Quest Montessori School

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1 Quest Montessori School Narragansett, RI Small School. Small Budget. Big Results! emarketing to Admissions Success Michael Barclay, Asst. Head of School

2 Quest s Traditional Admissions Strategies Weren t working!!!! - Open Houses - Print Advertising - Word of Mouth - Networking with Feeder Schools Last recorded enrollment statistics based on interest prior to the start of the school year, Quest had 55 inquiries from September 2010 to January No admissions stats were kept for the remainder of the school year. By February of 2012, we had 124 inquiries! How did we do it?

3 Started with Conversations - Seeking outside advice...from the wife (who works in ecommerce marketing) - Talking over with your Head - Mirroring enrollment plan with marketing plan - Figuring out where to start - Execute - Get a plan! Do what you can with the budget you have!

4 How we did it...the Plan! First, we looked at our Website. Second, looking at our Website, forced us to look at how we advertise. Finally, improving electronic communication on all fronts with current and prospective families. Presentation Goal...leave you with three nuggets of wisdom!

5 The Template for the old Quest Website... May 11, 2012 our letter head! Say what? Dear Bob and Julia, We are thrilled to have the Bailey clan at Quest. Enclosed, please find Aidan s admissions paperwork that includes his application and enrollment contract for next year. Jane and I were recently reviewing the enrollment figures for next year and she noticed Aidan s name was not on the list. Jane shared that in a recent conversation with Julia, Julia mentioned Aidan would be coming next year. Again, we are thrilled to have Aidan join us and are excited to have all the Bailey s under one roof at Quest. As you are reviewing the tuition information for Children s House, don t forget we have a third child discount for the youngest child which is 50% off on tuition only. As we are trying to figure out our enrollment numbers for next year, it would be wonderful if you could please have Aidan s enrollment contract in by May 22nd. This will help us determine the overall size of Children s House and how to prepare for next year from a staffing perspective. If you have any questions, please don t hesitate to give Paul or I a call. Sincerely, Inspiring a Lifelong Love of Learning Mike Barclay Assistant Head of School - Information Based - Static - Boring - Couldn t update at all - No tracking tools - No SEO built in - SEM not being used - No budget for new website, need to work with what we had

6 Acronyms to Live By! SEO (organic and free) and SEM (Google Adwords, Facebook advertising, etc.) Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. [ jargon ] In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search,[1] news search and industry-specific vertical search engines. (wikipedia) Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through optimization (both onpage and off-page) as well as through advertising (paid placements, contextual advertising, and paid inclusions).[1] Depending on the context, SEM can be an umbrella term for various means of marketing a website including search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages, or it may contrast with pay per click (PPC), focusing on only paid components.[2] (Wikipedia) Understanding SEO and SEM will impact traffic to your school s website and generate you more inquiries! SEO and SEM are a must to think about when redesigning a new website.

7 Could we afford a whole new website? Cost? And, if we can afford it, what do we want it to do? The perfect new website would be... - Designed with SEO in mind teractive with video, social media, valuable content, etc - A site we can manipulate whenever we want peaks to where the school is going not where it has bee Analytics built into the site to track prospective interest - A site that parents want to spend time on

8 The Quest Website Template Two Most Important Aspects of New Quest Website?. Done in ordpress 2. Has Analytics What is WordPress? What is Google Analytics & What can it tell you?

9 What is WordPress? - WordPress is a free Web-based software program that anyone can use to build and maintain a website or blog. ( Most important aspects to know about WordPress! You can edit without a designer WHENEVER you want! SUPER EASY TO USE!!! Again...IT S FREE!!!!

10 Google Analytics, Online Advertising and Admissions Inquiries... What does it tell you? Who s visiting your website? Where are they coming from? How are the getting there? Does online advertising work?

11 Analytics from month before Quest Nov. Open House Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google that gives detailed statistics about traffic to and from your website.

12 Website overhauls done by companies such as Whipple Hill can range anywhere from 15k to 50K (or more!) with yearly maintenance fees ranging in the 1000 s as well.

13 THE FIRST NUGGET!!!!!! TOTAL COST OF WEBSITE OVERHAUL? $586 Any small school can do a Quest-like website update! Good web designers can be contracted on the cheap ($30/hour)! Now you know what to ask for in updating your website! Next... Online advertising, and a world of online

14 Two Types of Online Advertising! Unpaid (SEO) = (Facebook, Blogs, Website Content, Online Calendars, etc.) PAID = (Adwords, Facebook Advertising, Paid Listings, Local Online News Sources, etc.)

15 Adwords Performance Month Prior to Fall Open House

16 SECOND NUGGET! he REACH of online advertising far exceeds anything you could do in print! Plus, it s MEASURABLE! Analytics cost = 0 as it was part of website overhaul Online advertising cost for year = Print cost for year = Total = Final piece of the puzzle... improving communication!

17 Improving Communication for Quest meant... Marketing Improvements ocial Media Updates More Regularl log Post By Teachers More Frequent

18 Marketing helps with... - Open House - Branding Updates Opportunities - - Bi-Monthly Database Newsletters to Storage - Faculty Outreach current and prospective - List Creation families Best Aspect About Marketing? Every can be tracked! Social Networking helps with!!!! - Organic Search (SEO) results...how? The more blogs your faculty create the more webpages they create. More webpages = more pages to be found by parents doing searches.

19 THE FINAL NUGGET!!! Social Media and Blogging are FREE! Anyone can do it. Strategic marketing initiatives via icontact only cost $14 per month!

20 So, how many students are currently enrolled at Quest? Quest started 2011 with 56 students. We ended the school year with 40 because of moves and graduation. Currently, Quest has students