How much do you know — really know — about how independent schools deliver marketing and communications?

School leaders tend to be familiar with their own campus’s marcom practices but not those of their neighbors and keenest competitors. They can observe what other schools publish, of course, but that’s a limited view, one missing all that happens behind the scenes and prompting more guesswork.

Even communicators, who typically know their job well, may believe they face a unique set of challenges when, really, the issues are quite common. Marcom directors were surprised to discover at the inaugural Fine Point Off-Site conference how much they shared professionally with others in the same role.

Benchmarks — trustworthy, consistent data about school marketing and communications — are the key to better understanding this part of campus operations: What’s standard? What’s essential? What holds us back?

Fine Point Communications is pleased to announce an initiative in this area: We are now managing the Private School MarCom Survey, and the 2026 questionnaire is now open and accepting responses.

A trailblazing observer of trends

This biennial questionnaire was founded in 2017 by Liza and Rob Norman of InspirED School Marketers. It posed specific questions about marcom that no other school survey was asking.

The results revealed the field’s trends and tracked needs. For instance, it identified the mismatch between expanding marcom needs at private schools and the training to perform those duties, then monitored over many years how schools dealt with that issue.

The amount of particular information made each report of MarCom Survey findings a valuable read; previous Refill issues shared our top takeaways from the 2022 and 2024 installments.

In April, the Normans announced plans to retire and close their consultancy. That led to conversations about the MarCom Survey, and we’re grateful that Rob and Liza have entrusted its continuation to Fine Point.

What’s new and what didn’t change

Over the summer, we updated the most recent question set (from 2024) and, in the process, made a few structural changes:

• The survey now aims solely at marketing and communications leaders, regardless of title, at schools in the United States and Canada. (Previous issues invited admissions personnel and junior marcom staffers also to take part.) The tighter focus will make results more consistent and relevant to school administrators.
• New questions explore the working life of a marcom leader: responsibilities, proficiencies and assisting other offices. We also dig into job practices, such as outsourcing (including AI usage) and time management.
• Expanded sections examine what schools provide to marcom, including budgets, systems, authority and visibility, and the deliverables and quality expected from these investments.

But we protected the survey’s most important qualities:

• It remains entirely anonymous. We have no way to tie a response to any school or individual. (This means we trust that only people who truly do oversee the marketing and communications function at their school will fill out the survey. We believe in the honor system!)
• It understands your world. Topics come directly from the conversations and work we observe inside independent schools, and each question ties to a current or emerging trend.
• Its purpose is to inform both marcom directors and their colleagues in school administration. The findings will help Heads of School and other executives better understand the norms of marketing and communications across our industry, enabling them to make adjustments as needed.

The MarCom Survey fits naturally alongside our monthly Refill newsletter and annual Off-Site conference as tools that help independent schools discover marketing and communications opportunities.

Give us answers; we’ll create a report

The survey is now ready for submissions and will be open through Sept. 30. Don’t miss this opportunity to have your school represented in the industry-wide findings.

Marcom leaders who finish the survey are eligible to win a $150 Amazon gift card. We will randomly award one prize for every 20 submitted surveys. (Entering the prize drawing is optional and done separately from the survey.)

So spread the word! More responses mean additional opportunities to win. And data from more participating schools ultimately benefits everyone.

We’ll spend the winter analyzing submissions and preparing a report. The first glimpse at findings will come at the 2027 Fine Point Off-Site in Baltimore on March 3. A full MarCom Survey Report white paper, free to all, will follow later in the spring.

We are excited to continue the pathbreaking work that Liza and Rob Norman began, and we look forward to seeing the industry’s answers to our questions. Please help by sharing news of the Private School MarCom Survey (such as this newsletter) with your network!

A new chapter of Brilliance

We were also excited to learn this summer that Aubrey Bursch of Easy School Marketing would become the steward for another part of the InspirED portfolio: the Brilliance Awards for independent school marketing and communications.

An advisory board of experts has been named, and the entry window for the 2026 awards will open this fall. Check your social media feeds for more information!

Don’t-miss clicks

• In North Carolina, the state Supreme Court reversed lower courts and ruled that two parents could move ahead with their lawsuit against Charlotte Latin School. The school was supported by the Southern Association of Independent Schools and the state independent school association in arguing that “freedom to contract” permitted it to expel the parents’ two children. More than a dozen lawmakers, all Republicans, filed their own brief in support of the parents.
• Boston Magazine published an essay on applying to the city’s private schools. The writer called the process “a high-stakes admissions marathon — one that demands time, money, organization, and emotional endurance not just from prospective students but from their entire families.”

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