As a Duct Tape Marketing consulting working with small business and private schools, we are always looking to help you spend your school marketing dollars wisely when the economy is tight. In this guest article “Marketing Smart When Times Are Tight“, I suggest 5 ways to be:
- Be Valuable
- Be Helpful
- Be Strategic
- Be Different
- Be Referrable
Sound like smart marketing to you? (Learn more about the principles of this international marketing system for your private school, too!)
Click here to read the full article on the Duct Tape Marketing Consulting blog to learn more specifically about the 5 ways to be.
More than I wish, I hear Christian pastors, church leaders, Christian school administrators and Board Members express an “uncomfortableness” with the term “marketing.”
I often ask what the definition of “marketing” is and get a surprising variety of negative answers:
- All fluff – flowery fund-raising campaigns, theoretical gobbledygook and sugar-coated promotion
- Manipulation – they don’t say it this way, but they express something they observe on TV and in stores where people are made to feel guilty about buying something
- Obsessive self-promotion – no one wants to be the “salesman” – the family who talks about their school all the time so much that their friends get weary and fatigued at their incessant one-topic communication. Thus, families (and schools admins) shy away so as not to be “like that.”
There is a much better definition of marketing!
As you see on the right sidebar, I am the only Certified Duct Tape Marketing Consultant in all of North and West Texas. In Duct Tape Marketing, we deliver marketing consulting based on a simple definition of marketing:
“Getting people with a specific need to know, like and trust you.”
That’s it. Of course, the result from building a trusting relationship is creating loyal ambassadors (repeat business and motivated referrals!)
In the world of private Christian schools, this definition works so well – because it’s all about cultivating trust with families. And when those families (the “people” part of the definition) have their pains/frustrations/fears alleviated (this is the “need” part), they become a long-term family for your school and they will certainly be your best ambassadors at their church, in the community and on Facebook!
– Randy
