Building a Family Retention Strategy for Your School

When we think about today’s parents, we often just think about communications — ensuring they know where to be and when. But how often do you take a step back to confirm you're subtly reminding them of the value of their investment? We'll kick off this course by sharing the importance of marketing to current families with the same energy and passion you’d show to prospective families.

IN WEEK ONE WE'LL FOCUS ON:

Lesson 1: “A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush” 
It’s easier, more cost-effective, and more efficient to keep a family enrolled than it is to find a new one. Understanding your audience is the key to creating effective communications and content that keep parents happy, engaged, and enrolled. From “pandemic parents” to families on financial aid, discover the secrets behind marketing your school to the right audiences.

Lesson 2:  Retention 24/7, 365 
Retention is a year-long effort, but building your school’s content calendar is an important first step in a successful strategy. From the first day of school to re-enrollment deadlines and every day in between, learn to identify the valuable moments for current parents and plan content that supports the most important times of the year. 

Parents hate to be sold to…So how can you convince them to stay without it coming off like a cold, direct sales pitch? It's all about meaningful content — and in week two, we'll share exactly what current parents want to see, the psychology behind it, and how to adapt your approach for your website, social media, and email marketing for future success.

WEEK TWO COVERS:

Lesson 1: Simplifying the Website Experience for Parents
We all know parents use your website for up-to-the-minute information — but is it as easy as it should be? We'll cover the basics of parent communications for your website that reduces friction and keeps everything they care about a click away. 

Lesson 2: Engaging with Parents on Social Media
Social media isn't just a podium for you to talk about your school — it's a place to connect your community. We'll dive into where today's parents and students like to spend their time, and strategies to beat the algorithms to ensure they see your most important content. 

Lesson 3: Going Beyond the Email Newsletter
Email newsletters are great — but they're often used as a catch-all for everything going on at school. Your communications with current families should be strategic, personalized, and more frequent than you’d think. You'll learn how to craft engaging emails that you can "set and forget" to keep families engaged and excited all year long without increasing your workload.

Retention is a group effort that doesn’t fall on one person or one office’s shoulders. Sometimes the greatest support can come from the community around you. This part of the course will focus on the overlooked strategies and resources at hand to create a sustainable culture of retention.

IN WEEK THREE WE'LL FOCUS ON:

Lesson 1: Creating an Ambassador Program for Your School
The voices of your community can often be an underutilized resource to influence decision making. After all, 93% of consumers consider their friends and family the most trusted sources of information. Learn how to start a sustainable ambassadors program from scratch and leverage your parents, students, and biggest fans to support the value of your school. 

Lesson 2: Admission and Marketing: Rethinking Retention Together
While every employee has a role in retention efforts, Admission and Marketing/Communication offices share the responsibility of meeting and exceeding your school’s enrollment goals. So why does it seem these two offices are still working in silos? This lesson will focus on how the two offices can collaborate and work better together, identify and achieve common retention/enrollment objectives, and engage families before it’s too late…