Marketing Montessori Now!

Happy New Year!
With the holiday celebrations behind us, and students beginning the second half of the year, it’s now time for your school to begin a marketing push for Fall 2014. It may seem early, but there are good reasons to get started now in order to put your school in the best position for success.

Three Reasons to Start Now:

1. Re-Enrollment Packets Arrive Soon
Depending on where you are in the country, the local school district and other private schools will begin sending home re-enrollment forms in February or March. Naturally parents are pressured to get those forms turned back in quickly. For parents of toddlers who aren’t in school yet, they begin to hear the buzz in the community from friends and family. It’s important to reach these parents through marketing to educate them about your school, before they make their choices.

2. Website Traffic Increases Jan – March
In the past year, Go Montessori performed some research in an attempt to prove that parents are more actively looking for schools during the beginning part of the year. We reviewed website traffic for 15 random Montessori schools at various locations throughout the US. Across the board, website traffic was highest in January, with February and March a close 2nd and 3rd. See the graph below to see how website traffic fluctuates throughout the year and notice a steady pattern that practically dictates when your marketing dollars should be spent. With no other plausible reason for each of the schools in our study to have an increase during this time, we confidently surmise that parents have school on their minds and are doing their research for the Fall.  Now is the time to put your school in front of them through effective marketing.

3. Marketing Takes Time

Marketing your school is a process that takes time to plan and execute properly. This process probably should have been started in November, but it’s not too late to get started and put your school in a position for a big boost.

Short on time?  Let Go Montessori help!  There are a variety of ways to market your school no matter the size of your budget.  Over the past 10 years, after working with over 300 Montessori schools, the most cost-effective method of marketing is direct mail.  We can create and send a postcard to a targeted list of families in your community that have children that are part of the age group that your school caters to.  Working together, we can identify the best areas to send the postcard, and size the list to meet your exact budget.

Call us today at 530-419-1633 if you would like more information about marketing your Montessori school.  Mention this article and received $50 off of your mailing list as part of your postcard mailer project.  Too shy to call?  We don’t blame you…so just send us your info and let us do the rest!