InspirED School Marketers SPARKCAST

WHY.os: Increased Communication, Connection, and Unification

H. Watson Jordan Ed D.   Watson is an author, a lifelong educator, and a certified WHY.os trainer. His company, The Resilience Initiative, promotes resilience around the world. Watson works with teams using the WHY Operating System to drive superior insight, understanding, and production. This algorithm guides the identification of individual and group zones of genius and explains how to leverage them.    As an author, his book Mine, Ours, and Yours: A Father's Journey through t...

Marketing Lessons from the Niche Parent Survey

The Neuroscience of Storytelling for Private Schools

Carrie Grimes is the Director of the M.Ed. in Independent School Leadership at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Carrie is a Professor in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, and teaches across master's and doctoral programs at Peabody College. In addition to her teaching and scholarship, Carrie facilitates workshops and learning sessions for independent schools and associations on topics such as leadership, storytelling, strategic...

Searching for a New Head of School? Hit "Strategic Pause" First

Mike Connor Mike is President of Connor Associates and co-author of the NAIS book, Marketing Independent Schools in the 21st Century.  His latest e-Book, Pulling in the Same Direction, emphasizes everyone’s role in recruitment, retention, and fundraising. Earlier in his 30+ year career Mike worked in nearly every position at independent K-12 schools. Today, Connor Associates has 16 Associates and Partners and has served clients in 28 states and on four continents. Connor Associates st...

How To Successfully Work With A Consultant For Your Private School

Chris Pryor is president and founder of The Gowan Group. As a lifelong educator, strategist, and thought leader, Chris is in his third decade of independent school leadership. He has held leadership positions at independent schools such as Harbor Country Day, The Independence School, Hackley, Rye Country Day, and Tuxedo Park School and was actively involved with NYSAIS. Chris is a well-known speaker on topics such as social media, marketing, admissions training, crisis management, profes...

Private School Surveys Beyond the Net Promoter Score

  Dr. David Willows is Co-founder and Strategic Director at [YELLOW CAR], the world's leading experience strategy training and consultancy firm for schools. Between 2005 and 2022, he was Director of Advancement at the International School of Brussels, Belgium. During this time, he grew to be widely regarded as one of the most innovative practitioners in the field, helping to shape and define the future of Advancement (admissions, marketing & communications, fundraising & alumni relations) ...

How to Find and Support Private School Leaders

Rebecca Malotke-Meslin is the founder of Pleasantly Aggressive Coaching & Consulting where she empowers women to take control of their leadership journey and ditch the habits holding them back. Rebecca combines a background in social research with 20 years of sales, marketing, communications, and school leadership to create a transformational experience for her clients. One of the many connections she has with InspirED is that Rebecca was director of admissions at three private schools ove...

The Power of Personas In Reaching Marketing Goals

Deborah Janz has a passion and curiosity for international and corporate culture. This, combined with her experience with business, sales, and technology, created the foundation of IMPACT Marketing International in 2007. One of Deborah's first projects was a family business, providing safe and educational online experiences for young children. She geeked out daily on how to attract more paid users to the website. The KidZap website ultimately received more than one million visitors per mon...

Education in the Face of Barbarity and How You Can Help

This episode of the SparkCast is not about school marketing. It’s not about attaining and retaining students. It’s not about social media. It’s about the Pechersk School International in Kyiv, Ukraine. It’s about the story of the attack on the school by the Russians in February 2022… the story of the school’s leaders’ perseverance and resilience…the story of how the international private school community has come to PSI’s aid in remarkable and creative ways…and it’s the story of the stor...

How to Advocate for Yourself as a Director of MarCom at a Private School

Penny Abrahams is a senior consultant at Independent School Management, better known as ism.  Penny first joined ism in 2010 as a member of the Advancement Academy’s founding faculty. As a Senior Consultant, she specializes in marketing communications, enrollment management, and development. Her experience in these areas comes from working in private and independent schools and other non-profits for more than 20 years. Penny also serves as the Advancement Department Head at ism ensuring ef...

Strengthening MarCom in Small Private Schools

Aubrey Bursch, founder and CEO of Easy School Marketing, is passionate about supporting small private schools to increase enrollment, retention, and revenue by designing and executing marketing strategies that work for them. As the daughter of lifelong educators and a mom of two independent school students, she combines her passion for schools with her 20+ years of marketing and development experience to help schools identify and implement high ROI initiatives. Aubrey co-hosts the Mindful Sc...

Students as Communications Apprentices

Lauren Campbell is the Publications Manager at Cretin-Derham Hall, a Catholic high school in St. Paul, Minnesota. She manages digital communications, the biannual alumni magazine, and the Student Apprentice program. (which is what we’re going to be talking about today.) She previously worked in communications for a local nonprofit and a community bank. Lauren is focused on using the power of communications and storytelling to build and enhance community. She holds a Bachelor's of Business Ad...

Breaking The Brand Free of Silos

Dr. Andrew T. Weller is the Dean of Enrollment and Strategic Marketing at St. Stephens & St. Agnes School in Alexandria Virginia. Previously he was the Director of Admissions for Avenues: The World School, the Executive Director of Advancement at Ridley College (Canada) and the Director of Admissions at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia. Andrew was a board member of the East Bay School for Boys, served on the inaugural Admissions Leadership Council, served four years on the planning commi...

How To Be A Leader In An Independent School

Dr. Carrie Grimes is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Leadership, Policy, and Organizations department and also serves as the Director of the Independent School Leadership Master's program at Vanderbilt University. She completed her Ed.D. in Leadership and Learning in Organizations, where her research focused on social identity and community within school settings. Carrie's career has been centered in independent school leadership, including roles in administration, teaching, co...

How to Start Using Social Media at Your Private School

Alex Magay has been an independent school educator and fundraiser for nearly twenty-five years. For the first decade of his career he was a full-time teacher and basketball coach at The Winchendon School while serving as a member of an admissions team that grew enrollment from one hundred and eighty students to two hundred and fifty.  As the Dean of Community Life at Winchendon, he created the school's first crisis response team and an environmental sustainability program, and as Dean of S...

Finance and Marketing: Overlooked Alliance for Success

Mike Connor is President of Connor Associates Strategic Services and co-author of the NAIS book, Marketing Independent Schools in the 21st Century.  His latest e-Book, Pulling in the Same Direction, emphasizes everyone’s role in recruitment, retention, and fundraising. Earlier in his 30+ year career, Mike worked in nearly every position at independent K-12 schools. Connor Associates stakes its value on its experience with providing comprehensive services, including ensuring proof of ROI ...

Why Your Private School Needs a Strong Brand

Angela Brown is the Enrollment Marketing Leader, K-12 at Niche, where she's on a mission to help make K-12 admission and marcom professionals' lives easier. Before joining Niche, she was director of marketing and communications at Flint Hill School, a PK-12, co-ed day school just outside of Washington, DC. Angela joined Flint Hill in 2014 after spending 10 years focusing on B2B marketing communications. She is a member of the American Marketing Association, National Association of Independen...

Data-Driven Private School Advertising That Drives Outcomes

Kevin MacNeil of Metric Marketing applies his passion for sales, deep understanding of online marketing and audience conversion to help schools deepen their customer relationships and ultimately, improve their bottom line. Kevin has over 10 years of experience in advertising and digital marketing. As a graduate of the Asper School of Business, with majors in Entrepreneurship and Marketing, Kevin fundamentally understands the marketing processes that help drive and run any business.  For sh...

Private School Long-Term Sustainability and Success

In 2014 James Milford became the fourth Head of School at Maclay School, a co-ed school of about 1,000 students in Tallahassee, Florida. Prior to becoming the Head at Maclay James had a long tenure at Darlington School, a day and boarding school in Rome, Georgia where he served as Head of House, as an admission officer, he led the residential program, was the Director of Student Life in the Upper School, a teacher in the Upper School, and served as Associate Headmaster overseeing admissions,...

How The Sense Of Community At Private Schools Helped Them Triumph During The Pandemic

Mike Vachow is a Managing Director at Gowan Group, a full-service consultancy to independent schools based in Connecticut. Before becoming a consultant, Mike worked in independent day schools for 30 years. He began his career as an English teacher and coach at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans before moving on to administrative roles there. He continued in school leadership as a division director at Lake Forest Country Day School, for ten years as Head of Forsyth School in St. Louis, and ...

Advancement by Design Model

Dr. David Willows is Director of Advancement at the International School of Brussels, Belgium. David is also a regular blogger, presenter & trainer at international events and author of several books and articles in the field of international school branding, admissions, marketing and communications. Today, he is considered a leading practitioner in the field of advancement and continues to be involved in several global network organizations, helping to shape and define the future of the l...

How to Build Relationships In Private School Communities

James Knapp’s experience ranges from higher education to local and national non-profits to his current role as the Chief Strategy Officer at The Cushman School in Miami, Florida. During his career and in his current role, James has led on many major projects, such as major gift fundraising, strategy, and implementation for everything ranging from endowments, scholarships, planned gifts, and top-level branding, as well as major multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects on multiple campuses....

How to Manage and Grow the Private School Prospect Pipeline

Antony Campitelli has spent 38 years marketing in the high-tech industry with the last 27 years in Silicon Valley. Prior experience includes Apple and Adobe, to startups. Antony’s mission is about building scalable products that are not just about solving problems but are fun to use. This is one of the key reasons he co-founded Enquiry Tracker with his brother Greg. Greg Campitelli is one of the most experienced marketing professionals in the educational system in Australia. He was a long-...

How to Write for Your Private School's Audience

Emily Cretella is a strategic storyteller and content marketer. The owner of Cursive Content, Emily helps school marketers tell powerful stories that attract dream families, increase inquiries and enrollment, strengthen communities, and grow school influence. Prior to founding Cursive in 2012, Emily was the director of strategy at a Connecticut marketing agency, where she managed the execution of large-scale traditional and online marketing campaigns for clients ranging from schools and no...

How to Build Positive Word of Mouth at Your Private School

Rick Newberry is the President of Enrollment Catalyst. Rick partners with school administrators to provide coaching and consulting in enrollment management and marketing systems, strategies, and solutions needed to reach their goals. The goal is to provide school leaders with effective marketing and enrollment strategies as well as staff accountability, direction, and results needed to grow their enrollment. Rick talks about the importance and value of word of mouth for private school mark...

The Enrollment Pandemic and Prescriptions for Healing

Dr. Olaf "Ole" Jorgenson joined Almaden Country Day School in San Jose, CA as head of school in 2008. Before ACDS, he worked as a school leader and teacher in public, private, and international schools since 1987.  Beyond his role as a head, Ole volunteers as a trustee at Gateway School in Santa Cruz and serves as a Field Instructor for the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also sits on the Center's Advisory Board. His publications and presentations cente...

SEO Basics for Private Schools

Founded in 2010, Tara’s agency, Design TLC, specializes in WordPress websites and digital marketing for small schools, enrichment programs, camps, and education-focused nonprofits. Tara combines her marketing and technical experience with the perspective of a parent whose children attended both public and private schools, and participated in various camps and enrichment programs. In this podcast, Tara talks about SEO basics and what every private school should be doing to increase their Goog...

The Role of a Private School Chief Experience Officer

Mishel Gantz is the Director of Enrollment at Synapse School in Menlo Park, California, a small independent school that fully integrates an emotional intelligence program and a robust constructivist curriculum. Prior to that Mishel was the Chief Experience Officer at Watershed School, a grade 6-12 forward-thinking, intentionally small, independent school in Boulder, Colorado. There she was responsible for driving Watershed’s enrollment and bringing their student body to full capacity. She de...

Head of School as Marketer-in-Chief

Tom Olverson serves as a consultant for RG175, a firm doing executive searches as well as highly personalized leadership and governance consulting to schools, based on the values of integrity, inclusivity, knowledge, and flexibility. Tom and all of the members of the RG175 team are personally and professionally experienced in recognizing, promoting, and sustaining leadership at both the executive and governance levels in schools.

How to Brand Your Private School's Social Media

Simon Noakes is the founder and CEO of Interactive Schools, a UK-based global organization focused on school marketing and communications in the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australia. Simon’s global experience & passion for strategic marketing, thought leadership, future-thinking, new technology & human-centered engagement is transforming schools around the world. The firm specializes in bespoke creative experiences including responsive school websites, parent communications, social ...

Private School Innovation: The Mastery School of Hawken (Part 2)

Private school marketers hear the warning signs loud and clear. If private schools want to thrive, not merely survive, they need to innovate and become something so great that parents can’t ignore them. They need to be so outstanding, parents will be standing in line with their children to get in. Enter The Mastery School of Hawken as one road to innovation that has great promise. Scott Looney joined Hawken School as its 10th head of school in July 2006. Since that time he’s worked to adva...

Private School Innovation: The Mastery School of Hawken (Part 1)

Private school marketers hear the warning signs loud and clear. If private schools want to thrive, not merely survive, they need to innovate and become something so great that parents can’t ignore them. They need to be so outstanding, parents will be standing in line with their children to get in. Enter The Mastery School of Hawken as one road to innovation that has great promise. Scott Looney joined Hawken School as its 10th head of school in July 2006. Since that time he’s worked to adva...

Why Retention is More Important Than Admissions

Trevor Waddington is an educational entrepreneur with 17 years of experience working in independent schools as a teacher and admissions administrator including St. John’s Episcopal School, Christ Episcopal School, and Green Acres School, all in Maryland as well as Hill Top Preparatory School in Pennsylvania. He is s past president of the MAESA (Mid-Atlantic Episcopal Schools Association) Board of Directors. On the business side, Trevor is the founder of DCschoolHUB and NYmetroSchools, and is...

Private School Websites: Advice from the Pros

Angelo Otterbein was President and founder of Silverpoint, which he started in 1996. Silverpoint grew to include over 300 independent schools from all over the world. In 2013 the company merged with Finalsite, Inc. where Angelo now serves as Chief Innovation Officer, involved in product strategy, business development, digital strategy and website consulting. Kealan Duffy is the UK Production Manager for Finalsite, overseeing the designers and developers in the UK office to deliver innovati...

48 Years As A Private School Visionary and Champion (Part 2)

Patrick F. Bassett began his career in 1970 as a teacher, coach, and dorm parent at Woodberry Forest School (VA), followed by two headships—Stuart Hall in Virginia and Pomfret School in Connecticut. Pat served as the president of ISACS—the Independent Schools Association of the Central States—from 1993 – 2001, and then as president of NAIS from 2001 to 2013. After leaving NAIS he co-founded Heads Up Educational Consulting that provides strategic, operational, governance, and programmatic gui...

48 Years As A Private School Visionary and Champion (Part 1)

Patrick F. Bassett began his career in 1970 as a teacher, coach, and dorm parent at Woodberry Forest School (VA), followed by two headships—Stuart Hall in Virginia and Pomfret School in Connecticut. Pat served as the president of ISACS—the Independent Schools Association of the Central States—from 1993 – 2001, and then as president of NAIS from 2001 to 2013. After leaving NAIS he co-founded Heads Up Educational Consulting that provides strategic, operational, governance, and programmatic gui...

How to Lay the Foundation for Private School Marketing Success

Maria LaTour Kadison is president and CEO of EdwardsCo, an education marketing firm that has won more than 35 CASE and other industry awards for brand development, digital and multi-channel marketing, and enrollment and advancement communications. Maria tells InspirED the fascinating story of how she spearheaded Simmons College turnaround and how its success led her to help private schools enjoy enrollment and marketing successes of their own. Some of her clients include Phillips Exeter Ac...

Lessons Learned: Establishing A Private School for Students with Special Needs

At InspirED, we believe the future for private schools lies in innovation to ensure they will not only survive but thrive. Create a program(s) that will be in high demand, that no one else is providing in your market, and do that exceedingly well. That’s what Philippa Fabbri did in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. In 2006, Philippa became the founder of Elsen Academy, an independent, non-profit school for students who have learning barriers such as dyslexia, ADHD, etc. as well as emotional and ...

A New Path to Branding for Small Schools

InspirED knows of a number of private school marketing administrators who, in 2018, struck out on their own as independent consultants to other schools. Jill Goodman is one of them, and we thought it would be interesting to school marketers and others to learn about her decision and how she has developed her consulting business. For 9 years, Jill was Development Director and Marketing Coordinator at The GreenMount School, a K-8 coed day school with an enrollment of 120 in Baltimore, MD where...

Enrollment Management and Marketing: Inextricably Linked (Part 2)

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Heather Hoerle is Executive Director and CEO of the Enrollment Management Association (formerly SSATB) that serves 1,200 schools worldwide, primarily in the U.S. and Canada.Heather is a graduate of Westtown School, has sat on their board and currently sits on the boards of Princeton Academy, the National Business Officers Association and the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools. In this episode of the Sparkcast, Heather talks about enro...

Enrollment Management and Marketing: Inextricably Linked (Part 1)

Heather Hoerle is Executive Director and CEO of the Enrollment Management Association (formerly SSATB) that serves 1,200 schools worldwide, primarily in the U.S. and Canada.Heather is a graduate of Westtown School, has sat on their board and currently sits on the boards of Princeton Academy, the National Business Officers Association and the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools. In this episode of the Sparkcast, Heather talks about enrollment management in 2018 and the critical ro...

How Brand Identity Theory Can Generate Rabidly Loyal Followers For Your Private School

 Americus Reed, II is The Whitney M. Young Jr. Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder and partner of identity, loyalty and branding consultants, Persona Partners. Americus is the Marketing Department’s only “identity theorist,” focusing his research on the role consumers’ self concepts play in guiding buying decisions. He examines how social identity, social influence, values, attitudes and judgments interact in shaping purchase decisi...

SchneiderB Answers Your Private School Marketing Questions

Brendan Schneider is the Director of Advancement at Sewickley Academy, a PK-12 day school near Pittsburgh, PA. He is well-known for his website SchneiderB, where he is regarded as the go-to authority on private school inbound marketing and social media with thousands of followers who rely on his expertise.  Brendan also serves on the Board of Directors of the AISAP (Association of Independent School Admission Professionals), is an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional, a Hootsuite Certi...

How Private Schools Can Innovate To Survive And Thrive

Greg Bamford is a educational thought-leader who consults on design thinking, leadership and strategic thinking. After working as a teacher at independent schools for over a decade, Greg co-founded Leadership+Design, a non-profit organization that works with school leaders across the country to support educational innovation. In 2014, Greg decided to focus his attention on one school and became the Head of School at Watershed School in Boulder, CO. Watershed School is a unique school of 10...

The State of Social Media Marketing in Private Schools

Mia Major is the Content Marketing Manager for Finalsite, a leader in K-12 independent and international school website development. Finalsite serves more than 2,200 schools worldwide. Mia writes 3-4 blogs per week for the private school market on such diverse topics such as marketing and communications, education technology, and web design. In this episode of the Sparkcast, we talk to Mia about the newly released Finalsite The State of Social Media Marketing Among Schools. This report is th...

How TABS Is Re-Branding Boarding Schools

Megan Cartier leads the most important and exciting initiative in the history of The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS)—the North American Boarding Initiative (NABI)—which aims to increase boarding enrollment by 10% over five years. Under Megan’s leadership, the TABS team will develop and share relevant market data, insights, tools, resources, and programs that can be utilized by participating schools in their own enrollment marketing. NABI has branded its initiative “Ready for More?” ...

Direct Mail: Alive, Well and Delivering for Private Schools

Joy Gendusa is the Founder and CEO of PostcardMania, a marketing company specializing in lead generation for businesses of all sizes. With only a phone, a computer and postcard marketing, Joy has grown PostcardMania into an industry leader generating more than $49 million in annual revenue and employing more than 200 people in the Tampa Bay, FL area. In this episode of the Sparkcast, we discover, despite what so many people think, direct mail is far from dead. In fact, it's surprisingly ef...

How to Bring 900 People to Campus in One Social Media Post

Risa Engel is Director of Communications at Stuart Country Day School, a PS-12 girls' independent private day school in Princeton, NJ and part of the Sacred Heart Network of Schools. Risa joined Stuart in the fall of 2010 with over 15 years of marketing communications experience in both non-profit organizations and corporate business. On April 8, 2017, Stuart hosted its first #LEADLIKEAGIRL: A Conference for Risk-Takers and Changemakers.  It was designed to showcase and inspire girls’ conf...

How Curriculum + Culture = Brand Experience

Peter Gow was not only was born into a family of educators, he grew up on a boarding school campus, The Gow School in South Wales, NY, a school founded by his grandfather. In his 40 years of working at independent schools Peter has accumulated knowledge and experience about a wide range of issues, and it’s his ability to connect these diverse subjects like curriculum, marketing, branding, admissions, school culture and classroom teaching that makes listening to him so fascinating. Peter Gow ...

How to Schedule a Photo Shoot to Maximize Your Investment

This podcast is Part 3 of a series entitled "Maximizing Your Relationship with a Professional Photographer."  Scroll down to learn about Part 1 and Part 2.  Michael Branscom is a Philadelphia-based photographer who specializes in independent school still photography and film. Michael and I have worked together for the benefit of schools for over a decade. The fact that he was a journalism major in college greatly contributes to his incredible photojournalistic style and ability to capture ...