Revelations from a new survey - Fine Point Communications

Every time our friends at InspirED School Marketers, Liza Fisher Norman and Rob Norman, release a new Private School MarCom Survey Report, we immediately set aside a big block of time to go through it.

The biennial publication offers an extensive look at issues, trends and needs facing independent school communicators, and it always rewards the close read. The 2024 issue is no exception. For example:

Virtual tours are so two years ago: During the pandemic, online tours looked poised to become schools’ primary way to introduce their campus and showcase their students to new families. But they seem to have missed their moment: This year, not only has interest in virtual tours dropped but disinterest has grown fast.
Viewbooks are not dead: Meanwhile, the venerable viewbook continues to pay dividends. Sixty percent of schools describe it as a highly or somewhat effective part of their enrollment marketing.
Neither are printed annual reports: Like their admission colleagues, development officials continue to invest in the power of print, both to acknowledge donors and in soliciting new gifts through seasonal appeals.

But we won’t linger on these nor on the decided shift in the long-standing duopoly of Blackbaud vs. Finalsite. Read the survey yourself to learn about these and more.

Instead, what drew our attention was a slow change in the communications office’s makeup and a persistent issue that continues to hold schools back.

Where’s the new blood?

Perhaps the InspirED survey’s best quality is its consistency of questions, which allows comparison over years to find important trends.

One such question is, “How long have you been in this position at this school?” Each successive survey has found people staying longer and longer in the jobs they hold.

Back in 2017, the first survey found a plurality of respondents had two years or less of experience. This time, the biggest cohort has been in their current job for 11 years or more.

Now, correlate that against another question: “How many years have you worked in academic marcom overall?”

About a fifth of communicators report five years of experience or less in a school or college. Eight years ago, that proportion was twice as high. Conversely, veterans with 11 years or more now make up 53% of the survey pool — the largest yet recorded by InspirED.

What has happened? Where have all the newbies gone?

While we’re at it, let’s add one more finding: Half of schools represented in the survey have a communications office of one or two people.

Our conclusion: The scarcity of marcom FTEs in many schools is driving a reluctance to take a chance on less-experienced hires who show promise but would need training to grow into their jobs.

Length of tenure is a very good thing, bringing depth of school knowledge and campus cultural understanding.

At the same time, new hires are more likely than incumbents to introduce fresh ideas into a communications office. Digital natives, in particular, could bring the technical knowledge to connect schools with young parents.

Where’s the opportunity to grow?

Speaking of technical skills: Another section of the survey asks about common responsibilities in a marcom office — including those that staff feel unprepared to perform.

The areas where communicators are most likely to feel “not qualified”:

Website analytics
Search-engine optimization
Search-engine marketing
Videography
Graphic design

Sadly, this list has not changed since 2017, even though the value of these skills has only grown.

The solution has long been obvious: investing in skill training or, in the educational vernacular, professional development.

While InspirED does not ask about professional development, another recent questionnaire, produced by the MarCom Society, did.

It found that nearly one-sixth of respondents said their school set aside nothing to improve or sustain job skills, while half said the school spent $1,000 or less a year on their training.

That amount will not go far in teaching someone to be savvier at SEM or to make high-quality recruitment videos.

Our recommendation: Schools would be wise to invest more in keeping employees’ skills sharp — and to encourage, even require, their people to put down the to-do list and take time for training.

The earlier topic underscores the need: With communicators commonly staying at their school for a decade and more, professional development is vital to keeping their abilities current, as their work demands.

A quick look back in time

This is not Refill’s first look at the InspirED MarCom Survey Report. We also examined this “report card” of our field in 2022.

This year’s report suggests in hindsight that 2022’s data might be an outlier: Several findings of that year stand noticeably distinct from the full body of survey data.

Don’t-miss clicks

Sandy Spring Friends School in Maryland has had an extraordinary couple of weeks. Shortly after naming a new Head of School and finalizing admissions for 2025-2026, the school announced April 14 its intent to close after this year, citing an “untenable financial position.” Days later, the school’s board reversed course, crediting a community effort that reportedly raised an eye-popping $15 million in cash and pledges — in about a week! Sandy Spring has more than 600 students in preschool through Grade 12. The board says now that the school will stay open through at least 2027-2028.
Day-school tuition now averages nearly $50,000, according to analysis by S&P Global Ratings. Boarding-school tuition averages just over $73,000. Demand remains healthy, S&P says, but competition is growing.
We recently stumbled across this extraordinary, 30-minute video introducing the Milton Hershey School on a Washington, D.C., television channel. Obviously few other schools can afford a half hour of broadcast ad time. But anyone acquainted with independent school marketing will immediately feel at home with this super-size promo video.