How to Be Seen as the Best School in Your Area

Education is undoubtedly the biggest enabler today. The adage ‘Knowledge is Power’ is truer today than ever before. Having said that, families, students and society in general has come to look at education and providers in a different light. In this age of social media first  impressions, creating both a virtual and physical persona for your institution has become a necessity. They are essential for you to be able to stay top-of-mind and establish the credentials, legacy and values you represent. 

Who Are Today’s Parents?

Although a successful school marketing outreach has several layers to it, creating awareness among one particular segment is paramount – Parents. Being knowledgeable and empowered with a variety of tools, they undertake due diligence to check the school’s reputation and past performance before deciding on their children’s futures. Hence, marketing ideas for school admission need to arise from the perspective of how a contemporary parent would respond to the campaign. The answer to ‘how to convince parents for school admission’ could lie in various initiatives and campaigns designed to foster a school-parent dialogue.

Here are some essential steps for an education institute to focus on building on its strengths and gain recognition:

1. Maintain a Strong Social Media Presence & Undertake Community Building Initiatives to Cement Parental Trust  

Leveraging the school’s website and blogging platforms is an effective way to engage consistently with parents. This makes your content showcasing the school’s culture and core values more interactive and accessible. You can ride on the popularity of social media to go one step ahead and create a thriving online community that also  works as a channel for dialogue with existing and potential parents. For increasing your reach, you may want to partner with a professional writer/blog service that can provide you with valuable inputs like SEO and keyword optimization, along with quality unique content. 

Community building could also be done through small but steady means like holding frequent parent-teacher dialogues. It has been seen that institutes focusing on building teacher-parent bonds have been successful in creating a talent pipeline. An often untapped avenue for institutes is its pool of alumni. They could prove to be among the most potent set of individuals who could help demonstrate your institute’s calibre – either through a robust Alumni portal which can be added to your website or social media groups. If your institute has been operating for a while, it becomes imperative that you have a dynamic alumni board. 

2. Invest in Cutting-Edge Technology

Parents are well aware of the importance of the ever-evolving digital landscape. The growth of edtech has been impressive and has come to be seen as an integral part of an institution’s repertoire. Digital classrooms, multimedia content ecosystems and a connected school, in general, are becoming the order of the day. In fact, partnering with established edtech solution providers could give your institution that extra edge. The Extramarks suite of solutions includes comprehensive digital offerings including Extramarks Smart Class Plus, Assessment Centre, and School Integrated Program that transform traditional teaching-learning processes in the classroom and beyond.

3. Create Personalized Learning Pathways

Among the biggest differentiators for an institution is the extent of attention and personalization that it provides to students. While a digital ecosystem such as Smart Class Plus does that to a considerable extent, there are other differentiators too. Improving student-teacher ratios, student counselling and peer support initiatives are some other imperatives. 

4. Develop a Quality Plan and Policy

It is often said that success comes from a path devoid of shortcuts. This, though, is an arduous process of first setting high standards and sticking to them. Quality improvement could entail multiple facets crucial to an institute like improving school infrastructure, fostering a healthy student-teacher culture, and maintaining hygiene and discipline in the school. Such measures go a long way to show parents that your school is ready to leave no stone unturned towards school improvement. Another crucial step towards this could be encouraging holistic development by promoting various extracurricular and cause-driven initiatives. Not only does hosting competitions foster a competitive environment, but it also demonstrates your institute as a haven for different activities to well-performing students and their parents. By giving importance to sports, art and intellectual competitions, your school is in fact catering to all-round growth which is an uncompromising trait for developing rounded children.

5. Develop Strong Relationships With Colleges and Universities 

Creating next mile linkages with institutions offering higher education and career growth opportunities is a great move in making your mark as a forward thinking educational institution. Identify institutions that will offer enriching mentorship programs, opportunities for internship and volunteering to students and collaborate with them. This goes a long way in ensuring that students are already initiated into real-world experiences that will shape their futures. 

Although the definition of a good school might vary from person to person — for some it could be the school’s reputation and for some it could mean academic success — the answer to the underlying question of ‘How to increase admission in school?’ lies in showcasing an accurate but with-the-times image of your institution. Partnering with Extramarks could be the first step in that direction. 

Last Updated on December 7, 2023