The following guide assumes that you will host your Open House virtually via Zoom or Google Meet (I believe that Zoom is preferable however). While hosting an in-person event may be ideal, a greater number of prospects will be able to connect with you if the event is hosted virtually.

Step 1: Timing is Everything

Host your open house events twice per month, ideally at 7:00 PM to accommodate busy parents. This consistent scheduling ensures that your school remains at the forefront of prospective families’ minds.

Step 2: The Invitation Strategy

Extend multiple invitations to potential attendees. With at least four touches, you demonstrate dedication to prospective parents and increase the likelihood of their attendance.

Step 3: Registration Made Simple

Direct parents to a landing page designed for ease, where they can quickly register for your open house. Ask for just a first name, email, and phone number to keep the process straightforward.

Step 4: Automated Communication

Develop an automated sequence of communications, beginning with an immediate confirmation, followed by reminders, and culminating with a post-event thank you. Each message should serve as a stepping stone towards attending the open house.

Step 5: Engage and Interact

Prepare a brief yet captivating pitch about your school (7-10 minutes), and transition smoothly into an interactive Q&A session. Be ready to adapt to a small audience with personalized attention. Don’t worry if only one family attends; treat those moments like you would a typical initial parent conversation.

Step 6: Utilize Parent Ambassadors

Incorporate stories and testimonials from current families. A parent ambassador can offer authenticity and relatability that resonates with prospective parents.

Step 7: The Power of SMS

With its high open rates, SMS is a non-negotiable tool for ensuring high attendance. Use SMS confirmations and reminders to keep your open house on attendees’ radars.

Step 8: Embrace Technology

Automate your workflows with tools like HubSpot or Mailchimp, and integrate sign-up data seamlessly for efficiency and effectiveness.

By following these steps, your private school’s open house can become an admission-driving powerhouse.

Need help implementing this strategy?

If you’re looking to transform your open house from just another event on the calendar to an irresistible opportunity for prospective families, the School CMO team is here to help. Click here to contact the School CMO team for expert guidance and support.

Understanding the Purpose of a Parent Guide

A Parent Guide is a strategic document that consolidates essential information about your school into one accessible platform. Unlike scattered details across various websites and brochures, this guide provides a centralized resource, helping parents make informed decisions regarding their children’s education.

What Makes the Parent Guide Essential?

1. Informational Repository: It encompasses all vital data and unique selling points of your school, from academic programs and extracurricular opportunities to enrollment procedures and tuition details.
2. Lead Capture Mechanism: By gating the content, you encourage parents to exchange their contact information for the valuable insights the guide provides. This process allows for effective lead capture, essential for follow-up communications and personalized engagement.

The Automation Advantage in Enrollment Strategies

Implementing automation in your Parent Guide distribution elevates the entire communication process. When a parent expresses interest and fills out a request form, an automated response system immediately sends out the guide. This efficiency demonstrates your school’s commitment to accessibility and responsive communication, factors that prospective families highly value.

Crafting a Parent Guide That Converts

Creating a compelling Parent Guide involves more than aggregating information. It requires a thoughtful approach that reflects your school’s unique philosophy, community, and value proposition. Consider these elements to maximize its impact:

• Personalization: Tailor content to highlight what sets your school apart. Share success stories, testimonials, and specific programs that contribute to your educational community’s uniqueness.
• Clarity and Accessibility: Make your guide easy to read and navigate. Use clear headings, bullet points, and visuals to help parents find the information they need effortlessly.
• Strong Calls-to-Action (CTAs): Encourage further engagement by inviting parents to schedule an admission consultation or attend an open house. Clear, persuasive CTAs can significantly enhance conversion rates.

Why Parent Guides Surpass Typical Inquiry Forms

Traditional inquiry forms are passive; they wait for prospects to take the initiative. A Parent Guide, however, is a proactive engagement tool. By offering immediate value, it establishes a communication channel with families intrigued by your approach and willing to share their contact details for more insight.

Free Parent Guide Template

Ready to transform your K-12 private school’s enrollment strategy? We’re here to help kickstart this innovation with a professionally designed, customizable Parent Guide template. With this resource, you can efficiently craft a guide that resonates with prospective families, reflecting your school’s mission and vision.

Download Your Free Parent Guide Template

The Parent Guide strategy is more than a marketing tactic; it’s a relationship-building approach between your school and potential families. By providing an indispensable, informative resource, you pave the way for increased engagements, enriched connections, and ultimately, higher enrollment rates.

For schools and educational institutions aiming to increase their student or customer base, the key is often in the number of meaningful conversations you can have over the phone.

Here’s a three-step blueprint to amplify your phone engagements with potential enrollees and customers:

1. Boost Your Traffic:

   • Start by leveraging Google and Meta ads to quickly draw attention.
   • However, for sustained growth, diversify into organic avenues: think SEO, authentic social media campaigns, referrals, and even targeted cold emails.

2. Convert Traffic to Leads:

   • Channel your visitors to value-added gated content—commonly known as lead magnets. These can range from webinars, insightful PDFs, email sequences, digital calculators, to complimentary assessments.
   • The primary intent? To collect their basic details: name, email, and phone number, transforming anonymous site visitors into a reachable audience.
   • Ensure your lead magnets are crafted to naturally guide the audience towards arranging a call.

3. Prioritize Phone Engagement:

   • For those not yet scheduled, it’s time to nurture. Send them tailored email sequences aligned with their sign-up motives and integrate them into your regular newsletters.
   • Continually invite them to connect on your social platforms for organic (cost-free) content. And, importantly, be proactive: if they haven’t scheduled a call, ring them up. Best practice? Call within the first 5 minutes and if needed, follow up to 5 times until there’s clarity on their intent.

Efficiency Tip: Utilize automation tools like Zapier or Make to streamline most operational facets within this structure.

Every step has its nuances, and while this blueprint gives an overview, the real magic lies in perfecting each stage. Need deeper insights on any of these? Feel free to reach out.

Remember, ads aren’t your brand’s biography. They don’t need to convey every nuance or convert prospects instantly.

Their main task? Halt the swift scroll of potential customers and guide them to your website or form. It’s there where you can truly influence and drive deeper engagement.

A word of advice? Keep your ad strategies simple. If, for instance, an image of a banana draws clicks from your target audience, embrace it. Your ad’s success lies in its ability to capture attention, not in its complexity.

1. Leverage Facebook’s Lead Campaigns: Utilize Facebook’s in-built lead forms to gather basic information: name, email, and phone number.
2. Prioritize Video Content: While the quality is crucial, videos, by nature, tend to outperform static images in ads. They capture attention more efficiently due to their dynamic nature.
3. Construct a Compelling Lead Magnet: The focus for educational institutions should be on an insightful “parent/student guide.” The objective? To intrigue just enough to motivate scheduling a call. Guide content should not be overwhelming but should contain multiple avenues (links) leading to a scheduling platform, such as Calendly.
4. Automate Email Follow-ups: Integrate platforms like Mailchimp, Hubspot, or MailerLite to ensure leads instantly receive a concise 3-5 email series that further delves into the lead magnet’s content. Keep emails succinct (50-100 words) and lean towards plaintext over intricate designs. This subtle approach makes them feel more personalized.
5. Boost Engagement with SMS: Platforms like JustCall or TextMagic can be pivotal. Automate text messages to instantly provide leads with your content link. Considering the impressive 98% open rate of SMS compared to emails’ 20%, a follow-up message within 48 hours urging a call can be invaluable.
6. Seamless Integration is Key: Whether it’s native integrations or tools like Zapier, Make, or Pabbly Connect, smooth operation is vital.

Executing this strategy can propel institutions towards meaningful growth. However, bear in mind the nuances and intricacies of each step which can significantly impact the outcome. Ad campaigns, being just one of the many strategies, require precise implementation, lest they prove costly. But, with meticulous execution, the potential gains are substantial.

Need a deeper dive? YouTube tutorials offer comprehensive insights, or feel free to connect with me directly.