Making the connection: connecting to your community can be the first step on the road to becoming enrollment rich.

Making the connection: connecting to your community can be the first step on the road to becoming enrollment rich. ENROLLMENT MARKETING IS NOT JUST ABOUT enrollment; it is aboutcreating relationships and serving your community or target audience formany years. The first step in building such relationships is making aconnection, and that is what effective marketing is all about.Administrators, teachers and critical support team members all have thepower to connect with the community and help to make your schoolenrollment rich. Making Individual Connections The person-to-person per��son-to-per��sonadj.1. Of or relating to a long-distance telephone call chargeable only when the caller speaks to an indicated person at the number reached.2. connection will always be the strongest. Everystaff member at your school is in a position to market your programthrough the individual connections they make in the community each day.They simply must be armed with a clear, effective marketing message theycan share with others. If you are a school leader, the first connection you should make iswith your own teachers and support staff. Make sure they understand thevalue of your school and its programs. They should know what thoseprograms can mean to the community in terms of a strong local economyand promising future careers for their children. They should have thesame passion that you have about what you do. That is the message--andthe emotion--that they need to take out into the community. Meetings of civic organizations, clubs and other community groupscan all present opportunities to share your marketing message. Schoolleaders who are well-informed well-informedAdjectiveknowing a lot about a great variety of subjects or about one particular subjectAdj. 1. well-informed - possessing sound knowledge; "well-informed readers"intelligent about the benefits of your programs andwho are effective public speakers should become ambassadors for yourschool and take every possible opportunity to speak at such meetings.Using an effective marketing message, a thorough knowledge of theschool's structure and programs, and, most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent"above all, most especially , a truebelief in the benefits the school has to offer, a teacher oradministrator can make an emotional connection with parents and businessleaders. Making the Community Connection In addition to making connections with community and civic groups,educators This is a list of educators. See also: Education, List of education topics. External link: General Category: need to connect with business leaders. Local business and industry needs skilled employees, and a careerand technical school is ideally suited to provide those employees. Makesure you know about the local business community and its changing needs,and that the business community knows about your school and its abilityto work on meeting those needs. As I always say, don't don't?1. Contraction of do not.2. Nonstandard Contraction of does not.n.A statement of what should not be done: a list of the dos and don'ts. let your school become the best keptsecret in town--or even in your district or state. Expanding yourhorizons beyond city limits can result in expanded enrollment as well.You might consider attending meetings at the district or state level tofind out about new educational or economic initiatives. These areconsiderations for future offerings at your school or could provideconfirmation of the value your programs already provide--and that canbecome a powerful marketing tool. Connecting at a Professional Level Professional association meetings at the local, state, regional andnational levels are another way to connect to marketing ideas. Throughnetworking with fellow career and technical educators and by attendinginformative sessions, you can: * learn best-practices and how to market them to your audience * develop your enthusiasm--the marketing advantage * create an experience in your program and school worth marketing * build emotional attachment See attach a file. and loyalty with current andprospective students by learning to connect with your audience The national ACTE ACTE Association for Career and Technical Education (formerly American Vocational Association)ACTE Association of Corporate Travel ExecutivesACTE Approvals Committee for Terminal EquipmentACTE Anodal Closure Tetanus Annual Convention and Career Tech Expo, as wellas the meetings of state associations are ideally suited for networkingand for growing professionally. A professional association meeting is an opportunity for learningabout areas that may be outside your particular area of expertise, andone of these may be marketing. By browsing See browse. the program and planning yourschedule, you will find sessions that can help you promote your program. You might want to attend a session on making students at the middleschool level aware of the career-tech programs that are available atyour high school or one on how to transition secondary students intoyour two-year postsecondary program. Look for sessions that address yourschool's needs. Find out what others have done to achieve successand how you can replicate rep��li��catev.1. To duplicate, copy, reproduce, or repeat.2. To reproduce or make an exact copy or copies of genetic material, a cell, or an organism.n.A repetition of an experiment or a procedure. those efforts. The Power Connection Sometimes "marketing" your school means selling the ideato community, state and even federal legislators. Bond issues candirectly affect a school and its programs, so it is important to knowwhen such an issue is going to be on the ballot ballot,means of voting for candidates for office. The choice may be indicated on or by the ballot forms themselves—e.g., colored balls (hence the term ballot, which is derived from the Italian ballotta, . State and federallegislation can also have an impact on schools. The members of yourcommunity who are your "consumers" should have the informationto make informed decisions when it comes to education, so they should beaware of your school and how any bonds or legislation will affect theeducational opportunities available to them. Marketing is more than justa "sales pitch," when it includes valuable information. Career and technical schools have the power to make a difference intheir communities, states and even their country by providing theskilled workforce that fuels the national economy. Marketing can help tosell that message and maximize In a graphical environment, to enlarge a window to the full size of the screen. See Win Maximize windows. enrollment. I am a marketing professional, and I believe in the power and thevalue of marketing, but I focus on providing services to career andtechnical education schools because I believe just as strongly in thepower and the value of career and technical education. For your success,recruiting new students and retaining current students are the keys, andone of the best ways to do that is to develop a marketing- andenrollment-driven organization. It all begins with a connection to yourcommunity and target audience, and when that connection is madesuccessfully, the results can be electrifying e��lec��tri��fy?tr.v. e��lec��tri��fied, e��lec��tri��fy��ing, e��lec��tri��fies1. To produce electric charge on or in (a conductor).2. a. . Mark C. Perna is the founder of Teals for Schools in Cleveland,Ohio "Cleveland" redirects here. For the Cleveland metropolitan area, see . For other uses, see Cleveland (disambiguation).Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. . He is a member of ACTE and the ACTE Future Horizons Committee. Hecan be contacted at mark@MT4S.com, or through the Tools for Schools Website at www.MT4S.com.