Whether you are looking to increase school admissions, shout about your art department, or gather sign-ups for your school open day, video can be one of the best mediums to promote your private school. The right sort of videos can build awareness of your school, strengthen your brand and keep your school front of mind for prospective students and parents.
At Small Films we’ve shot films for Eton College, Blundell’s School and The Oratory Prep, so we’re well versed in how to deliver videos that give phenomenal results for schools.
There are multiple ways video can be used to promote a private school. But first up, it’s about deciding on your objectives. Check out our Video Marketing for Independent Schools 101 article where we discuss our five step formula. Once you’ve nailed your objectives then here’s an idea of the types of videos you can use to help you in marketing a private school.
Types of private school videos
Welcome from Head Teacher video
The Head Teacher will play an instrumental role in whether parents can imagine their child going to your school. Therefore it’s an excellent way to make your school more appealing by showing your Head Teacher’s personality, whilst also having them explain how the school functions and the experience a child will get if they were to enroll.
Pupil Stories
A pupil talking on video about their experience of their school is the ultimate selling point to prospective parents. By choosing a variety of pupils who have interests in different areas such as sport, science or art, will give a more rounded view of a day in the life of each student. These types of videos are an excellent way to show a closer look at the pastoral side of school life. Your pupils are your best ambassadors, so use them to drive interest in your school.
Pupil’s story promotional school video ideas
- A day in the life of a boarder
- Getting to know an A Level art student
- A leaver’s story
- An interview with the school choir
- Getting to know the Head Boy/Head Girl
Department School Videos
Departmental films are a great way to give a more indepth view of different areas of your school. You may have recently built a new sports centre and you want to showcase this to increase school admissions, or you want to celebrate the creativity of your private school by showing your art department on film. Departmental films can also be used to shift a perception you may have, i.e if you are traditionally known as a sporty school but you would like to portray your academic qualifications. Departmental films can be a mixture of teacher/pupil interviews, action footage and behind the scenes shots.
School open day video production
A school open day video is a brilliant way to show a snapshot of your school that will help entice parents to attend an open day. This promotional school video can cover everything from messaging from the Head Teacher, a behind the scenes look at different departments through to interviews with the pupils. Incorporate footage of your grounds, extra-curricular activities, school achievements and make sure to include a call to action for how to sign up to the open day.
Virtual Open Day Video
Whilst the pandemic is still giving a level of uncertainty, the school open day video can instead promote a virtual school open day. The video can still give a snapshot of the school and all its highlights, but the commentary can lean more towards how the parents will attend virtually.
Promoting your school on YouTube
YouTube is an excellent channel to host your promotional school videos. This channel works really well to show more of the personality of your school, such as your annual sports day, the school’s rendition of Macbeth or interviews with your pupils. Segment into different playlists to help parents search more easily for the types of video content they are looking for such as
- School plays
- Sports day videos
- Departmental films
- Interviews with pupils
- Head Teacher welcome
- Interviews with department heads
SEO videos for schools
Optimising your videos for Google search is a fantastic way to help your school get found by prospective parents. When in the discovery stage, parents may perform a number of private school related searches such as ‘school open days London’ or ‘private schools in Wiltshire’. If you have optimised your videos to be in line with keyword searches then you are more likely to convert a prospective parent to click on your video and view your content.
Paid Facebook and Instagram Ads
Facebook and Instagram ads are a highly effective marketing channel as you can be so highly targeted. By being able to choose location, gender age and multiple other types of segments, you can really tap into your target audience. They can be a great way to increase enrollments in private schools by getting in front of parents who may not have considered your school as an option. With social media ads for your private school you must always have a really strong idea of who your target audience is to help you create the most suitable and compelling video content for them.
Video emails
Email marketing can be one of the most successful channels for driving conversions. Think about what sort of information you want to share with prospective parents, such as upcoming open days, a welcome from the Head Teacher or content around a new department opening. By including video in your email campaigns, your audience can get a much better visual view of what it’s like to attend your school.
Read our article on ‘How to create a promotional video for your school’
to learn everything you will need to know to get started.
Website Video
Hosting a video on your website homepage can be an incredibly effective way to give an insight into your school. The video will help to cut down the time the prospective student/parent has to spend looking for information about your school on your site. Within a few minutes a parent can feel far more emotionally connected to your school and will begin to start to imagine sending their child to your school. Check out the video we did for The Oratory Prep School that is hosted on their website’s landing page.
Social Media marketing for a private school
There are many ways you can use your school promotional video on social media to help promote your private school. Use it as your banner on your Facebook business page, so parents can immediately see behind the doors of your school. Include your open day video in focused posts or use it on an an event page that gives more information about what parents can expect.
Working with a school promotional video company
At Small Films, we are a team of experienced videographers and digital marketers who create compelling videos for schools including Eton, Marlborough College and St Margaret’s Prep School. We are passionate about helping schools harness the power of video to help tell their story.
If you’re looking to create a promotional school video, then do get in contact. Our experienced team have shot films for many of the UK’s leading independent schools, so you can feel confident we will bring your objectives to life.
