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Marketing to Schools (Parochial Schools, That Is)
So your supervisor has just dropped a new account on your desk and you're terrified, because it's a parochial school. Aren't parochial schools notoriously cheap? Aren't they the hardest clients to sell to? Don't they make the whole profession of marketing to schools a Herculean task? Oh, and will a Catholic school buy materials from you if you're a Methodist? Jewish? Agnostic?
Not to worry. Marketing to parochial schools is the same as marketing to schools that get public funding. You just have to know who you're selling to. And schools with a religious mission might be a little more strapped for cash at times, but they still need classroom materials, textbooks, professional development lesson plans, and more.
The specific problem of parochial schools is that, for the most part, they rely on student tuition and donors for money. Because they teach religion, they don't have access to the same funding opportunities that public schools have. For marketers and sales professionals, that doesn't necessarily mean working harder to get teachers and administrators to buy your materials -- if their budget is limited, they may not be able to make a purchase even if they want to -- but it may mean working closely with clients to find the best ways to stretch a dollar.
One thing to remember is that a parochial client's most important task is to convince parents and guardians that the education they provide is worth the tuition costs. Just like you, they're marketers; whereas public schools don't have to pitch their services to anyone, parochial schools are in a constant struggle to bring more students into the fold. They need to convince potential students and donors that the education they provide is superior to a public school education.
And that's where you come in. Your products and services can assist in the parochial schools' quest to prove their excellence. Schools sell themselves two ways: By advertising faculty, and by advertising facilities. The faculty part is out of your control (unless you're selling superintelligent robot teachers, in which case you hardly need our help in marketing to schools), but you can help schools advertise their facilities by giving them the best materials you can. Make your clients help their clients to know that they're getting something they wouldn't get at a public school.
There are a couple of different ways you can approach this.
Put together compelling packages. Teachers at private and parochial schools need to go beyond the call of duty when it comes to providing their students with a great education. This means they'll need the best classroom materials and texts you can sell them. You can go a step further, though, by bundling texts and materials together, and tying it to a specific lesson plan or classroom goal. Put together a "Jazz Age" package for history class, or a meteorology package for science class, and offer a discount if they buy all the materials together. Such packages will also help schools to brand themselves with a distinctive focus. As you know, marketing to schools well means always being a step ahead of your clients, so be sure to keep in touch with the teachers you're targeting, and keep an eye out for ways they can improve the classroom experience -- even ways that don't involve buying your products. Clipping a newspaper article or forwarding a website link to a client helps keep your name at the front of their minds.
Give the people what they expect for their money. Sure, you do that with your own clients all the time. But you can help the parochial schools in your Rolodex do this for their own clients as well. When parents pay premium prices, they expect a bit of an "upper crust" education. You can give that to your clients, by providing them with texts and classroom materials that help provide a classical schooling.
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