With changing demographics and a more competitive landscape, schools need to up their marketing game. It is now no longer adequate to think that marketing schools for a few weeks in autumn is sufficient. Marketing and reputation management is an all-year round activity that should focus on pupil recruitment and attracting the very best staff to work at your school.

In this session we will look at marketing theory; working through some scenarios so that you can apply the learning to meet your own objectives. We will cover:

• Marketing tips and ways to engage with parents and prospective staff
• The role of a great communications and marketing strategy
• Communicating in a crisis to stop it becoming a reputational catastrophe.

Christine Bayliss is a consultant who has worked with Academy Trusts from across the country to develop marketing strategies and deliver day-to-day support. A typical example of feedback from a leading academy chain comes from STEP Academy Trust who engaged her services to develop and implement a stakeholder engagement strategy in East Sussex. Christine and her team devised an innovative approach which included targeted social media, radio coverage, local drop-in sessions and leafleting. The impact of the campaign has been significant, resulting in heightened parental engagement and greater local awareness of STEP’s work.