SYDNEY REGION

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

PROMOTING
YOUR
SCHOOL
 Page 2 of 16

NSW public schools achieve great things every day

The problem is, we are not always very good at telling people about
what we are doing and how we are doing it.

This document offers you hints and tips to help you promote your school.
It is not a definitive list, but contains a range of ideas to help you get
started.

Throughout this kit you will see references to the School Promotions Unit
intranet site at detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions.

This site is full of valuable practical advice, samples and case studies of
best practice to assist schools communicate more effectively with their
local communities.

The site will be regularly updated with new case studies from schools
who are demonstrating how planned and sustained promotions can
bring results.

I am available at any time to help you develop or ‘tweak’ your strategic

promotions plan, answer questions, proof read promotional material and
visit your school to see how we can work together to make sure that
your community knows how good your school really is.

Remember, a lot of people make a decision about your school without

ever visiting or seeking out any information. You need to reach out and
invite them in.

Ros Bastian

Regional School Promotions Officer

P 9217 3445 | 0402 791 630

roslyn.bastian@det.nsw.edu.au

W detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 3 of 16

Culture of success

Remember that in all you do, you are promoting success!

Success is what every parent wants for their child, so your school
messages, presentation and style should always reflect this. Whatever
your challenges or needs, you can foster a culture of success which will
be evident in all of your communications and interactions.

Some things to keep in mind:

■ be certain of what you want to achieve

■ be transparent and inclusive with your school community in

planning out your promotional strategy

■ develop the confidence of your staff

■ emphasise your strengths (public schools are not the poor

relations of education)

■ promote communication and teamwork in your school

■ have a long-term approach.

Change programs take time, so do not be dismayed if things do not

change overnight.

Always remember to walk the talk and that every conversation is a

promotional opportunity.

Research shows that 80% of

good marketing is word of mouth AND
80% of bad marketing is word of mouth

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 4 of 16

Market research

Before you start promoting your school, it is useful to understand where

you are starting from.

You should try to find answers to the following questions:

■ What is the community perception of your school? (i.e. positive or

negative)

■ Are you meeting the needs and expectations of your local

community?

■ Why do parents choose your school? What are their expectations?

■ Why do parents choose other schools (and not your school)?

■ When are parents making decisions?

■ What do they need/want to know?

■ Who are the target audience(s) for your promotional strategy? (i.e.
parents, teachers, businesses, community groups)

■ What is the best way of communicating with and reaching each of

your target markets?

There are a variety of ways you can get information from your school
community, starting from informal chats at school events through to
more structured approaches such as questionnaires, focus group
meetings or one-on-one interviews.

The School Promotions intranet site has tips on how to conduct research
plus some samples of questionnaires that you may wish to use or modify
for your own purposes.

Visit the intranet site at detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions.

First things first –

understand your
community

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 5 of 16

Communication audit

As part of your research, it is useful to perform a communications audit

to look at how you are communicating with parents, staff, students,
media, and the school community.

Things to look at include:

■ Do you have a range of material to cater for your different target

audiences and communication purposes?

■ Does all of your material have consistent and clear branding? (i.e.
does it represent your school in a professional manner)

■ Is it easy to understand?

■ Are the key messages of your school reinforced?

■ Is the look and feel clean and simple?

■ Is there good use of images?

■ Is the information up to date?

■ Is your method of distribution reaching the right people?

■ What feedback have you had regarding the way you communicate?

This process will help you to be clear about what you are doing well,
what could be done better, what is missing and what new approaches
are needed. It will help clarify where you want to go.

Review all your

current communication
materials

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 6 of 16

Your promotional plan

A promotional plan is an important tool in ensuring that you get the most
out of your promotion dollar so you are not throwing good money after
bad. It is easy to produce a brochure, but if your brochure does not
clearly reflect your key messages and does not appeal to your target
audience, it will not work and it is a waste of money.

Before you outline your promotional strategy, you should spend some
time thinking about your school’s current situation.

You should think about:

■ What makes your school special? (strengths)

■ What could be improved? (weaknesses)

■ Are there any circumstances that may benefit your school?

(opportunities)

■ Are there any factors that may negatively impact upon your school?
(threats)

■ What is your school climate and culture? (i.e. positive/negative)

■ How involved in the local community is your school?

■ What is the perception of the community?

■ What is your enrolment situation?

■ What are you trying to say about your school? What do you want
people to think when they refer to your school? (key messages)

Complete a promotions
plan for your school
before you start

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 7 of 16

Using the School Promotional Plan program

The School Promotional Plan program is available as a CDROM version

(PC and Mac format) and as a downloadable program on the School
Promotion intranet site detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions.

It has been especially developed for the school environment and assists
you develop a concise, strategic and action-based plan.

The key thing to remember is that a promotional plan does not have to
be a long document. It could just be a few pages which map out what
you want to say about your school and how you want to say it.

The key sections in your promotional plan are:

■ SWOT analysis – what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

and threats for your school

■ key messages – what do you want to say about your school

■ banner statement – if your school motto is not something that your

target market will identify with, such as Vincent Qui se Vincent, you
might think about using a banner statement on promotional material
to reflect the aims of the school such as quality education in a caring
environment.

■ audiences – who are your target market(s)

■ objectives – what are the objectives of your promotional strategy

■ action plan – promotional strategies and tactics which you will

implement to achieve your objectives

■ budget – how much will your strategies cost to implement

■ evaluation – put systems in place to measure the success of your

tactics once they have been implemented to find out what worked and
what didn’t.

Use the SPU interactive

planning program – it is
designed for schools

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 8 of 16

Strategies and tactics

By working through your promotional plan you will develop a mix of

strategies and tactics that are specific to your school’s promotional
challenges. These strategies may include developing print materials,
advertising, events, media promotion and so on.

Visit detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions for helpful tips, samples

of good design and photography, advice on making the most of your
local media, best practice, case studies on what has worked for other
schools and much more.

Print materials

If you do not know of a good designer or do not wish to incur this

expense, the School Promotions Unit has devised an innovative
template system to help you develop your printed promotional material.
This system enables you to choose from a selection of designs, to input
your own photos and words (with text banks to help you draft your
content) and then produce a PDF file which is ready for a printer.

The template system, available on the School Promotions intranet, will

eventually include templates for:

■ school brochure

■ school prospectus

■ school newsletters

■ newspaper advertisement.

You can always contact me or the School Promotions Unit for advice on
how to use the template, for feedback on your proposed designs and
content or advice when using local expertise in design and printing.

Writing for your community

Every organisation or professional group develops a language peculiar

to them. Education is no different. Be sure to avoid acronyms and jargon
in your writing and always state the benefit to students of being
educated at your school.

Ensure your materials are well

designed

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 9 of 16

Events

Every school event is an opportunity for you to inform your community

about the excellent education on offer at your school.

Here are some ideas to get the most promotional mileage from your
school events:

■ Annual calendar of events

Plan ahead as much as possible and promote your calendar of
events (school website, school notice boards, school newsletter and
your local media when appropriate). Are there community events or
milestones where you can have a presence e.g. field days, street
festivals, centenary celebrations?

■ Purpose of your event

How does your event fit in with what you are trying to achieve in
promoting your school? How does it relate to your school’s key
messages? How are they conveyed through the type of event, the
program and the publicity?

■ Plan your promotions

When preparing your event plan be sure to include promoting your
event. This could include preparation of a media release for the local
media and posters or flyers sent to community agencies such as
libraries and councils and to local businesses. These promotional
materials should reinforce your overall school messages and image,
rather than just saying where and when your event will be held.

■ Whom do you want to reach?

Identify the people you want to reach through your event and include
them on your guest list. If you have the resources, develop an events
invitation database including media contacts, local business people,
local council members, feeder school principals, and school alumni.
By involving community leaders in your events you extend your
school’s reputation and influence.

Plan ahead and promote

your calendar of events

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 10 of 16

■ Use our multicultural services

There are services available that can assist you communicate with a
multiculturally diverse school community. There are interpreter
services available and the Department’s intranet has a number of
multilingual materials including invitations to various school events in
approximately 40 languages. The region’s Community information
Officers can also offer you help.
www.det.nsw.edu.au/languagesupport/index.htm.

■ Maximise attendance
Run events at times which will attract as many attendees as possible.
Consider scheduling your event to enable working parents to attend.

■ Partner with other schools

Combining with nearby schools for events, such as school open days,
strengthens the message that public schools provide a continuity in
excellence of education. For example, secondary schools can invite
feeder primary schools to events and present items that showcase
shared programs between schools.

■ Take photos
Ensure that digital photographs are taken at all events for easy
uploading onto the school website. Remember to get an authority to
publish approval from parents/caregivers for all students
photographed.

■ Escalate your publicity

Create excitement and anticipation for your event with increased
publicity close to the event. For example on your school message
board, newsletter and school website you could do a countdown “Two
weeks until…” and so on.

■ Get feedback on your events

This can be as simple as a quick chat to attendees to gauge their
opinion, feedback sheets and even small focus group discussions
after the event. Look at ways of improving your events and be
innovative rather than doing events as they’ve always been done.

Create excitement
and anticipation for your
event

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 11 of 16

Website wonders

The Corporate Communication Directorate of DET is currently working

on an easy-to-use template system that will enable schools to develop
their websites without having to understand HTML or any other
programming language. If you can’t wait that long – or you have a
website that you want to fix up – here are some hints and tips to
consider:

■ Make sure you have strong branding

Try to reflect the same look and feel (i.e. colours and style) across
your website and your printed material so that there is synergy with
the image you present. Make sure the name of your school is
prominent. It should be clear who the website belongs to.

■ Keep your content up to date

Even if you only update it once a month, it is good for people to know
that your site is current.

■ Easy to understand navigation

Don’t confuse people with too many options. They will just leave your
site if the choice is too hard. Ideally, your navigation should contain
nine (9) options at the most. Use the second level of your site to add
more information if you have to. Putting 30 links on your homepage is
not the answer.

■ Try to keep a clean look and feel

Don’t complicate your site with lots of colours, animated graphics or
flashing buttons. Keep it simple. This will also optimise your download
time so that people do not give up waiting for your site. Some colours
are hard to read and coloured and patterned backgrounds also make
it difficult to read information on screen.

Reflect the look

of your publications
in your website

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 12 of 16

■ Do not use frames

Frames make it difficult for people to print your site and browser
readers, for visually impaired people, do not work with frames.

■ Limit the use of PDF files

Large files can take ages to download and they are difficult to use
with browser readers.

■ Use your <ALT> tags

These are used to explain links, images and file sizes. Maintain
consistent page layout through the site. Don’t change your page
layout for every page. People like consistency so they can
understand the navigation and how the site works.

■ Try to limit scrolling

Lots of short pages are better then a few really long pages. Make it
easy to read.

■ Try to limit the government speak on your site

Make sure your tone is friendly and engaging. Write things in the first
person, “We are proud of our heritage”, rather than in the third person
“Our school is very proud of its heritage”.

Use a friendly and

engaging tone – avoid
“educational” speak

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 13 of 16

Some promotional ideas to think about

Here are some ideas that might be worth considering for your school.

First impressions count – conduct an image audit

Try to look at your school through the eyes of a first-time parent, or ask a
non-teaching friend, who hasn’t seen the school, to telephone and visit.
Pay attention to:

□ school grounds – are they tidy?

□ can people find your office? Is signage adequate?

□ what is the first thing people see when they walk into the
front office?

□ are they greeted promptly by friendly staff?

□ what is your on hold music/message on your telephone

system?

■ Where are your studnets coming from?

Think about ways in which you can work with your local pre-schools
(primary schools) and feeder primary schools (secondary schools) to
establish good relationships with students and parents before they
start making that next education decision.

■ Work in partnership
Think about working with other public schools in your area for
community events, media articles and promotional material. This
could have many cost saving benefits and will also highlight the value
of continuity in education in a public school K-12. It might be useful to
produce a group of schools brochure, for example, to hand out at
promotion opportunities, to the tourism office and leave in the local
library, community areas and even your local real estate agent.
Visit the School Promotions Unit intranet to see samples of collegial
group promotions.

First impressions are

very important

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 14 of 16

■ Use of positive role models (advocates)

Our schools have produced some fantastic people who are very
much in the public eye for sport, art and academic achievement. Find
them and use them in your promotional material and at special events
if you can. Samples of newspaper advocate campaigns are on the
School Promotions intranet site.

■ Use the media

News media coverage is free. Use it. Your local newspaper is always
looking for stories and loves local good news stories. Develop a good
working relationship with your local newspaper – the more personal
the better. If they don’t know you they are less likely to publish your
stories. Whatever is going on in your school (events, activities, new
programs, new staff, meetings, new facilities, cross-school events,
business support) make sure you tell your local media and tell them
BEFORE the event. Two (2) weeks’ notice is good. If you don’t tell
your local media about events you cannot say they won’t help by
publishing material.

■ Advertising
This requires homework. Find out whom you want to target, what they
read, watch, or listen to, and assess how effective your advertisement
will be before you do anything. When you have done your research
develop an advertisement with impact – one that gets your message
across to the people you want to reach.

■ Promotion on hold
Change your telephone on hold music to a promotional message for
your school. Doorbell chime music doesn’t say anything about your
school and can be annoying.
(Note: The School Promotions Unit is currently trialling a provider of
this service. Please contact me if you would like to know more about
this.)

■ Signage
Can people find the principal’s office easily? Is your school
signposted properly on all sides? Does your school’s changeable sign
carry information that is reinforcing the messages of quality and
Use advocates to
excellence you wish to convey?
speak positively for
your school

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 15 of 16

■ Promotion in the foyer

If your office reception area can take it, use this space to promote the
events of your school. An In the News board or promotional video
running on a loop is better for visitors to look at than a wall with a
dodgy landscape on it. Show off your student work. Have
photographs of Students of the Month.
Having said that try not to have too much clutter. Find a balance.

■ Develop a school welcome pack/parent information pack

What do people get when they enrol in your school? Think about
producing a parent information booklet or folder that outlines key
times, dates and information that parents want to know. However,
keep this concise – people will not read it if it looks too thick and too
long.

■ Customer service
How are your visitors treated when they enter your school? This is
important. Make sure that all of your staff understand the importance
of saying hello and offering to help visitors.

■ Open door policy

Always make parents feel welcome. They should feel that they can
approach you with a query, concern or suggestion. What
arrangements do you have to enable working parents to see you?

■ Encourage feedback
Create a feedback form and put it at your reception counter. People
like to see that you care about what they think.

■ Public image
What does your uniform look like to the outside world? Are your
students in full school uniform and do they look neat and tidy? Are
your teachers and front office staff professional-looking?

A friendly welcome
builds goodwill

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions
 Page 16 of 16

■ Thank you certificates

Make sure you acknowledge help from your local community.
Produce thank you certificates for businesses to display in their foyer.
Even if these cost a bit of money to produce, if the business is
popular it could mean a lot of free publicity if it is displayed in a
prominent place.

■ Look at your emblem

Does it still reflect your community? Is it still relevant? Does your
community connect with your emblem or does it just make your
school look old and tired?

■ Look at your school motto

Does your school motto still reflect the purpose and vision of your
school?
Note: If your community loves your school mottos and emblem, but
you feel it doesn’t reflect your school very well, you can develop a
separate banner statement for your school and use your emblem
sparingly on promotional material.

■ Get involved
Community involvement is a two-way street. If your school is seen to
be helping your community, then people will be more inclined to get
involved with your school and think good things about you.

■ Create a photo library

An image really does say one thousand words. Especially when it has
happy kids in your school staring into the lens. Put together a photo
library of images you can use on promotional material and on your
website.

■ Open your school for community activities

If your school is used for community activities (i.e. classes, events,
community meetings) it may be a way of promoting familiarity with
your school grounds and your staff.

■ Remember, I am here to help!

Ros Bastian

Make your community

feel appreciated

detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolpromotions