Marketing an independent school is different to other products and services. Obviously it’s not the same as marketing a fast moving consumer good (toothpaste, chocolate, or fast food). And while it’s more comparable to marketing an expensive service (boutique restaurants/hotels or high value holidays/experiences) it’s still not the same. As it’s unique, the best way to describe it is via an analogy (which I’ve used for many, many years):
Independent education is a ‘gift’ or a present for a child. Parents (or grandparents) pay for the opportunity, or for the service. They make the final choice of which school (especially at Nursery/Junior and often Senior level too). However, they don’t consume, use, or benefit from what they choose or pay for! That’s why it is a gift or a present -albeit a very expensive one. They go to school every day. They sit in class or chapel. They sleep in their boarding house, or the tent on a DofE expedition. They meet tutors and career councillors. They get the lessons, which lead to grades. They get the experiences of how to play tennis, or being in a play, or going on a trip. They gain all of the confidence and skills from all their interactions and experiences.
The parent is on the periphery of this. The grandparent even more so. If they buy an expensive car or house they get to experience it for themselves. They get to drive the car, to enjoy it and have others see them in it. They get to live in their home and when the cost of the mortgage goes out their bank account, they are enjoying it so they can validate the cost.
Parents (or grandparents) buy the gift of independent education for their children. The only parts they receive, or benefit from, is the communication from school (at all points - including school magazines, letters, conversations about their child), and the events they can attend (the touchline, parents’ evenings, plays, social events, coffee mornings, chapel service etc). Perhaps there are other periphery benefits such as the ‘status’ of being a parent at that school or having mutual connections with other parents whom they may make friends with (a social scene, or friendship group).
This is what I call the ‘wrapping’ around the gift of the education they have bought their child(ren). It's not the main 'thing' you offer - but it is absolutely critical in parental satisfaction. Of course parents are buying the gift of a brilliant education for their child to enjoy and hopefully to thrive and succeed - that is and always will be the core proposition that you need to get right and deliver (because you are a serving them an education for life). But the other parts are also vitally important because they are the bits that parents see and experience in addition to what their child gets.
Over the years I’ve asked schools at INSET, or in training sessions, ‘how good is your wrapping?’ And ‘how could your wrapping be even better?’
Now, with VAT on Independent School Fees, the question is no longer ‘how good is your wrapping?’ – it’s ‘how do you add 15% (or whatever your specific increase has been) more wrapping?’ Because unfortunately, parents can’t see anything extra for what they are paying (we know that’s not how VAT works, it goes to the Government). But their bank balance says that they are now paying up to 20% more for something that is the same. So if the wrapping is a bit shabby, the bows haven’t been added, or the glitter that hasn’t been sprinkled – all this is now going to come into question. Because rightly or wrongly, parents want to get value for their education (not all, some will be in a financial situation where they won’t care, but they are few and far between). Whilst there is absolutely no doubt that the value should be in the classroom and for their children – they ideally want to see the whole thing gift wrapped in the best way possible to soften the blow on their bank balance.
Ps
I use this analogy when I do INSETs and training – so please do get in touch if you’d like me to run something at your School. Because although I know you can use it yourself, often it’s having an outsider (ideally me, who came up with it!) say it with authority that will really make a difference and deliver some better gift wrapping!
Sometimes you can’t see what your wrapping is really like – because you live and breath it all the time – that’s why having someone external (like me) come in and do a review or audit can often help.