YOUR ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR IS STILL RUNNING THE OPEN-HOUSE-AND-WORD-OF-MOUTH PLAYBOOK FROM 2012.

THE FAMILIES THEY’RE TRYING TO REACH ARE MAKING SHORTLISTS ON THEIR PHONES BEFORE THEY EVER SET FOOT ON CAMPUS.

The old enrollment playbook: open house, word of mouth, maybe a print ad in the local parenting magazine. If the school was good, families would find it. The admissions director was a relationship builder, not a marketer. This worked great when families stayed in one place, the school across town was the only competition, and “research” meant asking other parents at soccer practice.

That world doesn’t exist anymore. Families relocate on a whim. They research five schools simultaneously while standing in line at Trader Joe’s. They read reviews, look at social media, and build a shortlist before the first campus tour. By the time they show up at your open house, they’ve already decided you’re one of two or three options. If you’re not on the shortlist, the open house doesn’t matter. You can’t charm your way onto a list that was built in a browser.

Most schools responded to this shift by building a nicer website and posting on Instagram. This is like responding to a house fire by painting the mailbox. It’s something, technically, and it’s not the thing that needs doing.

A strategy is: which families do we want, where are they looking, what do they care about that we actually deliver better than anyone else, and how do we reach them with that specific message at the specific moment they’re making the decision? I’ve done enrollment marketing for K-12 private schools and higher education programs. The mechanics differ but the principle is the same: find the right families, say the right thing, at the right time, in the right place. And measure everything so you know what’s working and what’s just making you feel productive.