Category Archives: Education

Marketing an independent school is not easy! It’s hard to grab parents’ attention and to make them listen to what you have to say. It seems like no matter what you do, other schools are doing it too. So how do you make your school stand out? 

This is where video comes in. The right video content will make your school…

  • Stand out. 
  • Get more attention. 
  • Be more memorable. 

And those three things are exactly what you need if you want to drive more of the right admissions and get the recognition you deserve. 

If you are a marketer at an independent school in the UK then you’ve almost certainly either contemplated creating some video content for your school or have used this medium already. Everyone seems to be getting on the video bandwagon so it makes sense to do the same right? 

But have you taken a step back and really considered “why” you are creating video in the first place? Because let me tell you, video isn’t just a “nice to have”, it can deliver phenomenal results for your school if you use it in the right way. And when you take a strategic approach to video marketing, it will become the secret weapon in your marketing arsenal. 

Banner for marketing an independent school

 

So what do I mean by “video marketing”.  Video marketing is about approaching video in a much more strategic and results-driven way. It’s about using video as a powerful tool to drive the right outcomes for your school. It’s about integrating video into different aspects of your marketing. And it’s about going “beyond the website video” and treating video as an ongoing project rather than just a one-off school promotional film. 

Let me share my secret formula for video that delivers results. I call it the Resonance Method because it’s a framework that I’ve designed for creating content that resonates with your audience. When content resonates with an audience you will grab their attention, they will listen to what you have to say and you can turn that engagement into action. 

So here’s my 5-step formula. And yes, it spells VIDEO. Aren’t I clever?

Vision – Get clear on your objectives, audience and outcomes. 

Idea – Create ideas for different videos that will deliver on your vision. 

Drama – Master storytelling to engage your audience. 

Execution – Deliver the best quality for the budget available.

Outreach – Put your videos in front of your audience to create results. 

So that’s the theory. But how does this work in practice…

Firstly, I want you to think about the videos for your school as a series of windows that parents can look through to get a better understanding of your story and the value they will get from sending their child to your school. 

The first window is going to be your school promotional video. That’s like your shop window. It will sit on your homepage and give parents a snap-shot of your school. But then you need to take them on a journey, giving them other windows to look through like videos about the different departments at your school, videos introducing the pupils and teachers or other aspects of school life.

So how do you decide which school videos are right for you? Let’s go back to my Resonance Method to unpack this. 

Firstly, set out your Vision. What is the reason for doing video in the first place? Do you want to drive admissions? Raise awareness for a particular school initiative? Change the perception of your school? Reach foreign students? Lift your credibility? Once you are clear on your objectives, then think about your audience. Is it parents or pupils? Where are they and what are their wants, needs or fears about finding a school for their child? This is important because a London millennial seeking the good life in Oxfordshire has completely different wants, needs and fears to a Chinese parent sending their child overseas. Finally try to put some KPIs in place to measure the outcome of your video project. Think beyond just views, likes and shares. Could you tie a video campaign to requests for a prospectus or gather feedback from parents on their reaction to the video? 

Next think about Ideas for your school videos that deliver on your vision. Maybe you are a sporty school that needs to be seen as academic. Then you could create a video focusing on the curriculum. Or maybe people don’t think your sports facilities are up to scratch even though you’ve got a brand new sports hall. Then make a video about that. Sometimes you might be traditionally seen as a boy’s school even though you’ve gone co-ed. So make a video to change your image. The ideas for your video mustn’t just be plucked from thin-air. Whether it’s your school promotional video or other videos, try to ensure they deliver on your vision. 

Once you know what videos you are creating, make sure you think about how you will deliver some Drama with each one. This is about having good storytelling and finding the right way to tell the story. It’s also about who delivers that story. A “Meet the Head” video is a great way to reassure parents about sending their child to the school, but it’s not going to be much good if your head is monosyllabic and introverted. A video about school life is a great way to show a different side to the school but if it’s not exciting with charismatic pupils then it will reflect poorly on your school. Remember, just like any good story, every video should have a beginning, middle and end. This is also known as the narrative arc. Think about how you want your video to look and feel. Is it a whizzy, high energy video full of bright text and motion graphics or is a slow, majestic film with beautiful aerial shots. The style of your video and how you create drama shouldn’t just reflect your own brand image, it should speak to the parents you are trying to reach. 

Once you’ve planned your video project, it’s time to assemble the right team to complete it. Working with a video production company is by far the best idea when creating video for your school. In that way, your Execution will be on point. Don’t be tempted to ask your web design, marketing or PR company to do it. They are unlikely to have the expertise and will almost certainly subcontract the job. You may know a freelance videographer who will be more cost effective and there’s nothing wrong with that, but think long and hard about cutting too many corners with your school promotional videos. A video is a reflection of your school and is on a par with your website. So make sure it looks just as good. 

Finally, once you’ve got all your videos completed, you need to make sure they are working for you. This is about spending time in the Outreach phase, doing everything you can to ensure your videos are seen by the parents that matter. The best video in the world will do nothing for you unless it’s seen by your audience.

Here are a few ideas to get your video out there:

  • Put it on your website and on individual pages through your website. 
  • Place it on your social media channels including your banner on Facebook. 
  • Send it out in your newsletter to existing parents and send it via email to prospective parents. 
  • Run paid adverts on social media or youtube. 
  • Play the video on digital billboards in nearby towns. 
  • Play it on screens at the Independent school show or other shows. 
  • You can even send hard copies out in the post using “video brochures” though these aren’t very environmentally friendly so I wouldn’t recommend them. 

Creativity is nothing without strategy and when you marry the two in a comprehensive video marketing plan for your school, you are going to get some amazing results. Try to think of video as an ongoing part of your school marketing repertoire rather than just a box-ticking exercise.

Want Small Films to create a promotional video for your indepedent school? Then give us a shout at info@smallfilms.com

You’re sitting at your desk. You’ve got a mountain of marketing tasks ahead of you. Your inbox is full of emails from companies promising the next “shiny thing” that will help you. You wish there were either more hours in the day or there were two of you. But of course there isn’t. And that need to drive more admissions for your independent school just isn’t going away. 

But what if I told you that you’ve already got a tool that you are almost certainly not making the most of? A tool that could dramatically shift the tide for your school and not just boost admissions, but boost the right type of admissions. I’m talking of course about video. 

It’s highly likely that you’ve dabbled with video for your school at some point in the past. And if you haven’t then it should be very high up on your priority list. Video now accounts for around 80% of all internet traffic globally and we spend an average of 84 minutes online watching video content. If that doesn’t blow your mind then you’re made of much sterner stuff than I am! 

But why is that important for you as an independent school marketer? It’s simple really. If the prospective parents you are trying to reach are all spending hours of their day watching online video content, then you should be harnessing the same medium to communicate with them. Not only that, but consider that most people are watching videos on their smart devices like iphones and tablets. That means you have a unique opportunity to communicate with them wherever they are 24/7. Imagine that? What an opportunity we have as marketers! Commercial brands get it. They’re using video more than ever. In fact video is the fastest growing marketing tactic and mobile video accounts for 70% of all digital advertising. So you see, as a school, if you aren’t riding that video wave yet, then you should be. 

Creating a video for your school should not just be a box-ticking exercise. It should be a tactical and ongoing marketing project that delivers results. And in the vast majority of cases, that means increasing your school admissions. Don’t think of video as a one-off project where you create a promotional video that just sits on your website until it needs to be refreshed every few years. Think of video as the cornerstone of your communication strategy and something you should be using on a regular basis throughout the year. 

So how exactly can video boost your admissions?
Here are my 9 ways to boost school admissions with video. 

1. Increasing visibility

You can use video to increase visibility for your school so you get noticed by the parents you want to reach. Think about creating a short 15 second advert about the school and then running a Facebook, Instagram or YouTube advertising campaign targeting your ideal parent. Video is not only more eye-catching than a static picture, but you can also communicate a lot more information quickly.. If you are trying to reach parents abroad, in a different UK region or just locally, this will work wonders. 

2. Changing perceptions

Do parents think of you as being a sporty school or an academic school? Do they see you as being aloof or unapproachable? Are they worried about your fees or whether their child will “fit in”? In that case, the right video content can easily change their perceptions about your school. Think about the “objections” that your parents have about considering your school and then fend them off with some videos. 

3. Conveying your Ethos

Video is a wonderful tool for storytelling. Not only is it an exciting medium that people find pleasurable to watch, but you can be far more succinct with your stories than when you write them down on your website or prospectus. Through storytelling, you can truly convey the unique ethos of your school. You can put your head teacher on camera talking about your mission, values and how you give pupils far more than just learning. You can interview some of the pupils to show what calibre of individual you turn out at the school. You can interview the teachers to show the caring nature of your staff. Writing your core values on paper is one thing but showing them on video – well, that’s quite another. 

Banner for marketing an independent school

4. Showing your best side

Every school has something that makes them unique or an aspect of the school that they are particularly proud of. Have you just built a new sports centre or started offering a unique set of after school activities? Is your art department second to none or your boarding facilities out of this world? Then you should definitely make some videos about it. Parents will be scouring your website for relevant information and if they get pointed to the right video that shows your best side, it’s going to help them fall in love with your school. 

5. Differentiating you

Here’s the thing. Not all schools have video. And in most cases, they don’t have good video. So if you produce a great looking school promotional video for your homepage, you’ve already differentiated your school from all the other schools you are competing with. When parents are doing their research online, they can find all the schools get a bit “samey” after a while and so get frozen by “analysis paralysis” as my Dad loves to call it. If you create a video that really jumps out at them, you are going to make a great impression and be far more memorable. 

6. Creating a Feeling

Video is the one thing that can give parents the feeling of what it would be like to drop their children off at the school gate. No other medium comes close. A great promotional video on your homepage will use image, music and great storytelling to bring your school alive for prospective parents. You want to make them feel something. Because when they feel something great about your school from a video, they’ll be desperate to know what it feels like to visit in person. 

7. Amplifying Word of Mouth

Many schools rely on word of mouth to drive admissions for their school. Parents talk to parents and everyone’s got an opinion. Without a doubt, your existing parents are some of your greatest marketing assets. If they love your school then they will act like evangelists, taking your message out into the world. This is where social media comes in. It’s like word of mouth but amplified 100 fold. So start to put out videos about your school on social media. Make them exciting and entertaining so your existing parents like, comment and share them. Their friends will see it, their friends friends will see it. And before you know it, the phone is ringing off the hook. 

8. Increasing your Brand Image

Your school is a brand like any product we would buy. It’s your brand image which enables you to command top fees and win the admiration of potential parents. This has never been more important than it is today. It’s the reason you have to make your website look really whizzy, why you create school values and mottos and change the uniform every few years. Video is the ultimate tool for increasing your brand image and making your school stand out as being an aspirational institution that parents will be desperate to send their children to. 

9. Removing obstacles 

People are lazy. I’m sorry but it’s true. Parent’s might have already discounted you for any number of reasons and so they can’t be bothered to come for an open day. This apathy will result in them missing out on an opportunity to send their child to your school which is such a shame. There’s also the possibility that if they live abroad or are time-poor, they simply cannot come to visit. But with video you can make it far easier for parents to get a good feel for your school without coming to visit in person. This is where the “school tour” video comes in. It’s a longer piece of video content where you get a teacher or pupil to take parents on a behind the scenes tour of the school. They present to camera as if talking to the parent and walking them around the school. With these videos you can give parents a true flavour of your school from the comfort of their own home. 

Video really does offer incredible opportunities for school marketers and it’s one of the most under-used tools. If you start to use video in the right way, you can give your school an edge. 

If you are interested in working with Small Films on your next school promotional video then why not give us a shout at info@smallfilms.com

 

The best thing about commissioning video for your independent school is that you probably already have a great story to tell and a lot of amazing assets to film. That’s the hardest part over. Now it’s just about creating videos that tell your unique story in the best way, connect with your audience and help you drive admissions. Coming up with those film ideas can sometimes be a tricky task, especially when you have specific objectives like changing the perception of your school, reaching a wider audience, or letting people know about a unique aspect of what your school offers. To help you get started, here are 5 types of video that can be used to tell the story of your school.

1. Website Video

The first place to start is with a video that sits on your website and tells the story of your school in a nutshell (2 – 3 minutes). It is the first thing that prospective parents will engage with when they search for your school, so it has to be broad and cover all the relevant information. It can be a lovely mix of interviews with teachers and pupils, footage of the grounds and the facilities, footage of the students and teachers in action and everything that the school has to offer like extra-curricular activities, boarding and your school’s achievements. It’s an extremely effective way of building a personal connection to your prospective parents and can be empowering, heartfelt and even humorous.

Here is a website video we made for St Margarets.

2. Departmental Films

These are videos that can be about the schools different departments such as the arts, sports and science, or particular aspects of the school like boarding, prep-curriculum or extra-curricular activities. It’s great to highlight particular aspects of your school that you really want to shout about, or to let people know about a side of your school that they didn’t know about. If you want your customers to know of your fantastic theatre facilities then create a video interviewing the teachers and students, then combine that with footage of the theatre rehearsals and plays. If sport is your forté, then create a short film looking at all the different sports you offer. Or, if you’ve traditionally been seen as a sporty school but have made huge headway in academic league tables, then create a short video about academia and teaching to show a different side to your school. Departmental videos are also extremely good at giving your customers a more detailed and personal look at your school. These videos can be hosted on your website, your YouTube channel and can also be turned into great online advertisements for Facebook and Instagram.

Banner for marketing an independent school

3. Pupil Stories

Another effective way of telling your school story is from the perspective of the pupils themselves. A video of your pupils (with their parents consent) put up onto your Facebook or YouTube channel can be a great way to build an instant connection with prospective students. These videos can be highly creative and can also be a really good way at getting your existing pupils involved with some media, filming and acting activities. It can also be a great way to show the pastoral side of school life. Themes for these videos could include “A day in the life of a student”, “Boarder’s Story” or “Leaver’s Story”. Your pupils are perhaps the best ambassadors you have for the school so make sure to feature them in your videos.

Here’s a video we made for Moulsford Boy School to sit on their website which followed a pupil throughout his day.

4. Message from the Head

Many schools have a “Head’s Welcome” message on their website so why not turn this into a video? Parents will always be keen to know who the Head of the school is and to get a feeling for what outlook they have. This would be an interview with the Head giving their personal story and connection with the school, outlining their experience, capabilities and everything they hope to achieve for your child. It’s a personal way for the Head teacher to tell their story and connect with parents directly.

We made this video for The Oratory Prep school to house on their website which has an interview from the headmaster. We filmed the interview and created a separate, longer film for other marketing activity.

5. Short form stories

These are videos that tell a story of your school in under 20 seconds that can be very easily marketed across the internet through your social media channels. They are a great way of regularly getting your school message out there to your potential audience. These videos could feature quick vignettes of school life like boarding, extra-curricular activities or after-school clubs. They could also focus on individual aspects of the school and its facilities like the sports hall, theatre or grounds. Or they could highlight a different side to learning at the school like using smart boards in classes, school trips and outdoor learning. The great thing about short story videos is that you can easily create a large volume of videos from a single shoot and each video can tell a different story about your school.

We made this video for Priory Academy LSST for their digital advertising campaign to increase boarding admissions and international student intake. We made short form videos that looked into each international students life boarding at LSST.

These are just 5 ideas for videos to tell the story of your school but this really is just the tip of the iceberg. When you start to get creative with your videos, there’s no end to what you can create from mini-documentaries filmed by the students themselves to ex-alumni films and even 360 videos of the school grounds and facilities.

The world of independent schools has changed and the academic landscape is now a highly competitive industry. Independent schools can no longer rely solely on the prestige of their institution, league tables or word of mouth to secure a constant flow of admissions. Today your prospective students and parents live in a digital age and you will need to embrace technology if you want to keep your admissions high and stay in the minds of the right people. After ensuring you have a well presented and smooth working website, video is the next marketing tool you should set your sights on. 

At Small Films we have created videos to increase school admissions for some of the UK’s leading independent schools including Eton College, The Oratory Preparatory School and Moulsford School. Here are our top five ways in how you can use video to promote your school.

1. Video on your websites homepage

A video on your homepage can be incredibly powerful for independent schools where your website acts as your shop window. In fact, a survey by Unbounce found that video on your landing page can increase conversion rates by 80%. This video holds all the information and knowledge that a prospective parent or pupil will need. It eliminates the time your prospect has to spend searching for information and engages them instantly with creative and meaningful content. In a matter of minutes, not only do they know everything they need to know about your school but they also form an emotional connection. They have begun to imagine what it will be like to be a pupil at your school or as a parent what it will be like to send their child there. This connection is hard to achieve through just text and pictures. It’s an instant way to stand out from other schools and demonstrate your unique selling point. When creating this video you should ensure it is concise, polished and easy to digest.

2. Facebook Video Marketing

If you haven’t already been using social media for your school then it’s a good time to start! After watching the brand film on your website, visitors will want to do further research online. This is where social media channels play an important role. The more interaction they can achieve with your school, the better they will feel about you and the easier it will be for them to build a relationship. Facebook has 1.18 billion daily active users (Facebook) and the average user spends 50 minutes per day on Facebook. Incorporating a Facebook page for your school will amplify the amount of people you can connect with and it is another platform where your brand film can be presented. Not only that but via your Facebook page you can begin to include “vignettes” of school life via both professional videos and “self-shot” videos. This could be films featuring different parts of the school like sporting life, 6th form, arts and drama, or calendar events like school trips and sports day. It’s a great way to add depth and character to your school. Facebook has options now to prioritise video viewing and your page cover photo can be replaced with a video. Consumers engage with branded videos the most on Facebook (49%), followed by YouTube (32%), then Instagram (24%) (Tubular Insights).

Banner for marketing an independent school

3.  YouTube channel

YouTube is the second most visited site after Google (Alexa). Regular video posts onto a YouTube channel can achieve huge traffic and engagement from your prospects. The average mobile-viewing session on YouTube lasts more than 40 minutes (Kissmetrics).

Where YouTube excels over Facebook is that you can create your own “channel” for the school with lots and lots of videos. It can be an exciting way for pupils and teachers at the school to create their own videos to contribute to the channel.  You can be a lot more creative with the types of videos you make and really show off the school’s character. YouTube can act like an extension of your website video where parents and students will be willing to spend more time watching a video about specific aspects of your school like sport, maths, or teachers and facilities.

4. Social media advertising

Video advertisements can be hugely effective online as you can target very specific demographics whether that’s pupils, parents or teachers. Different social media platforms will work more effectively depending on the target audience. For example, Twitter and Facebook adverts will work best on parents whereas Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube ads will work best on prospective pupils. These adverts can be either brand new content or can be created using your own existing videos. The optimal length for these is between 5 and 15 seconds. Social media advertising as a whole can be an extremely effective way of getting your school in front of a new audience, but you can also use it to keep your school constantly in the mind of your current audience. Using a simple feature of Facebook called “pixel” you can “re-market” to people who have already visited your website. This means that when they visit your website they will be tracked by Facebook or Instagram and shown an unobtrusive advert to remind them that they were interested in your school. This form of advertising is highly effective. 

5. Video mail

The truth is not everyone is on social media, so how do you reach parents that are not on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube? One fantastic solution is through email marketing. It is a tried and tested approach that works time and time again. Whether you send out a newsletter or a personal email you can include video within that email. That can be your school video, a message from the head or a video about some other aspect of school life. Another way to get parent’s attention is to send out a hard copy of your video via Royal Mail. Rather than being old fashioned (i.e. a VHS sent in a big package) this is actually a very sophisticated form of marketing called a “video book” — it’s a school prospectus that when opened, contains a small screen that plays your video automatically. If you have an open day coming up and you want to target parents with something special then this could be the perfect solution.

There are so many great ways for independent schools to increase admissions in school using video and it represents one of the best ways to get high user engagement and a solid return on investment. There has never been a better time for schools to spread awareness, share their story and connect with new audiences. Video is one of the fastest ways for you to get your school out there in front of the right people and make your story heard by those that matter.

If you are looking for ways to increase school admissions and would like a discussion with one of our team about digital marketing or video production, then do drop us an email as we would love to help.

In an article by The Guardian, Ralf Lucas the founder of Good Schools Guide said that he was noticing a clear shift when meeting parents in their opinion towards State schools, saying that “Independent schools really need to show us more, not just tell us, as we’re really taking State schools seriously”. Parents today are spoilt for choice. Not only do independent schools need to prove their value over State schools but they also need to work harder to stand out from their competitor schools. This is why a well executed digital strategy should be a top priority for any marketing team in the independent school sector, and digital advertising can play a massive role in that.

So, what is digital advertising? Digital advertising is when you run adverts online across social media, Google, YouTube, and various other websites. Last year digital advertising spend outstripped television for the first time in history (SEOworks). It’s highly effective and the good news is it’s affordable for everybody, regardless of the size of your school marketing budget.

What are the best ways to use digital advertising for your school?

1. To drive more people to your school website

A video on your school website is an extremely effective way of engaging prospective parents. But how do you get them to visit your website in the first place, especially if they’ve never heard of your school? By running adverts online across Facebook and Instagram you can reach people beyond your immediate sphere of influence. For example, if you are a boarding school based in Surrey but you want to attract more international students from South Korea, you could run a Facebook advert that only targets affluent, well educated, English speaking adults in the Seoul area. Or, if you are a school in Buckinghamshire running a bursary scheme for inner city children, you could run an Instagram advert explaining the advantages of the scheme targeting London postcode children under the age of 16 who attend a specific selection of State schools. Even if you just want to attract more pupils from the next county, social media advertising is a great way to do this.

lead magnet image

2. To highlight the best aspects of your school

Parent’s can often get into “analysis paralysis” when comparing different schools. This is because many will have a good website, a compelling video and lots of information that positions them in a favourable light. To stand out from the competition, you need to think outside the box and that’s where digital advertising can help. You can provide parents with many more layers of information about your school to help them in the decision making process and also keep yourself in the front of their mind. By creating a series of films highlighting different aspects of your school, whether that’s art, sport or academia, you can run them as promotional videos online across social media channels, Google and YouTube. 

3. Keeping you at the front of prospect minds

One of the best things you can do for your school with digital advertising is to set up “re-marketing”. You might not have heard of re-marketing before but you will no doubt be familiar with it. We’ve all been there; you look at a bit of furniture or some clothing online and then an advert for that same item starts following you around the internet. You might find this slightly annoying, but the truth is it really works! All you need to do is ask your website designer to install Google and Facebook Pixel. Once that’s done you can set up your own re-marketing campaign via Google ads or Facebook ads. The reason this is so good is because it will keep your school in front of prospect parents as they deliberate over which school to visit, or which school to choose for their child.

Digital advertising can offer you some great solutions. Instagram and Facebook are both platforms that allow you to be very strategic in your approach to reach target audiences. By allowing you the selection of certain factors like location, age, gender, demographics, interests, behaviours, connections or language, you have the potential of reaching parents and students worldwide. As well as specific people around the UK. Your main focus when advertising on these platforms is to have a very distinguished idea of who your target audiences are and how you are best going to reach them with compelling content. 

You can be even more specific in your approach by targeting your prospect parents and students on the channels that you know they are most active. For example, if you want to be targeting parents with digital adverts the best options will be Facebook, Google and YouTube. As an older generation and not so immersed in the world of social media, you’ll mainly want to target them during everyday internet activity, for example, at work or online shopping through Google, watching recipe videos on YouTube, or, staying in contact with friends on Facebook.

If you want to be targeting students with your digital adverts the best platforms for you will be Instagram and Snapchat. The younger generation is much more tech savvy – providing them with direct access to your school’s information through a well displayed advert on Instagram will add a lot of credibility (maybe they’ll even share the ad). If you want to be reaching Feeder schools with your adverts then the best place to reach them is through Twitter as it’s more of a platform for brands, businesses and organisations. Perfect for spreading a more sophisticated message about your school to other people in the same field.

Digital advertising can seem like a daunting task but once you get started it soon becomes second nature. Just be specific in your approaches and make sure to have a very clear idea of who you want to be targeting. Use the right platforms in relation to your target audience, be knowledgeable about them so that you can be precise in your targeting and, be specific in the content you produce so that it resonates and connects with the target audience.

If you are looking for support with how to advertise your school then we have a team of highly experienced creatives, film makers and digital marketers who would love to help. Drop us a line here.