Last month, our son received an invitation to visit List College in NYC as a prospective student. No surprise that our high-school age son should receive recruiting material from colleges...except for one small fact: He just started ninth grade this year!
Overkill? Not really.
David went to Camp Ramah this summer, attended a Schechter school through eighth grade and his parents are members of three synagogues. There are at least five ways that List could have gotten his contact information--as well they should. After all, our son sits smack in the middle of the sweet spot of the demographic that List should be cultivating: Serious, identified Jews who will be going to college in the next few years. Best of all, List is the first college to reach our son. Their brochure sat on the kitchen table for two weeks, where it sat next to his cereal bowl each day at breakfast. Good job, Shuly.
Those of you who read my earlier post on day school marketing (Is your school late to market?) might well say that List College got to our son just in time.
In my role as Head of School and oft-times "Marketer in Chief," I have begun to practice what I preach. We now send the families of newborn children a certificate wishing them mazal tov...and offering a $1,000 discount on their Gan year of Schechter. Our recruiting program will soon launch for the coming year, and we are targeting the parents of three year olds. Why? We've found that as of early fall, the parents of four year olds have largely made up their minds about kindergarten. We're still running a high-energy open house, but our most important efforts will go into cultivating the interest of families who are just beginning to think about where their children will go to school.
Last week, I invited an expecting mother to come tour Schechter. A little nuts? Not really. She works in the Jewish community, has friends with children. Oh, and her husband is a realtor. "Wow" was her response, "you're the first person who has even thought about where we'll send our child to kindergarten."
Perhaps I got there just in time.
As the parent of a three-year-old, I can definitely tell you that not only my family but all my daughter's classmates' families are discussing kindergarten options. And in early November, we will all be entering the holy season of Open House.
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