There are over 60 blog posts by Bryan Foster for the school marketing professional on the 'SMA: School Marketing' website. These are aimed at informing, in quite detail, those responsible for marketing schools, especially the School Marketing Manager.

Many of these blog posts, up until March this year, have also appeared in the School and Church Marketing Bog Posts: My First 100+ by Bryan Foster 2010 e-book. New ones have been written after this date.

Since March the length and depth of each post has increased significantly. This enables quite detailed support for the school marketing manager.

Topics at this blog cover an enormous range. A selection of topics from the past few months include:

Social Networking Website Use for Schools and School Marketing
External Blog Sites Assist School Marketing
Digital and Traditional School Marketing – Instructional Manual
Advertising in the Traditional Media – School Marketing
School Marketing Manager
Blogs Necessary for School Marketing Plans
School Website – SEO – Search Engine Optimization
School Marketing Plan and Strategies
Word of Mouth Still Best School Marketing Strategy
Bryan Foster – 2010 e-Books for School Marketing Plan and Strategies
Website Homepage Essential for School Marketing
Good School Marketing Websites

These blog posts enable the School Marketing Manager to become more fully informed as to the latest methods for marketing the school successfully in this modern digital age. Use of both successful contemporary and traditional means have been highlighted.

Each of the methods have been used successfully to market schools, and / or other commercial endeavours - which should equate well into the school marketing sphere.

Bryan Foster has written 5 marketing e-books related directly to school and church marketing! The latest school marketing manual is 369 A4 pages of summarized points. The latest church marketing manual e-book is 329 A4 pages of summarized points. Each e-book has a detailed Contents page and Index page.

There are also over 60 blog posts for the church marketing personnel at the CPM: Church Parsih Marketing website.

School Marketing Managers should also regularly view the School Marketing Hints and Tips on this website. These are in addition to the detailed Blog Posts on this site and are in a more succinct format.

There are also over 60 blog posts specific for the church marketing personnel which may be found at the CPM: Church Parish Marketing Website Blog.

The ‘Blog Posts for School Marketing by Bryan Foster’ blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010.

This 'Bryan Foster, Author Bio - School and Church Marketing e-Books' post gives an overview of my recent writings and websites, along with my Catholic Church and school leadership roles.

Church and Catholic Education Experience

• South Coast Deanery Pastoral Council, Chair
• St Mary's Parish Pastoral Council, Coomera, Chair * Surfers Paradise Parish Pastoral Council, Surfers Paradise, Secretary
• St Kevin's School, Parents and Friends Association, Benowa, Chair x2
• St Mary's Goondiwindi, Principal
• St Joseph's, Tara, Principal
• Aquinas College, Assistant Principal RE and Marketing Manager, Southport
• St Bernard’s School, Seton College and Corpus Christi College, Brisbane;
• Marymount College, Gold Coast - Teaching and Middle Management
• Education Officer: Evangelisation and Spiritual Formation for Brisbane Catholic Education.

Author and Publisher

• Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2010
• School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010
• School & Church Marketing Blog Posts: My First 100+, 2010
• Church Parish Marketing e-Handbook: Easy to Use Guide to Market Your Church Parish Deanery, 2009
• School Marketing e-Handbook: Easy to Use Guide to Market Your School (2nd ed), 2009
• School Marketing Handbook: Easy to Use Guide to Market Your School, 2008

Website Author and Publisher

• CPM – Church Parish Marketing http://churchparishmarketing.com/
• SMA – School Marketing Australia http://marketschools.com/

Academic Qualifications

• Master of Education - Australian Catholic University, Sydney
• Bachelor of Education
• Graduate Diploma in Religious Education
• Diploma of Teaching
• Diploma of Religious Education

Church and School Marketing

• Bryan has assisted many school and church marketing / parish marketing coordinators.
• He is considered highly by the Brisbane Catholic Archdiocese and throughout the years has also assisted Brisbane Catholic Education's marketing personnel.

Catholic School Teaching and Management Experience

• Bryan Foster has taught for over 30 years in Catholic schools from Years 1 to 12.
• He has held various senior and middle management positions and has been marketing Catholic schools for almost 20 years in city and country, primary and secondary schools.

'Bryan Foster, Author Bio - School and Church Marketing e-Books' blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010and  Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010.

Branding is often a person’s first contact with the school. It is usually a visual image seen. It may also be a verbal input.


Branding’s importance must not be underestimated.

First impressions do count!


First Impressions

The first impression may be gained from the following:

•   Reputations of school as espoused from someone within the community or other family member, friend or work asscoiate

•   Website design

•   Welcome by office staff  / office decor, etc

•   Prospectus / Information Pack - cover, pages and inclusions

•   Uniform of students and office staff

•   Stationery received

•   e/i-Newsletter, newsletter or newsletter design and front page content

•   Telephone call response by office staff / voicemail response / telephone transfer instructions / dedicated line for upcoming events recording, etc

•   White and Yellow pages listings

•   Advertisement in newspaper or magazine, radio, etc

•   e/i Flyer or Flyer

•   Student or staff at school

The branding of the school needs to be well considered and representative of the school’s vision and mission.
It needs to show how the school is to be seen within the community.


Uniformity

Branding needs uniformity to be a powerful, positive tool.

Mixing and matching branding causes a weak and disjointed image to be apparent. This is to the disadvantage of the school in a number of ways. The confusing images distract and hence do not leave the desired impact. The school may be seen itself as disjointed and ‘not together’ and hence causing various follow-up difficulties.

Other sections covered in the school marketing manual ebook include:

• Key Branding Areas - Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
• Branding Changes
• Creativity of Design

The 'Branding for School Marketing' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010.

The School Marketing Manager (SMM) is responsible for a successful School Marketing Plan - a critically important role within any successful school. The school needs to be seen its best light in order to build a solid reputation and student and staff body.


Overview


The School Principal will often delegate this School Marketing Manager role to a school staff member.

Full-time, Part-time or shared? The Principal’s decision…

However, it is best not to lose sight of employing the best person for this position.

The SMM will be responsible for the School Marketing Plan and responsible to the School Principal.


Full / Part-Time or Shared Role

Most SMMs would be part time in this position these days. Budgetary restraints would basically necessitate this. These people would combine this role with their other primary role, usually that of Assistant / Deputy Principal or School Manager.

To share the role, I believe, could be detrimental to it. Having someone knowing everything there is to know about was has occurred, is being planned for and involved with the future implementation of the School Marketing Plan is a definite advantage.

I feel that the time is coming when an individual school or at least a combination of schools within a certain region / religious order / system will employ a
full-time SMM.


School Marketing Manager Skills Needed

The person who takes on this role will need to:

•   be interested in the area of marketing and preferably passionate about it

•   be a person of integrity

•   be able to base the SMP on the School’s Vision and Mission statement

•   be aware of the marketing needs of a particular School

•   have good interpersonal skills

•   be able to build professional relationships with key stakeholders, members of the media and various local business personnel

•   have a creative flare and appreciation of what ‘catches the eye’ of the targeted audiences

•   have good literary skills

•   have good computer skills, particularly with creative AV software packages and internet usage, or at least an appreciation of these along with other staff members or parents who would implement the software packages under your direction

•   have a good appreciation of the internet and be able to implement all that this means of communication offers your particular school

•   be capable of developing and implementing a viable budget

•   be keen to learn and develop more successful forms of marketing and marketing skills.


The School Response to the SMM is discussed in in detail in the school marketing manual ebook.

The 'School Marketing Manager' blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010.