It’s that time of year again when school open evenings are on the agenda and, now the main school ones are mostly over, your attention is most probably falling upon the sixth form!
Promoting your sixth form needs a slightly different approach to that of the main school – although you still want to appeal to parents, your biggest audience are the students themselves and therefore you will need to ensure that your branding and approach appeal to their age group too.
To help you with this, we have laid out a few things to think about when considering how to market your sixth form to help you ensure you get the most out of your campaign:
Branding
Before designing and printing any school marketing materials for the sixth form it would be a good opportunity to review your branding. Should your sixth form have slightly different branding to the main school to make it stand out or do you want to show the sixth form as still very close to the whole school? Do you have set colours, fonts and logos that will appeal to teenage audience? What are your marketing messages – do you offer a very academic route to Russell Group universities or are you more focussed on vocational skills and courses? You should make sure you have a clear vision and message for your marketing before you begin so you can ensure your marketing materials reflect this clearly.
Social Media
Social media can be a great tool in getting your message out to a student audience. A well updated Instagram account for example can show off the facilities, environment and ethos of the sixth form and can act as a window into life at your school. You can use you students here as school ambassadors – getting them to promote and share content and even enlisting them to manage your page (or at least write some posts). Also, paid posts can help to spread your message and don’t cost as much as you think!
Brochures & Course Guides
Have you updated your sixth form prospectus brochure or course guide? A well-designed brochure will always be an excellent way to promote your sixth form and give students an informative guide to learn about all the courses you offer. Think about using bullet points, infographics and pictures to show off your USP’s and use current and past pupil profiles to show the pathways students can take and the outcomes that can be expected!
Website
Having both a printed and an online presence for your sixth form is increasingly important to ensure that you are covering all bases. Does your school website include a specialist area for your sixth form? Does it carry over the sixth form branding? Is it appealing to read and easy to find on your website? No longer will a few pages inside your main school website do – we would always recommend a clear, separate sixth form section on your website with, if possible, its own home page. Showing students that you have your own sixth form website area that promotes your ethos and all of your successes will certainly help in your marketing efforts.
This is, of course, just a taste of the possibilities and things to consider when promoting your sixth form so, to discuss your school marketing needs and how we can help you promote your sixth form in the best way, then don’t hesitate to call us on 01933 303520 or arrange a meeting.
We’ll look forward to hearing from you!
