If you happen to work in school marketing and admissions at a school that is situated within the Cambridge, London and Oxford triangle, you might not recognise the situation I’m about to describe.
If you are based in one of these places, you don’t have to add a massive map of England to your banner, with a big arrow pointing to some random point on that map and the words: “We are here”.
You may not have to address your school’s history and justify why you are “here” and not “there”. You might also be spared the question that is frequently asked: “What can I say when people really do prefer London?”
“In Switzerland, is anyone bothered about a school’s distance from Bern?”
How do our Australian, American and Swiss counterparts in school marketing – to name but a few – deal with this? Do they get these types of questions? Is the distance between a US private school and Washington D.C. often a deal breaker?
Is Switzerland perhaps so small that it hardly matters or are they asked about their location in relation to the mountains or the lakes? I take it no one is bothered about the distance to Bern.
Along with quite a few professionals, I am often confronted with our geographical limitations. Our distance to London, our distance to London Heathrow and our distance to what some might consider “civilisation”.
Even people in the United Kingdom reckon that venturing a certain distance beyond the M25 will mean parting with basic necessities such as 5G, running water and oxygen to breathe. What are overseas families supposed to think?
As a person living in the inhospitable and rugged depths of the north of England, I know – as well as many others do – that we enjoy a lifestyle very comparable to those south of us. There are fewer independent schools per square mile perhaps, only half the coffee options and – if you happen to live in Scarborough – an actual cinema.
“Unless you have a school on wheels, it is impossible to change your location.”
As a school marketing professional working for a school situated here, when I address our location it is too often a justification. Most often, I find myself trying to defend our location in the face of overwhelming evidence that the premium location schools simply do enjoy a geographical advantage.
Before I go into the marketing of the not-so-premium locations, I would briefly like to touch on one strategy that some marketing professionals, including myself, have tried.
You could adopt the strategy of devaluing the locations of others but as my former boss used to say: “You either sell the competition or you do not mention them.” You never criticise the opposition. It makes your own brand look weak.
“Rather than oversell your location, try underselling it.”
My own strategy has always been that unless you have a school on wheels, it is impossible to change your location. If you would like change in that department, you need to swap schools.
In all honesty, our school, like plenty of others, did move location twice as a result of two world wars, but it is hardly the kind of change of scenery we are looking for. In other words: embrace your school. All of it. Values, students, staff and location. Your school would not be the school it is if not, in part, for its location.
Take its values. Look through them – I am sure you already have – and look at how your location determines what it is you stand for. If you are looking for the school’s heritage, it is worth looking at how its location has always determined its values. My school was established to be a school for deserving boys on the northeast coast. Today, this is echoed in our local scholarship programme and a number of other initiatives.
Rather than oversell your location, which might come across as trying to persuade those who insist on not being persuaded, try underselling it.
Hidden gems are hidden for a reason. They are also gems for a reason. If people are not going to want the extra two hours on a bus, they are hardly going to listen to you blabber on about what makes the two hours worthwhile. They have either decided or they are deaf. Perhaps they are both but whatever the case, you risk wasting your breath.
“Just remember that there are people who are keen to travel to Mars.”
There are those who are keen to unearth the hidden gems. They may not mind the extra two hours. Let them ask the questions, get them to discover and allow them to open the door. We hidden gems have unbelievably beautiful images and videos in our arsenal, so tease the potential explorers. Do not lay it on thick and say it is beautiful; get them to figure it out. The hidden gems are found by those who wish to find it, not those who were beaten into submission.
In short, try to find the strengths of your school, the quirky traditions, the stunning scenery, the extra-curricular opportunities and everything else; and make them stand out.
Just remember that there are people who are keen to travel to Mars. In spite of the costs, the risks, the time it takes and the fact that there is actually nothing to see.
It might be a terrible analogy – most schools are only half a journey to Mars away – but the principle is the same. If your school is worth going to, it will be worth the incredible and unbelievable sacrifice of a few hours more in the train.