Blackbaud K-12's Get Connected Podcast

There’s little debate that inbound marketing continues to build momentum in private schools. The idea of publishing content to help your prospective families to “solve problems” only makes sense. You want your school to be a trusted domain expert that searching families turn to as they work through the admission process. But how do you do it? Or, more specifically, how do you roll out a content marketing strategy that returns meaningful and sustainable results? Scott Allenby, Director of Communications and Marketing at , joins me in episode 15 of Blackbaud K-12’s Get Connected Podcast to break down the school’s successful inbound approach. Learn how over the past year, Proctor has embarked on a multi-year strategy to solidify their place in the private school content marketing world. If the year one results are any indicator (Scott dives into the stats during our conversation), the school’s well on its way.

Episode 14: The Benefits of Predictive Modeling in Private School AdmissionsGuest: Matthew Evans, Saint Mark's High School Out of necessity, comes some really cool ideas. With an admission office of two and a school of 650 students to keep full, Matt Evans, Director of Admission at  (Wilmington, DE), turned to predictive modeling to aggregate data and make more informed decisions.  In episode 14 of Blackbaud K–12’s Get Connected Podcast, Matt joins me to dive into his model and its impact. It's a fascinating view — one that I think every admission office should hear.

Guest: Heather Hoerle, Executive Director, SSATB Topic: Heather Hoerle joins me to talk about SSATB's new admission report, .   Overview: The pressure for private schools to stand out from the competition grows more intense each year.   It’s no longer a question of independent schools crossing applications with other private schools. Now they see increased competition from charter schools, online programs, low-cost private schools, to name a few. Plus, more parents are taking it upon themselves to build an “educational and extracurricular menu” in an a la carte manner.   SSATB’s new report, , grew out of the need to understand and respond to these competitive challenges.   In episode 13 of Blackbaud K-12’s Get Connected Podcast, Heather Hoerle, Executive Director, SSATB, joins me to break down the report’s finding and share recommendations.

In episode 12 of Blackbaud K–12’s Get Connected Podcast, Cheshire Academy’s Associate Director of Digital Marketing, Caitlin Garzi, shares how Cheshire boosted its email marketing strategy in just one short year. Hear how they more than doubled their open rate and tripled clickthroughs.

His passion for how technology can enhance learning kickstarted Stuart Posin’s private school career, and it continues to fuel him as he moves forward.   In episode 11 of Blackbaud K-12’s Get Connected podcast, of Posin Consulting (where one of his primary roles is serving as the director of technology at ) shares his views on technology leadership and why it’s a key ingredient when it comes to supporting success in schools. Framing much of our conversation is the recently formed (ATLIS).

It's July, and in talking with many of my friends in the admission world, it sounds like you are taking some much deserved time to catch your breath after another busy recruitment season.   While it’s true that you may have a few spots left to fill to round out your 2014-2015 class, some of your attention is likely starting to shift to the upcoming admission season. That means it’s time to plan! Whether you want to build on existing programs or dream up new ways to benefit your recruiting efforts, episode 10 of Blackbaud K–12's Get Connected Podcast is all about winning the summer admission offseason! Brendan Schneider, Director of Advancement at Sewickley Academy, is a seasoned admission pro who traditionally uses July and August to reflect and plan for the next admission year. In his second guest appearance (click here to listen to our first conversation on personalized marketing), Brendan shares his tips on how to maximize summer “downtime” to get the most out of the 2015-2016 admission cycle.

It’s not every day that you get to hear from an industry Search Engine Optimization expert, but it this episode, we’re able to deliver just that to private schools. Cyrus Shepard, the Director of Audience Development at , joins me to talk Search Engine Optimization (SEO). He paints the SEO big picture for private schools and shares practical tips for earning better search results. Hear Cyrus report on the early findings from Google’s mobile search deadline (aka Mobilegeddon), the ever increasing importance of page speed, plus Cyrus makes some bold predictions about what’s to come with search.  Also, make sure to listen to the entire conversation to hear what he considers to be the key ingredient for SEO success.  

For school webmasters, seeing user time on site tripled from three to nine minutes is nothing short of a home run. Imagine the amount of information someone can take in with an additional six minutes of browsing? Think about the benefits that come with that extended stay.     With the launch of their new site earlier this year, Sonoma Academy not only saw this exact boost in time on site, but with it came a tripling in the average number of page views. Lily Thompson, the Director of Communications at Sonoma Academy, joins me for episode 8 of Blackbaud K-12’s Get Connected podcast to share the plan behind the school’s success.

Research conducted by (TABS) shows that while the overall boarding school student enrollment has grown over recent years, the domestic student numbers have “declined gradually, yet consistently, for more than a dozen years.”   I doubt the reasons will surprise.   Consider the recession, changes in parenting, a in the number of high school aged students (a demographic reality that’s with us for the foreseeable future), etc. and the pieces fit.   But if the domestic numbers are down, why the slight growth in overall enrollment? International recruitment. Schools have responded to the greater international demand, which has helped to shape schools into more global institutions.   That said, concerns exists (by both day & boarding schools) about the reduction in the overall number of North American students.   TABS has heard this message loud and clear from its members and responded by forming the North American Boarding School Initiative (NABI).   This (which I'm honored to be a part of) has met for

Imagine asking an alum to avoid saying amazing things about your school? What? That’s totally counterintuitive, especially when you may have recruited this person to participate in a school-sponsored campaign.   Logic suggests that you’d want them to raise their hand and talk about how a teacher or experience on your campus prepared them for some form of success. It only makes sense to draw that line back to the school in order to evoke a sense of connection and pride.   Well, some might say that Babson College took a risk when they went down a different path with .   Babson’s looking to change the way people view and value entrepreneurship, and they’re doing it by highlighting alumni in all sorts of settings via short, 2-minute videos. This is all part of a bigger, multi-year campaign to crowdsource a new definition of “Entrepreneurship.”   Each alumni story makes the case (and provides some excellent teaching lessons) without ever mentioning the school. It’s quite a feat, and one that I think can serve as i

Hard to believe, but we’re fast approaching June 30th. For many on campus, that means they’re mere days away from summer break. For school development officers? Well, it’s a different story.  This last month of fundraising can be among the most hectic and stressful days of the year — it’s time to make a final push to hit any open 2014-2015 fundraising goals.  What kind of tactics are you using to get your campaigns across the goal line? Are you wrapping in good storytelling to create a last minute emotional hook to engage your constituents? The Fundraising Coach, Marc A. Pitman, joins me in Episode 5 of Blackbaud K–12’s Get Connected Podcast to give his take on how schools can maximize the impact of their EOY fundraising. 

In episode four of , I’m joined by  from . Brendan’s widely considered to be the foremost expert on inbound marketing in private schools, and in this episode he dives into personalized marketing.  He offers a primer on what every private school needs to know to get started with marketing automation and personalization. Lots of examples shared. Lots of inspiration to be gained!

Diving into the recommendations he made in the new ebook, “” (Make sure to get your free copy!), Hans Mundahl, Hans Mundahl & Associates, shares what it takes to ensure a successful LMS implementation. For any school exploring a possible LMS implementation, this interview with Hans is a must listen. You’ll walk away with excellent advice on how to not only assess your LMS options, but just as important, you’ll hear how you can get adoption buy-in from across your campus!

In episode two of Blackbaud K-12’s Get Connected Podcast, Moses Brown School’s Producer for Digital Media, Ryan Vemmer, shares how the school planned, produced, and marketed a Disney inspired "Let it Snow" school closing video that rocketed to over 3.6 million views on Youtube.  I know when I first saw the video, I was blown away not only by the production quality (the lyrics and voice quality were amazing), but the pure reach of their work is dizzying. How did they generate all of the Youtube views? What was the press plan behind it? Ryan fills us in. But before you press play, let’s focus on the press for a second.  The school earned coverage from some of the world’s largest media outlets. How’s this for a sampling of their press reach?  The Today Show, Good Morning America, NRP, Access Hollywood, BBC, TIME magazine’s website, and many more showcased this incredibly fun take on canceling school (in the midst of what was a historic winter in New England). 

In the kickoff episode of Blackbaud K-12’s Get Connected podcast, I’m excited to welcome Chris Lauricella to the show. Chris is the head of , a co-educational, college preparatory school located in Amherst, New York. We dove into the concept of private schools as a luxury good, and how his school has spent a lot of time examining how they communicate critical information with their families in order to meet and exceed parent expectations.  Like what you heard? Subscribe to our show on iTunes or visit us at  to access our blog and podcast library!