give recognition generously
Recognition should not only be warranted by large successes. Take note of the small things that your team is achieving and publicly express acknowledgment. As long as recognition is fair and equitable across your team, there is no such thing as ‘too much recognition’. - Encourage your team to create relationships with staff
Picture this – your school marketing team is frantically chasing a piece of content for the school newsletter from a Sports teacher. The teacher is too busy to make this a priority and forgets to reply. This is ample reason for your school marketing team to get to know the teachers and staff. Encourage them to create relationships and show their faces in the lunch room. - Ask for feedback
Ask your school marketing team for constructive feedback. Find out what is and isn’t working, what they require support with and perhaps new ideas they wish to implement. Remain transparent and keep up the conversation. - Promote creativity
Make creativity a top priority in your management agenda. Encourage your school marketing team to take advantage of resources that may spark imagination. Encourage them to get out of the office or have a creative meeting over lunch. - Value their expertise
It is only when your school marketing team feels valued and respected that they will feel comfortable to suggest new ideas. A Harvard Business Review case study found that employees who said they feel respected are more satisfied with their jobs and more grateful for, and loyal to their companies. Value your school marketing expertise by trusting your team and giving them the opportunity to run with new ideas, even if there is a risk of failure. - Meet regularly
Schedule a regular team meeting, whether this is weekly or fortnightly. Even if there are no urgent projects to include within the meeting agenda, simply discuss how your team found the previous week and what can be improved for this week. Regular meetings are never futile if you keep them short, productive and motivating.
These simple tips will help promote valuable relationships within your school marketing team. This list is not comprehensive and there are many ways to energise your school marketing team depending on the ethos of your School.
