How to Engage and Empower Your Community

If your school has gone through the research and the brand positioning process, it’s now time to engage and empower your community to get the good word out there. 

You’ve identified misperceptions and prioritized messages. You now know what works with families who seek a school based on how you will best benefit their child.

Well done! The hard work is over. Let the fun begin.

Viewbooks, website, and digital ads are the obvious assets to update. Still, nothing is more powerful and important than strong word of mouth to clearly articulate what you do well in a way that resonates with the families you want to speak with most. Get this right, and interest in your school will grow. Oh, and you’ll engage your community effectively along the way.

As a big believer of the Appreciative Inquiry approach, we do our best work through the lens of discovering and amplifying what works. What happens after our work is done together is where you will see the greatest impact. To set schools up for success, StoryScape provides the map to turn your community into effective influencers and proud brand ambassadors. An authentic, accessible, and ownable strategy combined with commitment will bring your message to life, and move prospects from being curious to visiting your campus.

Word-of-Mouth Message Training – Top 3 Takeaways

After decades in marketing with various clients, we’ve distilled our top 3 takeaways on how to best engage your community. Our StoryTelling Workshops enable your school to harness the power of word of mouth.

• First, consider yourself empowered. An authentic story will naturally be shared with enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is contagious. You don’t have to love public speaking, be a theater major, or have “marketing” in your title to talk with enthusiasm about the most important benefits your child gets from their school experience. So, make it personal. How you deliver your message is as important as what you say. Don’t let your message get lost in your delivery. Authentic = Enthusiastic.

• Second, use your positioning strategies as inspiration to access your personal stories. No memorization, no scripts, promise. If you’ve gotten to the workshop phase, we’ve taken the guesswork out of what resonates. Our market research and inclusive process revealed what messages to prioritize to create genuine interest in your school. With an articulate through line to all of your stories, we will bridge the gap between the perception of your school to align with the reality of the magic happening on your campus. You will see results. Positioning Strategies = Personal Stories.

• Last but not least, less I, more why. Positioning, messaging, brand strategies — these are not about you. Good ones are about why what you do benefits your students, their children. Talk about that — the benefits to the student. No one wants to spend time with someone who only talks about themselves. Talk about the impact your school has on those who are part of your community. That will resonate. Remember, Y > I.

Are you ready? Let’s talk about how you can get people talking.

Engage and Empower. Articulate and Resonate.