Saturday, October 23, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
4 Key Strategies to Make the School Marketing Budget a Necessary Aspect of a Successful School Marketing Plan
A most controversial aspect of any School Marketing Plan is the school marketing budget - there is often a reluctance to offer the necessary capital to allow this to be effective. Below are four key strategies to make this budget work - and work well!
1. Invest During Good Times - Financial and Otherwise
2. Invest During Difficult Financial Times and Other Difficult Situations
3. A Realistic Budget is Necessary
4. If Needed - a Shared Budget Across Schools or Regions
1. Invest During Good Times - Financial and Otherwise
Good times are the best times to invest. This enables the school's reputation to be enhanced considerably. Resting on the laurels of the past can become an expensive exercise when the reputation is forgotten or when a new challenge comes from other competing interests, including other schools and distractions within society.
2. Invest During Difficult Financial Times and Other Difficult Situations
However, all schools need to market themselves at whatever stage of the success cycle at which they find themselves. Do not give up in the tough times - all schools will experience these throughout their history. It is a most important time to market, fight for the dollars so you don not get left behind in the marketplace.
3. A Realistic Budget is Necessary
Various people within each school community have differing views on the amount which should be afforded to the marketing budget. School leaders need to be aware that the implementation of a good marketing plan would inevitably drive up community engagement and enrolment numbers!
In today's dollar values spending $20 000 - $40 000 for an average sized independent school (of between 600 and 900 students) would be a good investment. This would need to be proportionately reviewed according to overall School Budget, the number of enrolments and the overall need of the school to build and maintain enrolment numbers.
When the marketing plan is being developed for a specified year, key stakeholders, particularly the School Principal, School Manager and the School Marketing Manager, need to assess the budget requirements. The budget will have a significant impact on a plan for any year. The budget includes all areas of the plan which incur expenses.
4. If Needed - a Shared Budget Across Schools or Regions
Shared marketing budgets across a number of schools may be another way of efficiently budgeting.
This could be regionalized e.g.:
• a combined regional budget to be shared amongst schools or
• a RMM (Regional Marketing Manager) implementing the whole marketing plan for the region and individual schools, which are only required to develop their own essentials such as newsletters.
Or it may be a number of localized schools working together and sharing the budget.
A shared budget may see different schools marketing specific aspects for the cluster e.g.
• one may concentrate on Arts / Sport Education within the cluster
• another may market the varying sorts of key curriculum and extra-curricular areas on offer and differing times for each
• another may emphasize the pastoral, welfare and social justice aspects within the cluster.
For some schools this may be the only way to begin marketing or to maintain a budget in any form what-so-ever.
Caution - even though this may appear to save financially, it takes away from the individual uniqueness of each school. Marketing is often more successful when emphasizing a uniqueness.
A professionally run school will always allow for an appropriate marketing budget to assist with promoting the school - both in good and difficult times.
1. Invest During Good Times - Financial and Otherwise
2. Invest During Difficult Financial Times and Other Difficult Situations
3. A Realistic Budget is Necessary
4. If Needed - a Shared Budget Across Schools or Regions
1. Invest During Good Times - Financial and Otherwise
Good times are the best times to invest. This enables the school's reputation to be enhanced considerably. Resting on the laurels of the past can become an expensive exercise when the reputation is forgotten or when a new challenge comes from other competing interests, including other schools and distractions within society.
2. Invest During Difficult Financial Times and Other Difficult Situations
However, all schools need to market themselves at whatever stage of the success cycle at which they find themselves. Do not give up in the tough times - all schools will experience these throughout their history. It is a most important time to market, fight for the dollars so you don not get left behind in the marketplace.
3. A Realistic Budget is Necessary
Various people within each school community have differing views on the amount which should be afforded to the marketing budget. School leaders need to be aware that the implementation of a good marketing plan would inevitably drive up community engagement and enrolment numbers!
In today's dollar values spending $20 000 - $40 000 for an average sized independent school (of between 600 and 900 students) would be a good investment. This would need to be proportionately reviewed according to overall School Budget, the number of enrolments and the overall need of the school to build and maintain enrolment numbers.
When the marketing plan is being developed for a specified year, key stakeholders, particularly the School Principal, School Manager and the School Marketing Manager, need to assess the budget requirements. The budget will have a significant impact on a plan for any year. The budget includes all areas of the plan which incur expenses.
4. If Needed - a Shared Budget Across Schools or Regions
Shared marketing budgets across a number of schools may be another way of efficiently budgeting.
This could be regionalized e.g.:
• a combined regional budget to be shared amongst schools or
• a RMM (Regional Marketing Manager) implementing the whole marketing plan for the region and individual schools, which are only required to develop their own essentials such as newsletters.
Or it may be a number of localized schools working together and sharing the budget.
A shared budget may see different schools marketing specific aspects for the cluster e.g.
• one may concentrate on Arts / Sport Education within the cluster
• another may market the varying sorts of key curriculum and extra-curricular areas on offer and differing times for each
• another may emphasize the pastoral, welfare and social justice aspects within the cluster.
For some schools this may be the only way to begin marketing or to maintain a budget in any form what-so-ever.
Caution - even though this may appear to save financially, it takes away from the individual uniqueness of each school. Marketing is often more successful when emphasizing a uniqueness.
A professionally run school will always allow for an appropriate marketing budget to assist with promoting the school - both in good and difficult times.
This '4 Key Strategies to Make the School Marketing Budget a Necessary Aspect of a Successful School Marketing Plan' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010, while SMAPL retains the copyright.
Responding to a Difficult Media Question During an Interview
The difficult, challenging question posed by an interviewer will often occur at a media interview - it needs to be responded to during the interview or shortly afterwards.
The last resort is the, "No comment," response. If time is needed to gain an accurate response, then advise the interviewer that you will find the answer and get back in as reasonable time as possible.
In the church setting this can be quite a challenge, particularly when church personnel are not experienced to receive such requests or skilled with the necessary response techniques. There is also the inherent fear of damaging the school's hard earned reputation if the response is incorrect or not given in a credible way.
Below is a suggested response for the church marketing personnel. This includes:
• Being prepared for the interview and anticipating negative questions
• Interview techniques to assist.
Be Prepared - A Response Method
• Anticipate the sort of negative questions which might arise and prepare good responses.
• Have your key 3-4 positive points you would like to make.
It may also be necessary to make arrangements with the interviewee prior to the interview, and before the journalist arrives, that the Church Marketing Manager would interject respectfully if the interviewee was getting particularly stressed or confused during the interview. This is particularly necessary if the person being interviewed is a child / student. There is always a duty of care to assist the child firstly and respond to the interviewer only secondly.
Key techniques during the interview when asked a difficult question requiring a response are usually:
1. Acknowledge the weakness (apologize if needed)
2. Agree that plans are afoot to improve the situation
3. Continually revert back to the 3-4 key positive points you want to make
It is often best to do this in a light-hearted manner and preferably in a fun way.
The Serious or Controversial Issue - Interview
Dealing with a serious or controversial issue involves having staff well trained with important interview techniques. These techniques are usually coordinated by the church's authorities who have qualified staff to train urch personnel.
The techniques above would often form the basis for such difficult interviews. These interviews often result from alleged controversial or illegal incidents, involving staff or parishioners.
These days the difficult media question is a stock question of the journalist's profession. There is nothing better for a church's reputation when these questions are responded to well and those being informed through the interview see a professional approach being shown and implemented. Be informed, prepared and skilled with the various interview techniques.
The 'Responding to a Difficult Media Question During an Interview' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010, with copyright being retained by SMAPL.
The last resort is the, "No comment," response. If time is needed to gain an accurate response, then advise the interviewer that you will find the answer and get back in as reasonable time as possible.
In the church setting this can be quite a challenge, particularly when church personnel are not experienced to receive such requests or skilled with the necessary response techniques. There is also the inherent fear of damaging the school's hard earned reputation if the response is incorrect or not given in a credible way.
Below is a suggested response for the church marketing personnel. This includes:
• Being prepared for the interview and anticipating negative questions
• Interview techniques to assist.
Be Prepared - A Response Method
• Anticipate the sort of negative questions which might arise and prepare good responses.
• Have your key 3-4 positive points you would like to make.
It may also be necessary to make arrangements with the interviewee prior to the interview, and before the journalist arrives, that the Church Marketing Manager would interject respectfully if the interviewee was getting particularly stressed or confused during the interview. This is particularly necessary if the person being interviewed is a child / student. There is always a duty of care to assist the child firstly and respond to the interviewer only secondly.
Key techniques during the interview when asked a difficult question requiring a response are usually:
1. Acknowledge the weakness (apologize if needed)
2. Agree that plans are afoot to improve the situation
3. Continually revert back to the 3-4 key positive points you want to make
It is often best to do this in a light-hearted manner and preferably in a fun way.
The Serious or Controversial Issue - Interview
Dealing with a serious or controversial issue involves having staff well trained with important interview techniques. These techniques are usually coordinated by the church's authorities who have qualified staff to train urch personnel.
The techniques above would often form the basis for such difficult interviews. These interviews often result from alleged controversial or illegal incidents, involving staff or parishioners.
These days the difficult media question is a stock question of the journalist's profession. There is nothing better for a church's reputation when these questions are responded to well and those being informed through the interview see a professional approach being shown and implemented. Be informed, prepared and skilled with the various interview techniques.
The 'Responding to a Difficult Media Question During an Interview' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010, with copyright being retained by SMAPL.
Marketing e-Books by Bryan Foster now on Amazon.com and Soon as Google Editions
The marketing e-books by Bryan Foster have been uploaded to Amazon.com and when Google Editions is activated this year will be uploaded there also.
There is the option to download in virtually any format for whatever device you want to read the e-books on... whether PC, Mac, ipad, ipod, Blackberry etc,. All you need is the free reading app supplied by Amazon.com applicable to your device. You also have the option to use an Amazon Kindle reading device when purchasing e-books.
"Your purchase will be sent automatically to your iPhone, PC, Mac, iPad, or BlackBerry device." (Amazon.com)
These marketing e-books may be applied across numerous marketing situations in so many fields. The key areas for marketing the Church and schools are, however, the target niche for these books.
Amazon.com Bryan Foster is where you will find Bryan's 5 marketing e-books.
The author has 20 years experience marketing within the Church. He has held senior positions in both Church and schools at the local area, including deanery and parish pastoral council chair and school principal. This experience has proved to be extremely valuable for compiling these easy to read and use e-books written in summarized point format.
Bryan's latest e-books published this year and available on Amazon are:
Both these websites also have a raft of complimentary strategies and examples. There are over 150 blog posts and numerous Hints and Tips on everything from general marketing principles to specific church and school strategies and examples, along with general 'life' themed blog posts.
The Church Manual in normal pdf format is 329 A4 pages, while the School Manual in pdf format has 369 A4 pages.
The 'Marketing e-Books by Bryan Foster now on Amazon.com and Soon as Google Editions' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, with copyright remaining with SMAPL.
There is the option to download in virtually any format for whatever device you want to read the e-books on... whether PC, Mac, ipad, ipod, Blackberry etc,. All you need is the free reading app supplied by Amazon.com applicable to your device. You also have the option to use an Amazon Kindle reading device when purchasing e-books.
"Your purchase will be sent automatically to your iPhone, PC, Mac, iPad, or BlackBerry device." (Amazon.com)
These marketing e-books may be applied across numerous marketing situations in so many fields. The key areas for marketing the Church and schools are, however, the target niche for these books.
Amazon.com Bryan Foster is where you will find Bryan's 5 marketing e-books.
The author has 20 years experience marketing within the Church. He has held senior positions in both Church and schools at the local area, including deanery and parish pastoral council chair and school principal. This experience has proved to be extremely valuable for compiling these easy to read and use e-books written in summarized point format.
Bryan's latest e-books published this year and available on Amazon are:
- Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed)
- School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed)
- School and Church Marketing Blog Posts: My First 100+
Both these websites also have a raft of complimentary strategies and examples. There are over 150 blog posts and numerous Hints and Tips on everything from general marketing principles to specific church and school strategies and examples, along with general 'life' themed blog posts.
The Church Manual in normal pdf format is 329 A4 pages, while the School Manual in pdf format has 369 A4 pages.
The 'Marketing e-Books by Bryan Foster now on Amazon.com and Soon as Google Editions' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, with copyright remaining with SMAPL.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Churches and Social Networking Websites
Church use of Social Networking Websites can be creatively enhanced for the benefit of the parish and church. This contemporary communication method is becoming more obvious for parishes. 'Facebook' is the most popular social networking site in the world today and becoming much more popular with churches and parishes.
The Challenge
We are challenged to meet our parishioners where they are at, or might be, in the near future. The social networking tentacles are reaching further into the various demographics affecting our parish communities, often way beyond the awareness of church leaders. It is now common for people in their 50s and 60s to have one or more social networking accounts.
Assumptions Underlying Social Networking Websites?
There are a number of interesting assumptions an ever expanding group of people, with representatives in most age groups, of the 21st century make:
• People like to build trusting relationships with others before doing 'business' (Churches need to be open to appreciating this belief and then adapting the way they communicate with such people.)
• The busyness of life often limits face-to-face opportunities
• The relationship does not need to be a face-to-face encounter, even though this is often preferred
• 'anonymity' allows for a less inhibited sharing of ideas and thoughts. (Easier for some people to make a comment when the contact person isn't actually in front of them. Similar for some people when using telephones or email.)
• The internet often provides the answers people are seeking (How often do you hear more and more, "Google it!")
• Digital communication is the easiest and quickest means of communication
• Digital communication allows for multiple conversations simultaneously
• People using these forms of communication eventually trust in the results due to their experiences.
Why Consider Social Networking Websites?
To reach this ever growing group of people in our communities we must meet them where they are at!
In many circumstances, this may not be your 'cup of tea'. But you do have control over who sees and comments on your church social networking pages if you follow the security directions. You may limit membership to only parishioners and hence only these people will see what you say and show.
It is, however, a successful method of informing an ever growing group of your community of whatever it is you would like to inform them about.
Below are the details contained on the Facebook page of the St Mary's Parish, Coomera and shows some ways this social networking site is used by a church parish:
• Parish and Contact Details
• News from the Parish Priest and Responses from Parishioners
• News about Youth and Children's Activities and Responses
• Upcoming Parish Events
• Parish Photos
• Parish Priest Recommended Websites for Parishioners
Social networking sites can be used effectively by churches and parishes. Once a number of challenges, misconceptions and assumptions underlying social networking sites are initially explored, each parish will be able to make the decision whether to proceed with a social networking webpage.
The 'Churches and Social Networking Websites' blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010 and Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010
The Challenge
We are challenged to meet our parishioners where they are at, or might be, in the near future. The social networking tentacles are reaching further into the various demographics affecting our parish communities, often way beyond the awareness of church leaders. It is now common for people in their 50s and 60s to have one or more social networking accounts.
Assumptions Underlying Social Networking Websites?
There are a number of interesting assumptions an ever expanding group of people, with representatives in most age groups, of the 21st century make:
• People like to build trusting relationships with others before doing 'business' (Churches need to be open to appreciating this belief and then adapting the way they communicate with such people.)
• The busyness of life often limits face-to-face opportunities
• The relationship does not need to be a face-to-face encounter, even though this is often preferred
• 'anonymity' allows for a less inhibited sharing of ideas and thoughts. (Easier for some people to make a comment when the contact person isn't actually in front of them. Similar for some people when using telephones or email.)
• The internet often provides the answers people are seeking (How often do you hear more and more, "Google it!")
• Digital communication is the easiest and quickest means of communication
• Digital communication allows for multiple conversations simultaneously
• People using these forms of communication eventually trust in the results due to their experiences.
Why Consider Social Networking Websites?
To reach this ever growing group of people in our communities we must meet them where they are at!
In many circumstances, this may not be your 'cup of tea'. But you do have control over who sees and comments on your church social networking pages if you follow the security directions. You may limit membership to only parishioners and hence only these people will see what you say and show.
It is, however, a successful method of informing an ever growing group of your community of whatever it is you would like to inform them about.
Below are the details contained on the Facebook page of the St Mary's Parish, Coomera and shows some ways this social networking site is used by a church parish:
• Parish and Contact Details
• News from the Parish Priest and Responses from Parishioners
• News about Youth and Children's Activities and Responses
• Upcoming Parish Events
• Parish Photos
• Parish Priest Recommended Websites for Parishioners
Social networking sites can be used effectively by churches and parishes. Once a number of challenges, misconceptions and assumptions underlying social networking sites are initially explored, each parish will be able to make the decision whether to proceed with a social networking webpage.
The 'Churches and Social Networking Websites' blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010 and Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Photojournalists - Essential for School, Business and Organizational Success
Photojournalists are essential for school, business and organizational success. They get the 'every picture tells a thousand words' to the general population.
Photojournalists are responsible for getting the best photos they can for their particular media outlets. Photos, like pictures, tell a thousand words - hence you need the best photo possible for your circumstances. Photojournalists will most likely have good ideas to best represent the image you or they want covered.
Photo sessions are usually enjoyable times for all involved. It is not often that people appear in the media.
The photojournalist usually works with the journalist who is covering the story. Yet it is often the photojournalist who decides which photos will be used.
There will be times when the media outlet only wants a photo and just sends a photojournalist. At other times you will need to arrange for interviews and photos at the same or similar times. However, at other times, the interview may happen over the telephone and the photo taken at a separate time. Even though most stories require a photo, sometimes it is not required.
Own Professional or Business Photos
There may also be times when the media outlet is quite happy for you to send your own photos by email instead of having the photojournalist come out.
This usually happens after the outlet appreciates the quality and content of your professional or business photos and the professionalism of your photographers.
This is more common with the smaller publications, or for photos accompanying editorial in special features and for advertising.
Rest assured that the outlets will invariably send out a photographer if you feel you need one.
Marketing Manager and the Photojournalist
The Marketing Manager, or selected well informed staff member, needs to attend all photo sessions. The Marketing Manager should treat it as an enjoyable time and it most likely will end up being so.
You are free to offer suggestions, though the final decision does rest with the photojournalist. Their employer is their media outlet (and not your business) and hence the photo taken is what they want. However, in most cases, the photojournalist is working with you and for the profession or business to be seen in the best light.
It is in their best interests to work with you for many reasons, including the media outlet's need for a good standing in the community. They will also possibly want photos, reactions or stories from your profession, business or field down the track. However, if you are being unfairly obstructive, then follow-up photos for other stories at other times may be few and far between.
For specific details of the unique school situation for dealing with photojournalists see Photojournalists and Schools - A Special Case Senario
The 'Photojournalists - Essential for School, Business and Organizational Success' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010, a 369 A4 page e-book, and Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2010, with the copyright being retained by SMAPL.Photojournalists and Schools - Special Case
Photojournalists in schools is a unique situation - particularly regarding duty of care for its students. The the following information may be applied to many differing professions and businesses also.
Stopping Inappropriate Photos and Follow-Up
You must make sure that the photos taken are appropriate for student, staff member and school.
Do not allow for anything raunchy or what might appear inappropriate.
It is strongly suggested that students and staff in the photo should not:
- hold any inappropriate prop e.g. cigarette
- appear before an inappropriate backdrop e.g. toilet or certain signage
- wear inappropriate clothing e.g. skimpy tops or short skirts
- be positioned in any inappropriate manner e.g. sitting inappropriately.
If you are not happy with the photojournalist's suggestions, then stop the photo shoot, negotiate a better outcome, or cancel it. You are responsible for trying to get the best most appropriate photo.
You have every right to do this - in fact you may have a responsibility to do this. Advise your School Principal of this situation and outcome.
Know your legal and ethical responsibilities. Seek these from qualified legal practitioners and ethicists.
If the photo session was cancelled, you or your School Principal would seriously consider contacting the media outlet's editor and advising of the inappropriateness of the photojournalist's expectations / demands. This should sort the problem out.
Further courses of action, if no success in the first instance was gained from the editor, would often be to contact the Communication and Marketing Manager within your educational system for guidance and support. Either your School Principal or the Communication and Marketing Manager would probably take the matter further e.g. journalists' association, members of parliament, etc, and even to police / court if there was any abuse. This would be a very rare indeed.
Properly and respectfully encouraging and managing the photojournalist to take the best and most appropriate photo for your story's angle is in the best interest of your profession and business. Be aware that their employer is the media outlet and not you. Often your best diplomatic skills are required.
The 'Photojournalists and Schools - Special Case' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author or School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010, a 369 A4 page e-book, and Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2010, with the copyright being retained by SMAPL.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
EzineArticles Rate Bryan Foster as Platinum Expert Author
EzineArtcicles.com, the prolific internet publisher of articles with over 300 000 authors, has rated author Bryan Foster as platinum, expert author.
Bryan has written 5 marketing e-books as well as over 140 blog posts and articles, particularly on his two websites:
http://churchparishmarketing.com
http://marketschools.com
Bryan's Ezine Articles may be found at: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bryan_W_Foster
These articles cover a divergent array of topics. The expertise of the author comes from many experiences, including:
The 'Ezine Articles Rate Bryan Foster as Platinum Expert Author' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, with copyright claimed by SMAPL.
Bryan has written 5 marketing e-books as well as over 140 blog posts and articles, particularly on his two websites:
http://churchparishmarketing.com
http://marketschools.com
Bryan's Ezine Articles may be found at: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bryan_W_Foster
Some detailed and challenging articles, yet with solutions, on this site include:
- Social Networking Sites May Cause the i-Generation to Become Superficial - the Answer!
- The Marketing Plan - What, Why and How - A 6 Point Exploration & Sample
- A Difficult Media Interview - Hints and Tips
- Good Marketing Evaluation Practices Are Getting Lost in Today's Digital World
- Managing Media Interviews - 6 Key Areas
- Make the School Marketing Budget a Necessary Part of Any School Marketing Plan - 4 Key Strategies
- Social Networking Websites Needed for Churches and Parishes
- E-Book - a Necessary Strategy for Internet Marketing in the Digital Age
These articles cover a divergent array of topics. The expertise of the author comes from many experiences, including:
- marketing within the Church, particularly schools for 20 years
- senior lay positions within the Church
- senior leadership positions within Catholic schools, both secondary and primary / elementary
- fatherhood to children ranging from twenties to teenagers, etc.
- a successful marriage over many decades.
The 'Ezine Articles Rate Bryan Foster as Platinum Expert Author' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, with copyright claimed by SMAPL.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
External Blog Sites for School Marketing
The external blog site plays an important role when marketing a school and could be used for three main reasons:
• these increase traffic to your School website through the links you include in the general blog template you create, and also in the blog posts you write, which are directed to your School’s website
• these assist with your website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as each point (links, as per above) back to your School website assists the SEO
• in most cases these external blogs are free of charge. (Costs are optional depending on your usage and blog complexities and on the Blog provider. In most cases you can easily do this free of charge.)
A good example of these external blogs are provided by Blogger and WordPress.
See School Marketing Manual in the Digital Age (3rd ed) by Bryan Foster 2010 for detail about Blogs and Blogs Posts for Blogger. WordPress Blog examples are shown in ‘Website Creation, Hosting and Costs’ section of the school marketing manual also. There is also information to start the development of Blogger and WordPress blogs. Also included are domain listings for other popular external blog sites.
Blogger and How to Join
Blogger Homepage may be found at: http://www.blogger.com/start; An example of a Blogger Blog may be found at: http://marketschools.blogspot.com/
To create a Blogger Account you first of all need to create a Google Account as Blogger belongs to Google. You then follow the ‘Continue’ key to create the Blogger Account.
To create a Blogger Account go to: https://www.blogger.com/start . Initially click on ‘Create a Blog’.
Other External Blogs
• WordPress
The WordPress Homepage can be found at: http://wordpress.com/
To create a WordPress Account click on the ‘Sign up now’ button on the right hand side and go to: http://en.wordpress.com/signup/ From their just follow the instructions and form your own Blog.
• Squarespace
This is relatively new to the blogging scene with numerous outstanding features. Costs from $US8 to $US50 per month at time of writing. Worth a look. Very impressive reviews from the Wall Street Journal Online and CNET Webware. http://www.squarespace.com/
• TypePad
TypePad was launched in 2003 and has been used by major corporations such as BBC – quite a broad spread of users. Found at: http://www.typepad.com/pro/#2 Costs from $US8.95 to $US89.95 per month at time of writing.
• Other common blogs are available at:
http://www.joomla.org/
http://www.movabletype.org/
http://www.tumblr.com/
http://www.vox.com/
Numerous other examples of various blogs may also be found in the 'Inexpensive or Free Websites with Samples’ section earlier in the school marketing manual e-book.
The Blogger World is an exciting and often time consuming pastime or profession…
There are so many uses both from the school marketing perspective as well as a personal perspective.
Blogger and WordPress are easy to use and set up blogs which would help most schools with their school marketing plan.
This external blog sites for marketing schools blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010.
• these increase traffic to your School website through the links you include in the general blog template you create, and also in the blog posts you write, which are directed to your School’s website
• these assist with your website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as each point (links, as per above) back to your School website assists the SEO
• in most cases these external blogs are free of charge. (Costs are optional depending on your usage and blog complexities and on the Blog provider. In most cases you can easily do this free of charge.)
A good example of these external blogs are provided by Blogger and WordPress.
See School Marketing Manual in the Digital Age (3rd ed) by Bryan Foster 2010 for detail about Blogs and Blogs Posts for Blogger. WordPress Blog examples are shown in ‘Website Creation, Hosting and Costs’ section of the school marketing manual also. There is also information to start the development of Blogger and WordPress blogs. Also included are domain listings for other popular external blog sites.
Blogger and How to Join
Blogger Homepage may be found at: http://www.blogger.com/start; An example of a Blogger Blog may be found at: http://marketschools.blogspot.com/
To create a Blogger Account you first of all need to create a Google Account as Blogger belongs to Google. You then follow the ‘Continue’ key to create the Blogger Account.
To create a Blogger Account go to: https://www.blogger.com/start . Initially click on ‘Create a Blog’.
Other External Blogs
• WordPress
The WordPress Homepage can be found at: http://wordpress.com/
To create a WordPress Account click on the ‘Sign up now’ button on the right hand side and go to: http://en.wordpress.com/signup/ From their just follow the instructions and form your own Blog.
• Squarespace
This is relatively new to the blogging scene with numerous outstanding features. Costs from $US8 to $US50 per month at time of writing. Worth a look. Very impressive reviews from the Wall Street Journal Online and CNET Webware. http://www.squarespace.com/
• TypePad
TypePad was launched in 2003 and has been used by major corporations such as BBC – quite a broad spread of users. Found at: http://www.typepad.com/pro/#2 Costs from $US8.95 to $US89.95 per month at time of writing.
• Other common blogs are available at:
http://www.joomla.org/
http://www.movabletype.org/
http://www.tumblr.com/
http://www.vox.com/
Numerous other examples of various blogs may also be found in the 'Inexpensive or Free Websites with Samples’ section earlier in the school marketing manual e-book.
The Blogger World is an exciting and often time consuming pastime or profession…
There are so many uses both from the school marketing perspective as well as a personal perspective.
Blogger and WordPress are easy to use and set up blogs which would help most schools with their school marketing plan.
This external blog sites for marketing schools blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010.
Archdiocese of New York Inspirational Website for Church Marketing
The Archdiocese of New York has a wonderful website which should inspire any church marketing personnel.
The personable visual image of Archbishop Timothy Dolan links to his well constructed and diversified personal blog. We are openly invited from the blog link on the homepage to engage through this digital communication format as "God is everywhere even on the blog!"
The website's clean, crisp presentation says 'professional' so very clearly. It has a very welcoming and inviting appeal. This easy to read and use homepage links to various pages including:
Regular podcasts from 'The Catholic Channel' are also linked from this homepage. The Archbishop's weekly 'A Conversation with the Archbishop' program includes the Archbishop answering your emails and discussing various topics, archdiocesan events and Church issues. Programs provided here are diversified and presented by various clergy, religious and lay personnel. (You will need certain software installed to receive these, though. Links are provided.)
Archbishop Timothy Dolan was installed as Archbishop of NY on April 15, 2009 after serving as Archbishop of Milwaukee since 2002.
Church marketing personnel will be inspired by this website. The site exudes professionalism. It says 'welcome - come and view.' The tabs are contemporary, topical and easily found. All linked material is more than appropriate and often necessary for all dioceses and churches.
The Archdiocese of New York exempliary website for church marketing personnel blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010.
The personable visual image of Archbishop Timothy Dolan links to his well constructed and diversified personal blog. We are openly invited from the blog link on the homepage to engage through this digital communication format as "God is everywhere even on the blog!"
The website's clean, crisp presentation says 'professional' so very clearly. It has a very welcoming and inviting appeal. This easy to read and use homepage links to various pages including:
- Archbishop Timothy Dolan - Blog, Learn More About the Archbishop, Archbishop's Homilies
- The Catholic Channel
- The World Needs Heroes - linked to NYPriest.com
- Stewardship Appeal
- Events Calendar
- News and Press Releases
- Offices
- Charities
- Education
- Pastoral
- Seminary
- Ways to Give
- Other Links
Regular podcasts from 'The Catholic Channel' are also linked from this homepage. The Archbishop's weekly 'A Conversation with the Archbishop' program includes the Archbishop answering your emails and discussing various topics, archdiocesan events and Church issues. Programs provided here are diversified and presented by various clergy, religious and lay personnel. (You will need certain software installed to receive these, though. Links are provided.)
Archbishop Timothy Dolan was installed as Archbishop of NY on April 15, 2009 after serving as Archbishop of Milwaukee since 2002.
Church marketing personnel will be inspired by this website. The site exudes professionalism. It says 'welcome - come and view.' The tabs are contemporary, topical and easily found. All linked material is more than appropriate and often necessary for all dioceses and churches.
The Archdiocese of New York exempliary website for church marketing personnel blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Commercial Church Newspapers
The commercial church newspaper is a necessity in today's secular world. For a more balanced view of everyday issues a commercially produced church newspaper allows for the Church to present its teachings and arguments to a more and more secularized world, to a much larger audience.
The Catholic Weekly and The Catholic Leader are two highly respected commercial church newspapers which by their very nature offer another side to an often one-sided report in the secular media.
Both papers have a strong internet presence, as well as being available in print, usually through churches or though a growing number of newsagencies. Both these papers have a long standing presence within the national church.
The newspapers are interestingly presented and cover a diverse range of topics. Topics which should be of interest to a large readership. The internet option opens the door to a contemporary audience, not just by age but by IT interest levels.
The editors need to continually be aware of this younger and IT savvy option and make sure that stories are relevant to this demographic.
Bryan Foster recently had a story about his 'Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010, and its impact on a local church, written in The Catholic Leader newspaper.
The place and necessity for commercial church newspapers which is growing within our ever increasing secular societies was written by Bryan Foster.
Church Marketing and the Internet
Church Marketing Internet Applications includes Samples and Instructions to assist the Church marketing personnel with contemporary marketing methods.
The internet provides so many church marketing opportunities that are:
• very contemporary
• popular with a significant and ever-increasing number of our church community
• ever-growing in possibilities
• often inexpensive or free
• fun!
The modern church and parish needs to be actively involved with many of these internet opportunities, otherwise they will unnecessarily fall behind the interest level and communication methods of an ever-growing number of our parishioners – with what could be serious ramifications for all concerned.
The CHALLENGE has been issued!
Headings
Website
Website Management Software Sample
RSS Feeds
SEOs
Blogs
Emails
e/i-Newsletters and e/i-Flyers
Social Networking Websites
Video Uploads
Chat Rooms
Skype
These church marketing internet applications may be found in detailed summaried point form in the 'Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed)' 2010 by Bryan Foster.
The internet provides so many church marketing opportunities that are:
• very contemporary
• popular with a significant and ever-increasing number of our church community
• ever-growing in possibilities
• often inexpensive or free
• fun!
The modern church and parish needs to be actively involved with many of these internet opportunities, otherwise they will unnecessarily fall behind the interest level and communication methods of an ever-growing number of our parishioners – with what could be serious ramifications for all concerned.
The CHALLENGE has been issued!
Headings
Website
Website Management Software Sample
RSS Feeds
SEOs
Blogs
Emails
e/i-Newsletters and e/i-Flyers
Social Networking Websites
Video Uploads
Chat Rooms
Skype
These church marketing internet applications may be found in detailed summaried point form in the 'Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed)' 2010 by Bryan Foster.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
'The Catholic Leader' - Leading Online and Hardcopy National Newspaper
The Catholic Leader newspaper is a national leader online and as a hardcopy edition. It is a model in journalistic integrity and diversity. It is the nation's best selling religious newspaper. The Catholic Leader has a significant online presence.
Editor Peter Bugden has been successfully editing this paper since 2007. He succeeded Marcus Kuczynski who was the editor since since 1997.
The newspaper focusses on international, national, regional and local community stories relevant to not only Catholics but all interested people, especially Christians. However, the primary focus is Catholic.
Stories range from detailed features to informative stories. Colorful photographs enhance the stories and advertisments.
A large variety of advertising topics lead readers to a substantial diversity of resources of interest, including various service offerings, upcoming events and print and electronic texts.
The Catholic Leader plays an integral part for the Archdiocese of Brisbane. It is a primary means of communication for the archdiocese.
'The Catholic Leader Newspaper - leading online and hardcopy national newspaper' was written by Bryan Foster author of Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Websites Needed for Successful Church Marketing Plan
Websites - The church / parish website and website management software are needed for a successful church marketing plan. It is often where parish information is initially found.
The website is often one of the first places that potential families and parishioners get an overall feel and basic appreciation of the potential for their involvement in parish life.
Creating a Website - Background
Investigation in this area is critical.
The church will need expertise to create and then continually update a good website.
The initial construction of the website may come from staff, IT skilled parishioners, school IT staff or from outside consultants.
The continual updating would best be done within the parish. In-servicing staff for making these updates would be money well spent.
An option, I have found very beneficial, follows.
Management Software
Another option is to have the website embedded in to management software which allows for management of the site. This takes the site beyond the static and into the realm of continual fluid development – Web 2.0.
The expense of this option is not considerable and with negotiation within the field a reasonable monthly cost would be expected. I would suggest speaking with trusted others in deciding on the businesses offering this support. (See ‘Website Management Software Sample’ in 'Internet Applications...' chapter for a specific example.)
This software allows for various detailed reports of website usage. It could include:
• the whereabouts in the world of visitors to your site
• number of webpages they visited
• the content viewed from webpages and applications they visited
• where they entered and exited the website
• who is exploring your site, through IP (Internet Protocol) addresses
• the browsers they used to link to your website
• any commercial activities you may have as part of your website, etc.
This allows for the non-IT expert to update the website regularly, from uploading photos, literature items, to adding webpages, blogs, galleries of photos and videos, etc.
There are numerous other capacities depending on the management software.
More detail showing the necessity of Websites for Churches and Website Management Software to a successful church marketing plan may be found in the e-book: Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010 by Bryan Foster.
The website is often one of the first places that potential families and parishioners get an overall feel and basic appreciation of the potential for their involvement in parish life.
Creating a Website - Background
Investigation in this area is critical.
The church will need expertise to create and then continually update a good website.
The initial construction of the website may come from staff, IT skilled parishioners, school IT staff or from outside consultants.
The continual updating would best be done within the parish. In-servicing staff for making these updates would be money well spent.
An option, I have found very beneficial, follows.
Management Software
Another option is to have the website embedded in to management software which allows for management of the site. This takes the site beyond the static and into the realm of continual fluid development – Web 2.0.
The expense of this option is not considerable and with negotiation within the field a reasonable monthly cost would be expected. I would suggest speaking with trusted others in deciding on the businesses offering this support. (See ‘Website Management Software Sample’ in 'Internet Applications...' chapter for a specific example.)
This software allows for various detailed reports of website usage. It could include:
• the whereabouts in the world of visitors to your site
• number of webpages they visited
• the content viewed from webpages and applications they visited
• where they entered and exited the website
• who is exploring your site, through IP (Internet Protocol) addresses
• the browsers they used to link to your website
• any commercial activities you may have as part of your website, etc.
This allows for the non-IT expert to update the website regularly, from uploading photos, literature items, to adding webpages, blogs, galleries of photos and videos, etc.
There are numerous other capacities depending on the management software.
More detail showing the necessity of Websites for Churches and Website Management Software to a successful church marketing plan may be found in the e-book: Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010 by Bryan Foster.
Blog Posts the New Necessity for Schools
Blogs - Blogs are becoming a very popular form of interactive, digital communication by internet users and are now necessary for schools and their school marketing plans. Content may be brief or extensive.
Explained
Blogs are used to allow interaction between the website’s administrator/s and the website’s visitors.
Schools could benefit considerably through the effective use of Blogs. These are ideal avenues to promote your school and the various messages you wish to place in the public or private domain.
These days so many people wish to be valued through their involvement and feedback - blogs are one highly regarded avenue for them to achieve this.
Blog Posts
The website’s / blog’s administrators write a Blog Post (comment, information, news, challenge, etc.) and publish this to their website’s blog page. Blog Posts may also include photos, videos, audios and other graphic presentations.
The visitor to your website’s blog page would then have the option to comment on your blog post’s content.
Blog Posts may be of any length and literary style depending on the target audience. However, in most cases, brevity is the norm in these days of mass communication overload. Think newspaper article lengths for most blog posts. As a general guide I work on 200-300 words per blog post. 300 words is often quoted for a good SEO.
You need to make sure that the administrator has the option to accept or reject all comments posted in response to the blog post. If the blog post is available to the public, you need to be prepared to receive all sorts of comments, including spam (mainly advertising links). Unsuitable comments would then be deleted.
Two Major Blog Uses for Schools
School Marketers could use blogs in two primary ways:
• School website Blog
• External Blog sites, which you would point (link) back to your school website.
The DETAIL
More detail showing how necessary school blogs and school marketing blogs are, may be found in the e-book: School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010 by Bryan Foster.
Explained
Blogs are used to allow interaction between the website’s administrator/s and the website’s visitors.
Schools could benefit considerably through the effective use of Blogs. These are ideal avenues to promote your school and the various messages you wish to place in the public or private domain.
These days so many people wish to be valued through their involvement and feedback - blogs are one highly regarded avenue for them to achieve this.
Blog Posts
The website’s / blog’s administrators write a Blog Post (comment, information, news, challenge, etc.) and publish this to their website’s blog page. Blog Posts may also include photos, videos, audios and other graphic presentations.
The visitor to your website’s blog page would then have the option to comment on your blog post’s content.
Blog Posts may be of any length and literary style depending on the target audience. However, in most cases, brevity is the norm in these days of mass communication overload. Think newspaper article lengths for most blog posts. As a general guide I work on 200-300 words per blog post. 300 words is often quoted for a good SEO.
You need to make sure that the administrator has the option to accept or reject all comments posted in response to the blog post. If the blog post is available to the public, you need to be prepared to receive all sorts of comments, including spam (mainly advertising links). Unsuitable comments would then be deleted.
Two Major Blog Uses for Schools
School Marketers could use blogs in two primary ways:
• School website Blog
• External Blog sites, which you would point (link) back to your school website.
The DETAIL
More detail showing how necessary school blogs and school marketing blogs are, may be found in the e-book: School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010 by Bryan Foster.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
SEO - School Websites
For School Websites to gain higher positioning at various search engines, various methods of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are needed. A successful school marketing plan with carefully incorporate the necessary SEO strategies for this to occur.
Website Viewers
Many school communities may be interested in having their school and their website open worldwide. SEOs would likely suit these schools.
Some schools aren’t really interested in having their website visited from people all over the world. These school communities are more interested in their local communities. For these people SEOs are not needed.
Various school communities might like their website to be easily accessible to people from various parts of their particular country but not necessarily beyond their borders. This allows for people transferring to their school to preview what the school has to offer. A suggestion for these communities would be to select a domain name which ends in their countries code e.g. United Kingdom .uk, for Australia .au, New Zealand .nz etc.
Top Search Engine Page is the Aim
The aim with SEO is to achieve in the top three on the first page of any search engine.
Suggestions for Improvement
Some ways I have found which I believe help with Search Engine Optimization are:
• The Domain name includes the school name and suburb.
• Key Words such as the school name are regularly used throughout the site, particularly in titles / headings, first sentence and last sentence on each webpage.
• Each webpage within the website would highlight something different about the school and hence also include other key words associated both with the school name / suburb and that webpage’s emphasis.
These other Key Words may be: principal, school staff, curriculum, religious education, contact us, priests, open day, prospectus, sporting / arts / welfare etc groups within the school, etc.
The key would for impact could have the school name before it e.g. aquinas college principal. This links the purpose of the webpage specifically with the school.
• Each Blog Post’s title, along with the first and last sentences would include key words associated with that individual blog’s message and that it eventuated from your school.
• The more links coming to your website from other sources, particularly .gov, .edu and .org the better. Having other sites point to your website helps SEO i.e. having other sites have your Domain / URL linked live on their website.
However, it is best not to swap links with others of similar level e.g. .org. That is, if each site has the other’s site linked from their site, this usually causes it to neutralize the impact for both sites.
Yet swapping these links may improve traffic to your site, just not higher SEO.
• Include links within your own site to various other webpages on your site.
• Another way of achieving the links from other sites may be achieved by developing various Blogs elsewhere which include the link to your website. (More on this in Blogs later.)
• Be careful not to overdo all these links and key words as search engines may penalize you for being overambitious in gaining notice for your website.
• Age of the website. Older sites have more credibility. Develop your website as soon as possible.
• Update your site regularly. A fresh, updated site is appealing to both visitors and for SEO.
• Paid Ads will gain you high positioning in the ‘Sponsored’ columns, but at a cost, usually on a pay per click per view system. This may be quite expensive for a school’s needs.
School Websites invariably require high SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - these suggestions above come from the School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010, by Bryan Foster.
Website Viewers
Many school communities may be interested in having their school and their website open worldwide. SEOs would likely suit these schools.
Some schools aren’t really interested in having their website visited from people all over the world. These school communities are more interested in their local communities. For these people SEOs are not needed.
Various school communities might like their website to be easily accessible to people from various parts of their particular country but not necessarily beyond their borders. This allows for people transferring to their school to preview what the school has to offer. A suggestion for these communities would be to select a domain name which ends in their countries code e.g. United Kingdom .uk, for Australia .au, New Zealand .nz etc.
Top Search Engine Page is the Aim
The aim with SEO is to achieve in the top three on the first page of any search engine.
Suggestions for Improvement
Some ways I have found which I believe help with Search Engine Optimization are:
• The Domain name includes the school name and suburb.
• Key Words such as the school name are regularly used throughout the site, particularly in titles / headings, first sentence and last sentence on each webpage.
• Each webpage within the website would highlight something different about the school and hence also include other key words associated both with the school name / suburb and that webpage’s emphasis.
These other Key Words may be: principal, school staff, curriculum, religious education, contact us, priests, open day, prospectus, sporting / arts / welfare etc groups within the school, etc.
The key would for impact could have the school name before it e.g. aquinas college principal. This links the purpose of the webpage specifically with the school.
• Each Blog Post’s title, along with the first and last sentences would include key words associated with that individual blog’s message and that it eventuated from your school.
• The more links coming to your website from other sources, particularly .gov, .edu and .org the better. Having other sites point to your website helps SEO i.e. having other sites have your Domain / URL linked live on their website.
However, it is best not to swap links with others of similar level e.g. .org. That is, if each site has the other’s site linked from their site, this usually causes it to neutralize the impact for both sites.
Yet swapping these links may improve traffic to your site, just not higher SEO.
• Include links within your own site to various other webpages on your site.
• Another way of achieving the links from other sites may be achieved by developing various Blogs elsewhere which include the link to your website. (More on this in Blogs later.)
• Be careful not to overdo all these links and key words as search engines may penalize you for being overambitious in gaining notice for your website.
• Age of the website. Older sites have more credibility. Develop your website as soon as possible.
• Update your site regularly. A fresh, updated site is appealing to both visitors and for SEO.
• Paid Ads will gain you high positioning in the ‘Sponsored’ columns, but at a cost, usually on a pay per click per view system. This may be quite expensive for a school’s needs.
School Websites invariably require high SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - these suggestions above come from the School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010, by Bryan Foster.
School Marketing Plan
The School Marketing Plan (SMP) and associated School Marketing Strategies are the foundation for success in marketing your school. An example Overview of a SMP follows. Specific details for each step are found in the School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010, by Bryan Foster. An analysis of the plan follows the overview.
School Marketing Plan Overview
Define what you have to offer:
Define your target group:
Budget:
Personnel and Talents available - including School Marketing Manager:
Develop School Marketing Aims and Objectives – from previous information:
Select Marketing Strategies:
Evaluation:
Analysis of the School Marketing Plan
• The School Principal is ultimately responsible for the SMP.
• The School Marketing Plan is based on the School’s Vision and Mission Statement.
• A SMP is the plan used to market the school to the community. The community includes all people who know, or those who you want to know, about the school. These include the general public in your catchment region, parents, potential families, school staff, parish staff, other schools’ staff especially from feeder schools, present and past students, parents, etc.
• The SMP includes the strategies used within a defined budget.
• The plan is used to inform all stakeholders, and other targeted groups, of the benefits and successes of the school.
• It also informs about aspects which may be of interest.
• It also needs to plan for issues which may arise of a controversial nature.
• The plan should inform and emphasize the real nature of the school and the direction the school is planning or presently implementing.
• A realistic budget is part of the SMP.
• Marketing is relatively inexpensive when viewed in the terms of the potential gains made – reputation, new parents, supportive present parents, enrolments, etc.
• The SMP can benefit from the combination of views of staff and others
associated with the school community.
• In the initial stages of developing the school’s first real plan it is often best to include a variety of interest groups for gaining ideas and suggestions about how best to market your school. These thoughts may then be used as felt necessary.
• The School Principal needs input and has the overall responsibility to implement the plan.
The School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010, written by Bryan Foster details the essentials for a successful school marketing plan and associated strategies.
School Marketing Plan Overview
Define what you have to offer:
Define your target group:
Budget:
Personnel and Talents available - including School Marketing Manager:
Develop School Marketing Aims and Objectives – from previous information:
Select Marketing Strategies:
Evaluation:
Analysis of the School Marketing Plan
• The School Principal is ultimately responsible for the SMP.
• The School Marketing Plan is based on the School’s Vision and Mission Statement.
• A SMP is the plan used to market the school to the community. The community includes all people who know, or those who you want to know, about the school. These include the general public in your catchment region, parents, potential families, school staff, parish staff, other schools’ staff especially from feeder schools, present and past students, parents, etc.
• The SMP includes the strategies used within a defined budget.
• The plan is used to inform all stakeholders, and other targeted groups, of the benefits and successes of the school.
• It also informs about aspects which may be of interest.
• It also needs to plan for issues which may arise of a controversial nature.
• The plan should inform and emphasize the real nature of the school and the direction the school is planning or presently implementing.
• A realistic budget is part of the SMP.
• Marketing is relatively inexpensive when viewed in the terms of the potential gains made – reputation, new parents, supportive present parents, enrolments, etc.
• The SMP can benefit from the combination of views of staff and others
associated with the school community.
• In the initial stages of developing the school’s first real plan it is often best to include a variety of interest groups for gaining ideas and suggestions about how best to market your school. These thoughts may then be used as felt necessary.
• The School Principal needs input and has the overall responsibility to implement the plan.
The School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010, written by Bryan Foster details the essentials for a successful school marketing plan and associated strategies.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for Church Marketing
To gain higher positioning at various search engines, church marketing personnel need various methods of SEO (Search Engine Optimization / Optimisation).
Website Viewers
Some churches and parishes aren't really interested in having their website visited from people all over the world. These worshipping communities are more interested in their local congregations. For these people SEOs are not needed.
Various communities might like their website to be easily accessible to people from various parts of their particular country but not necessarily beyond their borders. This allows for people transferring to their parish to preview what their parish has to offer. A suggestion for these communities would be to select a domain name which ends in their countries code e.g. United Kingdom .uk, for Australia .au, etc.
Other communities may be interested in having their church and their website open worldwide. SEOs would likely suit these churches.
Suggestions for SEO Improvement
Some ways I have found which I believe help with Search Engine Optimization are:
* The Domain name includes the church / parish name and suburb.
* Key Words such as the church / parish name are regularly used throughout the site, particularly in titles / headings, first sentence and last sentence on each webpage.
* Each webpage within the website would highlight something different about the parish and hence also include other key words associated both with the parish name / suburb and that webpage's emphasis.
These other Key Words may be: sacrament, parishioner, visitor, Baptism, Marriage, mass times, contact, parish priest, priests, parish kit, open day, school or welfare groups within the parish, etc.
* Each Blog's title, first and last sentences would include key words associated with that individual blog‟s message and that it eventuated from your parish.
*The more links coming to your website from other sources, particularly .gov, .edu and .org the better. Having other sites point to your website helps SEO i.e. having other sites have your Domain / URL linked live on their website.
However, it is best not to swap links with others of similar level e.g. .org. That is, if each site has the other‟s site linked from their site, this usually causes it to neutralize the impact for both sites.
Yet swapping these links may improve traffic to your site, just not higher SEO.
* Include links within your own site to various other webpages on your site.
* Another way of achieving the links from other sites may be achieved by developing various Blogs elsewhere which include the link to your website. (More on this in Blogs later.)
* Be careful not to overdo all these links and key words as search engines may penalize you for being overambitious in gaining notice for your website.
* Age of the website. Older sites have more credibility. Develop your website as soon as possible.
* Update your site regularly. A fresh, updated site is appealing to both visitors and for SEO.
These suggestions come from Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2010, by Bryan Foster
Website Viewers
Some churches and parishes aren't really interested in having their website visited from people all over the world. These worshipping communities are more interested in their local congregations. For these people SEOs are not needed.
Various communities might like their website to be easily accessible to people from various parts of their particular country but not necessarily beyond their borders. This allows for people transferring to their parish to preview what their parish has to offer. A suggestion for these communities would be to select a domain name which ends in their countries code e.g. United Kingdom .uk, for Australia .au, etc.
Other communities may be interested in having their church and their website open worldwide. SEOs would likely suit these churches.
Suggestions for SEO Improvement
Some ways I have found which I believe help with Search Engine Optimization are:
* The Domain name includes the church / parish name and suburb.
* Key Words such as the church / parish name are regularly used throughout the site, particularly in titles / headings, first sentence and last sentence on each webpage.
* Each webpage within the website would highlight something different about the parish and hence also include other key words associated both with the parish name / suburb and that webpage's emphasis.
These other Key Words may be: sacrament, parishioner, visitor, Baptism, Marriage, mass times, contact, parish priest, priests, parish kit, open day, school or welfare groups within the parish, etc.
* Each Blog's title, first and last sentences would include key words associated with that individual blog‟s message and that it eventuated from your parish.
*The more links coming to your website from other sources, particularly .gov, .edu and .org the better. Having other sites point to your website helps SEO i.e. having other sites have your Domain / URL linked live on their website.
However, it is best not to swap links with others of similar level e.g. .org. That is, if each site has the other‟s site linked from their site, this usually causes it to neutralize the impact for both sites.
Yet swapping these links may improve traffic to your site, just not higher SEO.
* Include links within your own site to various other webpages on your site.
* Another way of achieving the links from other sites may be achieved by developing various Blogs elsewhere which include the link to your website. (More on this in Blogs later.)
* Be careful not to overdo all these links and key words as search engines may penalize you for being overambitious in gaining notice for your website.
* Age of the website. Older sites have more credibility. Develop your website as soon as possible.
* Update your site regularly. A fresh, updated site is appealing to both visitors and for SEO.
These suggestions come from Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2010, by Bryan Foster
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Marketing Tools to get People Back to Church
The Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010 by Bryan Foster is a new marketing tool to attract people back to our churches.
This e-book offers over 320 A4 pages of strategies and examples to help parish personnel attract people back to our churches.
Fr Dan Ryan, Parish Priest of the Surfers Paradise Parish, has just purchased 10 copies for his Parish Pastoral Councillors.
“I find Bryan Foster’s new e-book will help considerably with marketing our Catholic parishes in the modern world. I am especially drawn to the chapters on Parish – School relationships and the uses of the internet, in particular the parish website,” said Fr Dan Ryan, Parish Priest.
“The Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) e-book will be a highly valued resource within the Surfers Paradise Parish.”
Sonya Slayter, Parish Administrator of the Surfers Paradise Parish, is excited about the possibilities this e-book offers her parish.
“When I first read Bryan Foster’s e-book a month ago, I became very excited about the possibilities it offered. The e-book I believe holds the key to improving many of our parish communication mediums,” said Sonya Slayter, Parish Administrator.
“From relationships with our schools to communicating with our parishioners through to web design and blogs, this e-book gives strategies for growth opportunities within our parish.”
The ‘Internet Applications’ chapter uses internet images and live weblinks to support the strategies and examples discussed. This simplifies the implementation process.
The e-book is written in easy to read and implement summarised note form. Twenty years of marketing experience within the church have gone into this publication to assist our parishes with this often challenging task.
"The e-book also offers other contemporary and traditional marketing strategies that have proven to be successful over the recent years," said Bryan Foster.
“I would highly recommend this e-book to other parishes as a tool which could be used in groups or by the Parish Priest or Parish Administrator” said Sonya Slater, Parish Administrator.
“I would like to thank Bryan for investing his time in such a valuable resource for parish life.”
This e-book can be easily downloaded from the internet at Bryan’s church marketing website or school marketing website.
(Photo - Father Dan Ryan, Surfers Paradise Parish Priest, Sonya Slayter Parish Administrator and Bryan Foster, Author, with the newly published e-book which the Surfers Paradise Parish bought 10 copies of for their Parish Pastoral Councillors.)
This new tool will assist with getting people back to our churches.
Church Marketing Manual to Get People Back to Church
The Catholic Leader newspaper, the leading Church newspaper in Australia, this weekend featured the new Church Marketing e-Book by Bryan Foster in its hardcopy edition.
The Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2010, was released earlier this year.
Fr Dan Ryan PP and Sonya Slater, Parish Administrator, from the Surfers Paradise Parish on the Gold Coast, Australia, have bought multiple copies (10) of the e-book for their parish pastoral council.
The Catholic Leader featured Fr Dan Ryan's and Sonya Slater's thoughts on the e-book and how they plan to use it.
“I find Bryan Foster’s new e-book will help considerably with marketing our Catholic parishes in the modern world. I am especially drawn to the chapters on Parish – School relationships and the uses of the internet, in particular the parish website,” said Fr Dan Ryan, Parish Priest.
“From relationships with our schools to communicating with our parishioners through to web design and blogs, this e-book gives strategies for growth opportunities within our parish,”said Sonya Slater, Parish Administrator.
“I would highly recommend this e-book to other parishes as a tool which could be used in groups or by the Parish Priest or Parish Administrator.”
The e-book is available from either of Bryan's websites at CPM and SMA. Or by contacting Bryan through email at bryan.foster@optusnet.com.au and making other arrangements.
The Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) by Bryan Foster was this weekend featured in Australia's foremost Church newspaper, The Catholic Leader.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Blogs Essential for Church Marketing Plan
Blogs are becoming a very popular form of interactive, digital communication by internet users and hence have an important part to play for church marketing personnel. 'Blog' is the commonly used abbreviation for 'Weblog'.
Content may be brief or extensive. Blogs are used to allow interaction between the website's administrator/s and the website's visitors.
Churches could benefit considerably through the effective use of Blogs. These are ideal avenues to promote your church / parish and the various messages you wish to place in the public or private domain.
These days so many people wish to be valued through their involvement and feedback - blogs are one highly regarded avenue for them to achieve this.
Blog Posts
The website's / blog's administrators write a Blog Post (comment, information, news, challenge etc.) and publish this to their website's blog page. Blog Posts may also include photos, videos, audios and other graphic presentations.
The visitor to your website's blog page would then have the option to comment on your blog post's content.
Blog Posts may be of any length and literary style depending on the target audience. However, in most cases, brevity is the norm in these days of mass communication overload. Think newspaper article lengths for most blog posts. As a general guide I work on 200-300 words per blog post.
You need to make sure that the administrator has the option to accept or reject all comments posted in response to the blog post. If the blog post is available to the public, you need to be prepared to receive all sorts of comments, including spam (mainly advertising links). Unsuitable comments would then be deleted.
Church Marketers could use blogs in two primary ways:
• Parish website Blog
• External Blog sites, which you would point (link) back to your parish website.
Church Marketing Blogs are discussed in detail in the Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) 2010 by Bryan Foster.
Due to the enormous growth and interest in blogs, the church marketing personnel need to avail themselves of this unique form of internet church marketing.
80% More Pages in New 3rd Edition of School Marketing Manual
80% More Pages in New 3rd Edition of School Marketing Manual
Friday, February 26, 2010
Making an Index in Word 2007 Solution to Heavy Editing
When using a large document with over 50 000 words, heavy editing of the text and Index caused a problem with the Index.
I tried to eliminate various topics and page numbers from the Index, however when I either updated the Index or added more topics to the Index, all the topics which I thought I had eliminated reappeared.
I realize that there is a way to delete specific topics laboriously from each page from the Index ( see Windows , http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP012264991033.aspx#4 ) but this is quite involved and beyond most writers scope when dealing with major editing.
To solve the problem of the reader not having to see these old unwanted topics in the Index, all I did was delete from the Index the unwanted topics and / or page numbers and save the doc as is. Careful not to update or add to the Index! When it was published these unwanted details didn't appear in the Index. True they were still there in the background unseen, but weren't visible to the reader, hence causing no confusion.
The text to which I refer is the School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed) 2010 by Bryan Foster.
Solving the problem of the reader having to see all the old unwanted Index topics and / or numbers, save time by not laboriously deleting individual topics and / or pages from the Index, as per Windows suggestions above, just delete from the Index and save the doc – but don't update the Index at the final stage – suggests Bryan Foster.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Instruction Manual for Church Marketing
A church marketing instruction manual is an essential resource for the church marketing personnel.
It is necessary to have a written guide show:
- what you need to know and what is available
- why it is suggested you do something - whether it is building essential relationships, using the traditional and contemporary media, or using various other marketing resources
- how to do all this, often takes the stress and anxiety out of developing a successful marketing plan.
A successful instruction manual will include step-by-step instructions throughout. It will explain in detail the what, why and most importantly the how. It will be divided into simple to read, simple to follow and simple to implement strategies.
The e-book Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed) (2010) by Bryan Foster was published this week. This instruction manual is written in an easy to read, summarized points format. No waffling here. Get straight down to what you will need to know straight away from an author with considerable experience marketing within the Church.
This e-book is a further development of the first edition Church Parish Marketing: Easy to Use Guide to Market the Church Parish Deanery (2009) by Bryan Foster. It has a 50% increase in information. A significant aspect is the 80+ pages devoted to 'Internet Applications' to church marketing. The 300+ pages in the e-book include 130+ live weblinks and 60+ pages of internet screenshots to assist with appreciating the instructions given.
This manual is based on almost 20 years of marketing within the Church by the author Bryan Foster. This experience includes senior school and church roles, such as: school principal and marketing manager, deanery and parish pastoral council chair and parents and friends association chair. Further details may be found at the CPM website.
Church marketing personnel need access to an easy to read and implement church marketing instruction manual – by Bryan Foster.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
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