This Marketing Matter begins this particular way because of the letters stand for the four directions, North, South, East and West. I still remember parents and teachers telling us, “There’s NEWS in the weather,” when we were in school.\u00a0 Indeed, newscasts incorporate weather forecasts, and of course, spawned a cable television channel dedicated to weather.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, you might remember a Marketing Matter that talked about the FACE of a faith-based education.\u00a0 FACE was an acronym for Faith, Academics, Community and Experience – three qualities that lead to a fourth, which results when the other three act systemically.<\/p>\n
In the Advancementality articles on this site, the “Remarkability” of your school is discussed, and finding 3 to 5 things that make your school “Remarkable,” and therefore, marketable.<\/p>\n
The middle ground is finding four qualities – and that’s a good number to shoot for. If you can make an acronym out of them, or use alliteration, those tenets become memorable, and therefore can be talked about. If they’re talked about, that’s good Word of Mouth advertising!<\/p>\n
The Catholic church does it – it is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. While the four letters don’t make a word, they are recited at every Mass in the Creed.\u00a0 Christian faiths do this as well at their worship celebrations.<\/p>\n
You might tie these in to the name of the school too. For example, if your school’s letters where BMHS (such as Bishop Martin High School), you could say that you educate the whole child – Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit. Or pick one letter and build the four qualities around that letter to make it the four qualities memorable ones.\u00a0 One of the coolest ones I’ve heard recently is Learn, Lead, Serve, Succeed.<\/p>\n
Such an exercise will help you crystallize your thinking relative to what you need to market your school to the area it influences.<\/p>\n
Now, you may be saying, “Wait a minute…you’ve got that wrong.\u00a0 The tag line for Catholic Schools Week is Learn, Serve, Lead, Succeed.”\u00a0 Keep three things in mind:<\/p>\n