Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) for Schools

What marketing tactic do you employ for your school? As a school owner, you do not have to rely on one marketing strategy for your school. In our previous article Should You Focus on Inbound Marketing Alone?, we made it clear to you that you can combine both the inbound and outbound marketing strategies together in order to increase enrollment in your school. Today’s article will focus on Word Of Mouth Marketing (WOMM); what it entails, how to implement it, and the benefits you gain from using it.

What is Word Of Mouth Marketing (WOMM)?

According to the author of Word of Mouth Marketing, Andy Sernovitz it is described as “Giving people a reason to talk about your stuff, and making it easier for that conversation to take place.” Which in this case can be termed as being the best at what you do. We all know that people talk naturally, and during their conversations, they tend to share information about a particular product or service they have enjoyed at one time or the other. As a school owner, you need to find your niche; be known for something unique. Do not just be like every other school, find something that makes you stand out and capitalize on that.

It might be that you are the only school that provides care for children with special need, provides a special extra-curricular activity, or even be a faith-based school. With this, you give people something to talk about. Assuming your school is one that provides care for children with special needs, a parent that is enjoying your service will be forced to introduce your school to a friend who is also in need of such service. There are two phases involved in WOMM;

1. Parents unintentionally talk about school to their friends and family. Which is why you need to give them something to talk about.
2. When you have identified how effective they are in driving prospects to your school, you can set up a committee and turn the parent to your long-term brand ambassadors.

WOMM being a marketing strategy will also have its own tools for successful implementation. The number one thing you need to pay attention to is from your own end as a school owner.

When you are sure that your services to parents and students are top-notch, be assured that they will talk about you. This is more like them referring you to other parents.

• You can integrate the elements of Inbound Marketing like using blog-posts, social media posts, and videos to create contents that can be shared online by parents.

• When you create contents online, tell parents to share them and also give online reviews for those who prefer reading reviews from other parents online. Which is why at SchoolsCompass, schools are advised to tell parents to review and rate them, doing this builds trust and credibility.

• Just like it has been stated earlier, you can set up a WOMM team for parents that might be willing to join in. Give the branded T-shirt and brochure to distribute.

Why is WOMM important? 

You might be asking yourself, why should I do this WOMM for my school? With WOMM you are able to do the following;

1. Educate potential parents.

2. Provide tools that make it easy to share information.

3. Give listening ears to potential parents.

4. Identify prospective parents and convert them into loyal parents.

Why you should do WOMM?

1. It is inexpensive; you do not need to pay any parent before they can speak well about your school. The only part that might incur cost is if you decide to print branded T-shirts and brochures for distribution.
2. It is also highly effective. The testimonies that are shared by parents to their friends indicate the way your school is reaching out to students in the school and parents in the community. It has been said that people tend to believe what is introduced to them by someone they know even if they have heard about it before.
3. WOMM helps to form a community among the parents. With the formation of a team, you can get stories and testimonies from parents, which in turn increases the rate at which students are retained in your school.
4. WOMM can provide your school with a better and effective way to grow your school. It, however, demands on you to plan and get the right set of people to make it work.