Most schools now understand the importance of a well thought out digital strategy to engage with their communities and prospective families. Nevertheless, bringing a strategy to life can feel overwhelming and uncertain.
To help schools get set up for success in 2025, we recently hosted a webinar with a panel of experts exploring trends, sharing practical steps to take and uncovering the components of a strong digital strategy. Below you’ll find the key takeaways so you can launch into the new year with a clear digital plan.
Digital presence encompasses all the ways your school interacts with its community online. This includes your school website, social media channels, digital marketing efforts and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. A well-planned digital presence can help your school attract new students, retain current families and build a strong, supportive community. What's not to love about that?
The webinar highlighted three essential components to consider for a successful school digital strategy: branding, digital marketing and website management. Weave these into your digital plan and you’ll be well on your way to a cohesive and effective online presence.
Branding encompasses the values, mission and unique characteristics that define your school. Suzanne Oxford, a founding partner of New Word Order, shared details on the importance of a strong brand for schools. “Brand creates the reason for the right parent to choose your school, to stay at your school, and to refer your school. It’s the overarching umbrella under which all of your strategies and plans and actions can live in terms of marketing and in terms of your digital presence,” explains Suzanne. “I like to quote Jeff Bezos who said that brand is what people say about you when you leave a room. It is their perceptions, it's their experiences, it's their memories, it's their interactions.”
“Brands make people feel seen, heard, known and understood.” Suzanne Oxford, New Word Order.
Despite the importance of brand, it’s easy to overlook, and many schools find themselves too snowed under with marketing tasks to properly explore brand strategy. “It’s really easy to get swept up into what I call ‘random acts of marketing,’ because the role of a school marketer is so busy and intense, it’s so easy to be reactive,” continues Suzanne. “If we step back and think, what is our brand? It’s that end-to-end experience from the first moment I hear about a school right through to the moment my child graduates...So, brand is really big. And brand then leads into branding. Branding is your tone of voice. It’s your visuals. It’s your photography. It’s your video. It’s all of those things that you harness in order to shape people’s perceptions and shape their experiences so they’re really aligned and drawn to your school.”
If your school doesn’t have a clearly defined brand, start with the following steps:
Digital marketing involves using online channels to promote your school and engage with your community. Through the webinar, James Thomson, co-founder of Novaflow Digital, shared valuable insights on effective digital marketing strategies for schools.
“Focus on metrics that matter, not vanity metrics. In 2025, focus on how many tours are coming from your digital ads, how many phone calls, how many open day attendances, how many job applicants if you’re doing HR job ads, how many scholarship applications — those metrics that really matter at the end of the day to your school or college.”
Key digital marketing strategies include:
Your school’s website is the central hub of your digital presence. It should be user-friendly, informative and aligned with your school’s strategic goals. Timo Nieuwoudt, our very own Chief Marketing Officer, highlighted the importance of a well-managed website during the webinar.
"Your website is probably your most strategic marketing tool...everything kind of then feeds in as a central point of truth for both existing and future families,” shares Timo. “For schools that do this really well, the website is often a reflection of the strategic goals of that school. Let's say a school has a very specific strategic goal around new admissions and then also a donations element that they're working on. Those two elements would be very prominently featured on their website versus a school that maybe doesn't have [a strategic plan], where the website is just an information dump of everything in one place. Schools are definitely looking at their website in a more strategic way in terms of what problems it can solve and what questions it can answer."
To optimize your school’s website, consider the following:
The webinar also highlighted several trends that schools should be aware of as they plan their digital presence for 2025. If competing schools grab hold of these trends and use them successfully, you may find your school a few steps behind.
Digital trends for schools in 2025 are set to include:
Planning your digital presence for 2025 may seem daunting with the many elements involved in a good strategy. Breaking it down into manageable steps can simplify the process. Here are some practical steps to get you started:
As competition heats up for private and independent schools, a strong digital presence is more important than ever. By focusing on branding, digital marketing and website management, you can create a cohesive and effective online presence that engages your community and supports your school’s strategic goals. Remember to stay informed about the latest trends and continuously refine your digital strategy to stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape that is digital marketing!