STEP TWO | BASICS OF VIDEO MARKETING IN INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

STEP TWO OF THREE -

Tell your story and stop describing your school

Let me guess, your school is ‘really special’, and I don’t doubt it is.  Here’s the issue with that though. You’re all special in some way, you all say you're special, and prospective parents and staff are not likely to take you seriously because they expect you to say things they want to hear.

So, let’s start over and look at the Customer Journey again from the last post....

The first steps….The first time a prospective parent, pupil or staff member experience your school directly is more and more often through forms, offline through word of mouth or online through social media, and then finally your website before they ever call you or request information from you.  Obviously, here’s where you make a first impression - digitally or via the emotional engagement of a current user, and without any handholding to guide them, no voiceover, no promoting, no explanation, and crucially, it’s a journey tailored to the masses. This should be quite frightening because you’re not necessarily in control at this point. This is the very first stages of the customer journey and what do schools offer us...??

“We are special because we offer a broad and balanced curriculum for boys and girls 3-18 years of age, located on 40 acres of green fields, blah blah blah”. Do you see the problem….?

You’re letting your consumer roam around aimlessly without guidance, without a voice in their head on your website and digital channels.  Would you let parents roam around the school grounds, in and out of classrooms without being escorted and given deep insight into the stories behind the scenes (besides the obvious child protection issues!)?  Well, that's exactly what you’re doing.  Your audience is reading information and content that you put onto the website and social channels without having a ‘feel’ for the school.  The problem here is that you’re NOT controlling to the conversation, how they might feel, but you ARE providing them with information, and YES the same exact information that every other school provided on their website, and sadly, in the same language too!  How would I, as a parent, differentiate if you all options offer a broad and balanced curriculum and enriching sports programme!?! Stop telling them, start showing them in stories.

Storytelling - Your stories need to be authentic and actually differentiate you from other schools. Stories need to carry a human element, a character, a beginning, middle and end and carry the narrative of your school, delivered in a brand voice that matches or at least compliments your brand!  Give recognisable language to your audience, follow a pupil, get anecdotal experiences, share with some brevity and humour.

A strong story based in reality will bring your message and values to life in a way the consumer can believe in and it is here that you gain trust.  And a good story makes you feel something, it means your audience can relate to you, you understand each other.  Storytelling is the best way to inspire and be intrigued. Expose yourself, make yourself look strong but equally vulnerable. Share setbacks and compromises as an organisation and people will relate.  It’s these emotions you’re looking to encapsulate, in order to properly differentiate yourself and be a storyteller.  With any luck, you’ve made your prospective family FEEL something where with other options on their list, they only know about, well, their ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum...yawn!

This is not groundbreaking stuff, this is the norm in the commercial world, whereby the story, the tone and the messaging originate in a film, in adverts.

You should help control the user's’ emotion early on in this customer journey obviously, by introducing video marketing and promotional films, just as in the commercial world (you’re not that different!).  Anything you create that’s above the line and enters the journey at this stage will have a huge impact on the emotions of your audience and what story you’re telling (N.B. or consider the ‘story’ your agents overseas are telling, what would you ‘pay’ to know that you’re also controlling that conversation).  By introducing video marketing, you’ve pulled control back in your hands, where you were helpless before.

Create that touchpoint to the masses and control the conversation! Be a storyteller….

Check out Step One and Step Three in our Blog to get the whole picture! You can also email Miles directly to discuss your Schools video strategy. miles@affixxius.com

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