How to Use This Playbook
This playbook is a step-by-step guide to help Concept Schools campuses plan and execute effective local marketing. It outlines best practices and strategies tailored for charter schools, ensuring each campus can increase its visibility, attract new students, and build a strong reputation.
The purpose is to empower school leaders and staff with practical tactics – from understanding your audience to measuring results – so you can confidently market your school in the community. This guide is meant to be interactive, and at various points we’ll prompt you to jot down ideas and start building your own marketing plan as you go.
Getting Started
Think of this playbook as a reference manual and workbook in one. You can read it cover-to-cover to develop a comprehensive marketing plan, or jump directly to a section you need (for example, if you want tips on social media, go to the Social Media section).
Each section stands alone with clear subheadings, so you can easily find specific guidance. We encourage you to actively implement the steps in each section rather than passively read. For instance, after reading about promoting your school through PR and media outreach, take some time to write out your recent successes and craft a press release, as outlined in our PR & Media Outreach workspace section.
Share this guide with your team; marketing works best as a collaborative effort with roles for administrators, teachers, and central office support.
Central Support, Local Touch
Marketing our schools is a shared responsibility. Concept Schools’ central office (CS) provides overarching brand identity, resources, and expertise, while each local campus adds the personal community touch. It’s important to balance both:
Central Support:
Concept Schools’ central office offers guidance and tools so you don’t have to start from scratch. This includes brand guidelines (logos, colors, messaging statements), designs for marketing materials such as flyers, postcards, and signage, managing school websites, and providing training on various marketing functions.
The central team may run network-wide marketing campaigns or digital ads to boost general awareness of Concept Schools. They also maintain the network’s reputation (e.g. showcasing the nearly 100% college acceptance rate across Concept Schools) which benefits every campus.
The CS team is available to train school staff on platforms like Facebook Ads or Google Analytics, share best practices, and even help execute certain campaigns. Don’t hesitate to reach out for support – think of us as your marketing coaches.
Local Touch:
While the central office provides the foundation, local campus efforts make the marketing authentic and relatable. Your staff knows the community personally – leverage that.
Engage with local families at events, build relationships with community leaders, and tailor messages to address local needs. For example, if your neighborhood has a large Spanish-speaking population, you might run bilingual ads or host events in Spanish. The local touch means showing families that you’re not just a network, but their neighborhood school that understands and cares about their children. Always align with the core brand (so messaging is consistent), but customize the approach for your community.
By combining central support with a local touch, you ensure professional, consistent branding and genuine community connections. The following sections will guide you through understanding your audience, defining your message, and choosing marketing tactics – with notes on where central office resources or approvals may apply.