Making your school’s digital first impression a unique experience – the DigiComms Service
What does your school’s front door look like? We’re not talking about the physical entrance to the main reception area but your digital entrance – the one most prospective families are likely to walk through long before stepping over the actual doorstep.
Following word of mouth recommendations, the next most crucial point of contact for prospective families is the internet. And the most outstanding marketing campaign for the best school in the country (that’s yours, of course!) can only be successful if the initial digital welcome makes future students and parents feel wanted, valued and understood.
Your digital communication partners at FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia can now help you learn more about delivering a personalised prospectus that speaks directly to the motivations and expectations of an enquiring parent or carer. Nothing speaks louder than personalised digital communication if you’re wanting to establish a great relationship, even before you meet the family in person.
First impressions are everything
It’s impractical to try to be all things to all people. And with so many voices shouting their messages, it’s more important than ever for your successful digital communications to be relevant, engaging, simple to understand, but rich in content – to cut through the noise. So a narrower focus, zeroing in on particular interests, differentiates your school, giving you a strategic advantage in an increasingly competitive educational environment in most parts of Australia.
Prospective parent engagement is most effective when you can learn from the get-go exactly why they’re considering your school and precisely what their expectations are. Motivation for the enquiry phase may be based on academic outcomes, relocation, special needs, a social or moral worldview, or a sporting or arts focus. Maybe it’s just general curiosity based on positive personal recommendations. And there’s always those out-of-the-box questions to deal with. Whatever it is, a successful conversion to enrolment is one where all parties are happy that there’s an excellent fit for the students, parents and school – and everyone’s still smiling well into the first term!
Choosing the right education – a significant life choice
Starting a child at school ranks right up there for most parents with major life decisions. For first-time parents, it’s pretty momentous and often emotional. For entry into elite or highly sought-after schools, the competition for places can also be very daunting. Decisions can be made years ahead of actually waving goodbye to the child at the classroom door. Families move, influences change – but ideally, you want that initial effort to convert into a successful enrolment, whenever that may be.
So once the relationship is started, it’s essential to keep data valid and track any changes until the enrolment phase is completed. Manual tracking and updating family information is not only a significant administrative burden, it also creates possible breaches in privacy and compliance. DigiComms Packages for data validation and other key functions, and our workflow automation services come alongside to automate this for enrolment staff, with the added assurance of guaranteed execution of privacy and compliance requirements.
Knowing your future students – just as important!
The institutions we work with put great effort and investment into differentiating their school to attract the students and families who’ll thrive with them throughout their student journey. At the same time, marketing budgets are limited, so making the most of available technology in digital communications must deliver tangible savings in time and money. Contact our education team at FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia, to get access to consultancy services to ensure your branding and key messages hit the mark through digital communications at every stage of the student lifecycle.
This means that we work closely with you to gather the information from families that will enhance the student experience, starting with that all-important initial contact – the prospectus, personalised for the student and family, based on expressed needs and values. This helps set the tone and assist the decision-makers for best fit in the classroom.
Establishing parent engagement
Parent engagement can absorb an inordinate amount of time and attention over the years of the student lifecycle, so establishing communication expectations and preferences upfront, that can plug directly into your student management system, will pay off in later years – your teachers will be grateful. Also, different parts of the school won’t need to annoy the family with duplicated requests about the student profile. Everyone will be able to access validated, relevant data whenever and wherever they need it. Your parents will thank you for that too!
Interested in learning more about building a personalised prospectus and getting your parents off to the best possible start? Talk with your FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia Account Manager, contact our education specialists, or call the team today on 13 14 12.