140. Is AI Recommending Your School? How Families Find and Choose Schools Now

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[00:00:00] Aubrey: Welcome to Mindful School Marketing, your go-to podcast for personal and professional growth. 

[00:00:06] We’re school marketers, business owners, and moms passionate about connecting other school professionals with tools and strategies for success. 

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[00:00:22] Welcome to Mindful School Marketing. I’m Aubrey Bursch. Today we’re joined by Moira Anderson and Heather Burchfield from Truth Tree. I feel like every few months, especially lately, there is another conversation about, hey, how AI is changing the marketing or changing marketing in general. But today I really wanted to get practical and ground this in reality about what that means for schools.

[00:00:43] And because parents aren’t necessarily going to Google anymore and trying, and typing in that, remember when we talked about, like, best private school near me? They may be doing something completely different, like asking ChatGPT or another AI tool, like a really detailed question about the kind of school they’re looking for, what their child needs, what matters to their family, and asking that tool to help them narrow down their options.

[00:01:06] At the same time, consumer behavior has changed. It really has. So now parents may encounter your school through Google, Instagram, YouTube, an ad, a review, or a recommendation, and all of those little interactions are helping them form an opinion before they ever fill out that inquiry form. So today we’re going to talk about this changing landscape and what that means for school websites, content, digital advertising, the admissions journey, and ultimately how schools can make sure they’re telling enough of their story for both people, it, so for both people and AI to understand what makes them different.

[00:01:41] And now I’m so excited ’cause we have two people here today who spend a lot of their time thinking about exactly this. So Heather and Moira, welcome. I’m so excited you’re here to talk about this topic. It’s a big one. I know our audience will love it. So rather than have me intro you with some long bios, I’d love for everyone to hear about you from you Heather, do you wanna kick us off?

[00:02:00] Thank 

[00:02:01] Heather: you. Yes, thanks Aubrey. Thanks for having us again. I’m Heather Birchfield, director of partner success at Truth Tree. I’ve spent about 15 years now in the private school marketing and admissions world, so I come at this from both sides. I’ve been the admissions director trying to fill those seats, and I’ve been the marketing strategist building the campaigns.

[00:02:21] What I do at Truth Tree is I support all of our school partners and all of our lead partner strategists in developing enrollment marketing strategies that help schools meet their enrollment goals. And I asked Moira Anderson to join me because she and I work very closely together, collabing on data-informed enrollment marketing strategy for schools.

[00:02:42] Moira? 

[00:02:42] Moira: Yeah. Thank you both. I’m Moira Anderson, director of paid media performance at Truth Tree, and I’ve been in digital marketing for almost a decade now. My day-to-day is really more in the weeds of the campaigns, building and optimizing Google search, Meta, YouTube, demand gen retargeting, all of that. W- so while Heather’s thinking about the big-picture strategy and family journey, I’m the one making sure the ads are actually performing, if the targeting’s right and w- if we’re spending budget wisely.

[00:03:11] So I get to see in real time what’s working and what’s changing across these platforms, and right now there’s a lot changing. 

[00:03:17] Aubrey: How fun, and how awesome that we get both your perspectives here today. So I’m super excited about this conversation. So we’re gonna just dive right in. So, one of the things that really caught my attention in preparing for this conversation was the idea that we’re moving from really short Google searches to incredibly, like, specific AI prompts potentially.

[00:03:36] And so, you know, you might think about this as, like, something that i- actually feels natural for a parent to say you know, instead of private school in Maryland, they’re thinking, “My child is really creative but gets overwhelmed in large classrooms. We want strong academics, but don’t want an overly competitive environment, you know.

[00:03:54] What schools should we consider?” So, you know, that sort of behavior is happening. So let’s start right here. What has changed about the way parents are searching for schools? 

[00:04:04] Heather: Yeah, I think you nailed it, Aubrey. It’s, it… I was joking with Moira that I had to even Google myself, like, how is AI search different than, you know, the old school long-tail keyword?

[00:04:15] And boy, did I get an answer. It’s, it’s quite different, not even in the same universe. But you’re right, parents are not just searching for even a long-tail keyword anymore, which would find something that already exists on the internet that closely matches that keyword. People are using AI search to vi- to find custom-made responses for them, tailor-made, which is what personalization is all about, right?

[00:04:38] We’re in a very self-centered you know, society right now. So parents might type something in like, “My child’s really creative but gets overwhelmed. They like sports and arts. They’re really strong in math and science, but struggle more in language arts, social studies. And I need the school to be 15 miles east or north of my house, ’cause that’s the way I commute, and I need the tuition range to be between this and that.”

[00:05:02] And the AI will serve up responses. So it’s not even about just getting on the list anymore. AI has an opinion of its own, and it will tell you what its recommendation is based on what you’ve put into it. Now, we know that it has flaws, that it’s not perfect yet, that it hallucinates even it tells you things that aren’t real.

[00:05:21] I quite enjoy watching my husband argue with it at the dinner table about sports facts that it’s telling him he got wrong, and he’s like, “No, definitively I know that I’m right.” So we know this isn’t perfect, but parents are taking that shorter list of recommendations that the AI is giving it and, and taking that really seriously.

[00:05:39] It’s c- c- coming with a lot of credibility. So that’s a big change. It’s, it’s like having a personal advisor now, not just a search engine. 

[00:05:47] Aubrey: Ooh, I love that. It’s like having a personal advisor instead of a search engine. It’s so true. I see people using this all the time in exactly the way that you described.

[00:05:56] I’m curious, you know, when we are talking about AI and AI tools, you know, what does an AI tool actually look at when it decides which schools to recommend? 

[00:06:04] Moira: Yeah, I think obviously some of it’s based on the prompt given, but it really can read everything on the internet that is in text form. Your website is usually the biggest source if it’s asking about your school specifically, but again, it may be asking more so private school in this area or school with great sports or something along those lines.

[00:06:26] So obviously your website’s the biggest source about your own school, but it, but also pulls from review sites like Niche, Google, GreatSchools, Private School Review. It’s reading different accreditation directories, local parenting blogs, and even your social media if it’s indexed. And we’ll get into this a little bit more later, but a lot of times parents and folks will have discussions on Reddit or Quora and other forums, and AI is also pulling from those.

[00:06:54] So we’ll get into that a little bit more later, but all over. Lots of stuff it’s pulling from. 

[00:07:00] Aubrey: Yes, it certainly is. And I mean, I can’t wait to dive into this further later, but it is something that schools need to be aware of, that it’s not just some sort of website, you know, that you just have to have your website ready and have all these things on it.

[00:07:11] It’s pulling from so many different sources. I’m curious, you know, in our previous discussions we’ve talked about, you know, essentially the idea of training AI to be a sales rep for your school. What does that mean? 

[00:07:23] Heather: Man, when you say it, it sounds more controversial than when I said it. But basically, I’m just trying to flip the script here.

[00:07:29] I know everyone is scared of change and coming at this AI stuff from a fear b- based place because it’s new, it’s changing rapidly, we don’t fully understand it. It is a little scary if you stop and think about it. But we can be smart, and we can get the AI to help work for us. Instead of viewing it as our enemy or something that we have to tolerate or deal with, let’s galvanize ourselves to make it work for us.

[00:07:59] So when we run an AI optimization audit for one of our partner schools, we will run a prompt through all of the various you know, LLMs that are out there to describe this school. We wanna just see what is it saying, and where is it sourcing the information from? Is the information coming back inaccurate?

[00:08:17] That’s the first thing we wanna fix. Incomplete, easy to fix. Or is it so generic that it could literally describe Truth Tree Academy, any other, you know, generic private school? That’s a problem. If you haven’t given AI specific information, it’s gonna either skip you or say something vague. So training the AI to be your sales rep means making sure your website content is framed in question forms.

[00:08:42] What are the questions parents are asking when they come to your website? Are they listed there on the site plainly and clearly? And do you provide substantive answers? Because if a parent puts that exact question into ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, whoever, you now have, as Moira said, the literal words on your website that the AI can cite in response.

[00:09:04] And we’re gonna talk a little bit about ownership, but you wanna provide those answers. You don’t want the answer to come from niche.com or some random local-owned directory site that someone started. I mean, that’s how Truth Tree started once upon a time. We were a school directory site. We were creating the narrative about schools, you know, back in the day.

[00:09:24] So, you wanna give AI basically a briefing document, so it can confidently say to a parent, “This school would be a great fit for these students because…” and then provide it with the real evidence and proof to give that answer 

[00:09:38] Aubrey: That’s so important. I think what you just talked about there making sure that we’re controlling the narrative essentially because, and using AI as a sales rep in, in a positive way, I mean, AI is here.

[00:09:49] It is actu- it is definitely impacting search, so, seeing it as, you know, some- a tool that we can use to help us navigate how consumers are, consumer behavior and how they’re searching, I think is, is definitely giving people more ownership of how, of how to navigate this time. I’m curious, you know, as schools are embarking on trying to optimize for AI where do you think they’re getting this wrong?

[00:10:17] Or maybe some things that you’re noticing when school, the mistakes schools are making 

[00:10:21] Heather: You know, it’s a great question because it’s actually the same thing we’ve always been getting wrong, it’s just under a microscope even bigger now because of AI. And it’s not providing any proof, providing unsupported claims, and sounding too generic.

[00:10:35] That was always the problem, but it’s under this extra scrutiny, this extra lens, this magnifying glass, because AI is making it so obvious when it’s responding, “Here’s the three best schools in your area,” and it gives you a little chart, and they literally have the same words for almost every option. I mean, it’s embarrassing, actually, a little bit.

[00:10:57] And we unfortunately see it a lot because we’re, we’re looking at school websites and school advertisements and social media all day. You know, if I read, “We provide a nurturing environment,” or, “Our graduates are prepared for the future,” or, “We are rooted in something,” one more time, I’m gonna scratch my eyeballs out.

[00:11:15] But you can say all those things, it doesn’t matter if there’s no evidence, no data, no named examples, no testimonials, no specifics. I could start a school tomorrow and throw up a website and say the exact same things and have no evidence, and people will come by me at my school because you don’t have any evidence either.

[00:11:33] So to Google and to the AI, we look the same. So we need to give AI a reason to recommend you over a competitor, and if there’s nothing concrete to cite as proof, it likely won’t. So, you know, this is, this is really the key driving force behind our CEO, who I know you know Trevor Waddington quite well.

[00:11:53] He, he just came back from a sabbatical that he took for six months, and he wrote a book while he was gone. It’s called Wired to Enroll, and it’s coming out next month, and it really focuses on our philosophy of digital enrollment marketing at Truth Tree, which is informed by behavioral science, understanding how families actually make these enrollment decisions, what makes a school s- story sticky versus getting skipped.

[00:12:19] And the evidence gap is not just an AI problem, but it’s a human trust problem, too. So I think a lot of the things we’re gonna talk about today we’re, we’re framing as not just ways to, like, gamify the AI system and make it work for you, but these are actually things that are better for the human user experience as well, which to me means these should be a no-brainer.

[00:12:39] Aubrey: Yeah, I, I love that. I love the talking about citing and evidence because you know, you’re right. If, if they’re looking at two schools, and especially AI is looking at two schools, and they’re exactly the same, and they’re not spouting any sort of evidence, whether it’s parent testimonials or some data it’s really hard to distinguish the two or to make recommendations to parents to- And 

[00:13:00] Heather: in fact, Trevor talks about that in the book as well.

[00:13:03] There are behavioral science principles that support this idea of paralysis, choice overload. Parents are overwhelmed regardless of whether or not they’re in a school search process, and now you’re gonna give them possibly five to 10 choices that all look and sound the same, and have big price tags, and they don’t understand what they’re getting for the money.

[00:13:23] So what are they gonna do? Status quo bias. They’re gonna do nothing. Because as Trevor tells us in the book, the science tells us humans are risk-averse. We don’t wanna lose something that we already have in a risk to gain something we don’t yet have. So there’s so many reasons why it’s important to be thinking about these things and taking action, because it really can compound itself positively or negatively quite quickly.

[00:13:51] Aubrey: Absolutely. That makes perfect sense. And I’m excited to celebrate Trevor’s book launch as well coming up soon. Stay tuned, everyone. So I’d love to move us to, you know, what we… a concept we talked about earlier, which was owning the narrative. So, you know, schools are really good at making these claims, like, “We have incredible community.”

[00:14:11] I, I mean, I see this all the time, “A great community, small community. Our teachers really know their students. Our graduates are prepared.” But we’ve just talked about, you know, how that AI and honestly families, you know, are looking for that evidence. So what kind of proof is most valuable when we’re talking about that evidence?

[00:14:28] Heather: Yeah. Well, owning the narrative means making sure that when AI talks about your school, it’s saying what you want it to say, backed by evidence you’ve provided. Because right now, if you haven’t put that information on your website in plain text, and we’re gonna talk about this, this is, this is another trap us- marketing directors have fallen into we’ll get to that in a minute.

[00:14:49] But AI is then piecing together your story from wherever it can find it. Could be a three-year-old niche review. It could be a incomplete directory listing on, like I said, some random directory site you didn’t even know existed. Maybe a blog post from a local parenting site. You’re letting other people write your story And why we have to put specific outcomes with numbers.

[00:15:14] And by that I don’t just mean the, the college list, but I mean how else do you measure growth and progress as a school? We know that grades and test scores are not the most important thing, especially in the private school, independent school landscape. That, that’s something that’s really important to us.

[00:15:31] We’re growth mindset, right? We’re the love of learning for life. Okay, well, how do you measure growth? Do you have a, a system where you evaluate your students’ progress three times a year and you can say they’re gaining XYZ skills? How do you measure their growth in confidence, in agency, in independence?

[00:15:53] Some of these things are hard to, to measure. They’re, they’re intangible, some of them. But there are creative ways you can do this. You know, maybe it’s 94% of our families re-enroll every year. Wow, how about happy customers? That’s a customer satisfaction stat. How many schools have done culture and climate surveys?

[00:16:14] There’s a lot of great ones out there. What about I know the one we did at my last school, we got a stat back, something to the effect of 97% of the students feel they have at least one trusted adult on campus that they can go to. Those are stats that are really interesting and really help validate we have a community.

[00:16:35] We have teachers who know your child. You can say that you do, but the data proves that you do. Named faculty credentials. In this day and age, the fact that we can still go to a school’s website and see a list of teachers’ names with no credentials, like literally just their name and an email, is unacceptable.

[00:16:54] It is 2026, you know that is one of the top five pages on your site. You have to invest some time into making that site, that page, worth parents looking at it and give the AI stuff to cite about it. Parent testimonials have to be written as actual text with the names and grade levels. We’ve gotten too cutesy with carousels of graphics and, you know, image text overlays.

[00:17:18] It needs to actually appear that on, on the page. Like Moira said, if it’s text on the page, it can read it. The college destination list. Again, how many of us were uploading the PDF- And thinking that was sufficient. It’s not. The AI can’t read that. Another quick easy one, lots of schools put their accreditation logos in the footer ’cause they look nice, right?

[00:17:39] NEAS, Middle States, you know, all the things. The AI can’t read that. So you need to actually list your accreditations and your certifications and your recognitions and all that somewhere. And that’s not natural to us. That’s why we’ve been hiding it in the footer all along, ’cause we’re not good at, you know, promoting and celebrating that stuff.

[00:17:58] But now there’s a concrete reason why it really matters, and those are easy things you could do today

[00:18:04] Aubrey: That’s really important. I love the idea of I, I, I see it all the time, the logos, right? So the idea of, like, listing them out and everything like that and tooting our own horn is, is really important. And how you talked about the faculty bios and credentials I, I still see every time I’m looking at school websites, the email address, or maybe not an email address, just a photo and, like, a name, and that’s it.

[00:18:24] Mm-hmm. So thank you for sharing that. That’s incredibly important for schools to know. I’d like to transition us to, you know, how families find you as a school, right? And what happens after that initial discovery. I think about there’s this piece of this that I think schools really underestimate.

[00:18:45] Families, like, might be researching you for a very long time before they’re willing to identify themselves. So we’ve had conversations about this in the past, but I’d love for you all to talk a little bit more about engaging families earlier in that decision process and that journey, you know? And what do schools misunderstand about how long the enrollment decision actually takes?

[00:19:06] Heather: This is sort of the million-dollar question really that schools want us to answer for them. You know, the problem is we have the data, and we don’t wanna believe it. We don’t wanna listen to it. We wanna stay in denial. But the research that you and I talked about even a year ago almost at this point from EMA, Mission and Data, from that Ride to Independent Schools, we see in that report 48% of families are searching for a school for two or more years.

[00:19:33] Two years. And yet most schools are treating the inquiry form as the starting line of the relationship, but it’s not. It’s probably somewhere in the middle. I even say you’ll see in the book Trevor has a graphic. We don’t even think about the enrollment funnel… It’s not even a funnel anymore. It’s a bit of an infinity sign.

[00:19:52] It’s some sort of weird loop that you can enter and exit in any place at any time and hop back on or off. Guess it’s like the monorail thing at Disney maybe. I don’t know. I’ll come up with a different metaphor. But by the time a parent fills out your inquiry form, they’ve been researching potentially for months or even years.

[00:20:09] They’re reading reviews. They’re talking to friends on the soccer field. They’re peeking in on Instagram. They’re talking to AI about you. We call this the dark funnel. Sounds scary because we can’t see it. It’s invisible activity that happens before a family ever identifies themselves. And that’s actually what led us to- We built this framework audit that we do with our partners called the concierge admissions audit, where we talk to schools about their admissions process because we realized very quickly too many schools are only designing their admissions process from the moment of the inquiry and on, and they’re really missing a good portion of the brand experience that parents are having with their brand and not taking any ownership over it because it’s happening, happening invisibly.

[00:20:56] So we created this behavioral science-informed approach that looks at five pillars: discover me, know me, guide me, remove friction or help me, and stay with me. Because the enrollment journey, like I said, it, it isn’t a funnel. It’s an experience, and every touchpoint from the first time a parent sees your name to that first day of school it’s either building trust or losing it

[00:21:19] Aubrey: Thank you so much, Heather. I really appreciate that perspective. I think that’s incredibly important. I’m wondering, Moira, do you have anything to add about this, especially in terms of the inquiry form and everything like that? 

[00:21:30] Moira: Yeah, I think really the only thing I wanna add is it is a lagging indicator.

[00:21:36] We might touch on that coming up, but leading and lagging indicators based on what Heather said, you know, if they fill out an inquiry form, it’s not because they just found out about your school, it’s because they’ve been in the dark funnel. So yeah 

[00:21:48] Aubrey: And 

[00:21:48] Heather: then I think the, it, it’s just g- I just wanna pause again for a moment to understand or help, help- this tells us is really going on.

[00:21:57] Because we have lots of theories, right, about why parents are spending so long in the funnel now. Why is it taking them so long to just get in touch with us and, like, begin the formal process, right? Like, we’re all antsy and eager. Like, what are they waiting for over there? Well, they’re not just, like, blowing you off.

[00:22:11] They’re not doing it necessarily intentionally, but it’s rooted in behavioral science. The answer isn’t just that they’re busy or cautious, it’s they’re navigating real fear. Fear of making the wrong choice, fear of financial sacrifice that might not pay off, fear of uprooting a child who’s already maybe struggling in their current school situation.

[00:22:33] So they’re not just shopping for a handbag or a vacuum cleaner or, you know, a grill. They’re sh- they’re protecting what they already have. And they’re protecting their child. This is a, this is a big decision. So there’s, there’s self-protection going on, right? Humans as a species are risk-averse. We don’t, we don’t like taking chances that we are, that we don’t have a solid, concrete landing spot, that we don’t know for sure this is gonna work out.

[00:23:00] And Trevor’s gonna unpack all of that in the new book, so I really encourage people to, to get excited for that. Why families stall, what actually moves them forward, and what schools do mostly unintentionally that make families walk away. Think about the 15-question inquiry form, the I have to create an account to even fill out the form.

[00:23:20] You don’t list your tuition on the website at all. I don’t even know if this is a sacrifice or a, a walk in the park. I have no idea. So there’s lots of things that we do throughout the enrollment journey that either help move a family closer to us and build trust or loyalty, or quietly push them away 

[00:23:38] Aubrey: Absolutely, and I think and we’ve touched on this before, Heather, but I think the emotional impact, I, a lot of schools don’t realize the emotional impact.

[00:23:46] You’re right, this isn’t… I’m not buying some fancy, like, you know, I don’t know, gym equipment or a car. This is my child, and this is you, I’m bringing all the fears and baggage that I have along with me on this journey, right? So- Well, 

[00:24:00] Heather: you’re right. And Trevor paints a really vivid picture in the book.

[00:24:04] He opens it really with, picture this, and I- this resonates with me so much. Like, after I read the book, I texted him and I was like, “I feel seen. Thank you.” Because he talks about that parent who’s laying in bed at 10:47 PM, like this, you know, on, in your bed scrolling through the phone. We all do this. ‘Cause what?

[00:24:22] Your kid had a bad day that day, and it’s now, what, maybe the fifth day in a row your kid has come home, they’re frustrated, they’re crying, things aren’t going well, and you’re like, “Okay, I have to do something.” So but we don’t design the experience for that parent. So I’m laying in bed, and I do a search or on AI, and I find you.

[00:24:38] I actually find you. That’s a miracle in and of itself. I find you. And I wanna move the ball forward, right? I wanna say I’ve taken an action. I’m, I’m trying to solve this problem I have with my kid, and I can’t even fill out your inquiry form from my bed at 10:47 PM at night. You’ve now set me back. Please don’t set me back.

[00:24:57] As a parent, help me get in touch with you. Make that easier for me so at 10:47 PM at night I can feel, I can go to bed feeling good that I’ve taken the next step in trying to help my kid. 

[00:25:08] Aubrey: Absolutely. I couldn’t have said it better. That’s fantastic, and it’s so true. I mean, any of, one of us who’s a parent definitely identifies with that, for sure.

[00:25:16] I’m gonna move us to digital advertising. I feel like that’s the next step in this process and something that schools ask about a lot. So I think when schools hear digital advertising, they immediately think of Google search ads, but you’re looking at something much broader, like Google, Meta, YouTube, retargeting, and different messages depending on where a family is in that decision process.

[00:25:40] So can you explain a little bit more about what that ecosystem looks like now? 

[00:25:45] Moira: Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, we get a handful of these questions either internally or from our schools or both. So I just wanna run through a few of the frequently asked questions about digital marketing here. So where does Google still work really well?

[00:26:02] So like you mentioned, Aubrey, the Google Search Ads is the first thing people think of. And, you know, with AI now in the mix, it’s some people are saying maybe we’ll move away from search ads, but right now, you know, we’re maybe in the middle adoption portion of AI. You know, there’s some people that are early adopters and some that are late, and maybe about roughly 50% of people in the US use AI.

[00:26:27] So we’re still using Google or other traditional search methods to find your school. So it’s– Google Search is still the highest intent channel we have. It shows that they are interested and a little bit further down, they’re trackable, not in the dark funnel anymore. So, they’re usually someone who’s actively looking for a school right there.

[00:26:48] We usually recommend putting about 60% of paid search budget into Google still at this time. That’s where we can capture demand, and intent is really strong. So Yeah, there’s also YouTube ads and other pieces on Google that are still relevant as upper funnel awareness. But again, you know, 60% of budget for paid media we recommend on Google Search still.

[00:27:14] Going into that, where does Meta fit in? Meta now previously known as Facebook Ads, we like to use it for storytelling. So that’s the u- word we use a lot. In a school marketing sense, that means sharing what’s unique about your school with a relevant audience. So we’re able to use some really fine-tuned audience targeting on Meta that sometimes isn’t always available on Google, and you’re able to tell the story rather than they’re doing a search and finding you.

[00:27:44] You’re able to come to them and s- tell your story about your school the way you would like. It also is more visual, so you’re able to use photos and videos for emotional proof. You know, we– you can do a carousel ad that shows before and after of a student’s story or a short video of the student. You know, hearing directly from the students is always a great tool.

[00:28:05] And that warms parents and families up earlier in the journey so that, you know, if they do come across your ad in a Google search or later on, that’s not the first touch point with you. They’re warming up to your school and already know a little bit about what you’re about. So up next, why are schools and really everybody increasingly interested in YouTube?

[00:28:28] So this is something we’ve been talking about at Truth Tree for a while now. Video is just a little bit more of a difficult platform for any industry, but obviously schools, we, we know are all run tight, so it’s hard to get video content sometimes. But we found it’s really valuable as well for, again, storytelling, and we’re seeing that it’s a growing platform with Gen Z.

[00:28:50] A lot of Gen Z folks might not even be using TV as often. Their main form of video entertainment is YouTube. So that makes it a great place to target it because, wildly enough, that’s the growing demographic of parents is Gen Z. It is still crazy to say, but makes YouTube very important And then, you know, explaining retargeting.

[00:29:11] So retargeting is kind of confusing. It can start to feel really intimidating understanding the pieces of it. But I think that it’s helpful to break it down into targeting. Your regular ads and what you’re doing is targeting. So if– even your SEO as well, so you’re trying to get folks to find you with school near me, those kind of things.

[00:29:36] If they land on your website, then they are now potentially in a retargeting audience that you can then use. You can then target them again, retarget them, and have a message that is different than before. You know, that also is a question we get as well is, how do you wanna talk about your school to a brand-new audience, maybe a colder audience versus a retargeting audience that’s a little bit warmer?

[00:30:00] With a s– audience that hasn’t heard of you, you might want to give some selling points, things that build trust, like number one Catholic school on niche or something about your academics or sports that stands out, something. All that in about three seconds. It’s really quite the formula that you’re trying to put together.

[00:30:19] But with retargeting, you can encourage more action because, again, we know parents are busy, so following up with them and keeping them on that potentially two-year funnel and touching base again and again is really important

[00:30:32] Aubrey: Thanks for sharing all that. That’s, I mean, it sounds like there’s a lot to think about with with all the things like the targeting, retargeting the video and everything like that. So thank you for sharing, Moira, really appreciate that. I’m curious, now we’ve talked about a lot of different things, but I’m sure schools are sitting there and saying, “Hey, how do I know if all this is actually working?”

[00:30:54] Heather: Yeah, that’s the million-dollar question that we get. Yeah, how do we know our marketing’s working? And Moira hinted at this a little bit earlier because most schools care about, we say butts in seats, but in this case we’ll start with inquiries. How many inquiries did we get? Inquiries are a lagging indicator.

[00:31:11] That means they’re ready to raise their hand. Remember, they’re kind of middle of the funnel already at that point. They’re already expressing some intent in connecting with you. But by the time you see them, the story’s already written. So what we coach our schools on is how to watch the leading indicators, the early signals tell you whether your campaigns are healthy before the enrollment numbers come in, while you still have time to make adjustments, to pivot, to make changes.

[00:31:37] So the leading indicators we watch are things like impression share on search. How are we compared to our, the peers who are also bidding on the same keywords that we are? Are we showing up m- a higher percentage amount of the time than they are? Are we showing up in a higher position than them?

[00:31:54] How often? That matters. That influences are we spending enough, you know, on these keywords. And, and those costs change depending on where you are in the country. Trust me, we, we- Moira and I have lots of really fun and stressful conversations about, “Well, geez, this keyword we can afford to do a lot more in this region, and over here it costs three times as much to get one click.

[00:32:15] What are we gonna do?” And so we have to… That’s where we start to tinker in the background and get creative, and, and that’s why we work so well together ’cause that’s a really big one. Click-through rate is fairly obvious, but we’re also looking at search term quality. You know, what are the queries actual people are putting in, and are they connecting to relevant keywords, or do we have mismatches?

[00:32:35] Are we getting junk traffic in? Then once those people click through, what are they actually doing on the site? How much time are they spending there? Are they engaged? Are they clicking on the button to fill out your inquiry form, but then you don’t see the form completions coming through? Well, now we’ve just identified where the friction point is.

[00:32:51] It’s the form, probably ’cause it has 85 questions on it or I have to create a login to get to it. Retargeting audience size. Is that retargeting audience growing over time? That’s a sign that the top of the funnel is growing, and probably my new favorite way is branded search lift. You can use Google Search Console to look up the branded search queries that have come in.

[00:33:13] It’s also fun to see all the ways people spell your school name wrong, and look at how many people searched for me last year versus how many people have searched for us this year. It should be going this way if you’re doing good brand awareness work. So for the school marketer that’s listening, even if you’re not running paid ads, you can still track leading indicators.

[00:33:33] Don’t think that this is inaccessible to you. Take a look at GA 4. Look at your admissions page. How is time on page and engagement rate trending year over year? Is it going up? Are people bouncing? Do you know what your scroll depth is? Are people only making it… I’ll tell you, from all the school websites we’ve looked at, I haven’t seen one scroll depth past 56%.

[00:33:54] 56%. So you know that old phrase above the fold? I mean, we s- we joke and we say it, but it’s serious. If it’s not above the fold, they ain’t reading it. I watch the heat mapping recordings we get from our partner sites, and I can see parents just whiplash scrolling right past all the juicy, good why choose our school info, and it’s heartbreaking.

[00:34:13] And I’m yelling at the screen. I’m like Thinking, “Oh, geez, this parent, I…” Well, like they’re scrolling right down to the footer. So, those are some of the really critical stats you can look at. You know, look at are they starting the inquiry form and not finishing? What traffic acquisition channels are driving traffic to our site year over year, which are less?

[00:34:31] Those signals tell you what’s working and what’s not, and where to invest your time and energy. 

[00:34:36] Aubrey: That’s great. Thank you so much for making that so actionable. We’re going to jump to what I would call what should I do Monday morning section. Mm-hmm. So let’s make this super practical. So imagine I’m the marketing or admissions director, I’m listening to this while driving home, and tomorrow morning I have maybe an hour to work on this.

[00:34:55] So give me three things I could do first. 

[00:34:58] Heather: Okay. Picking three was really hard. You know me, Aubrey, I was like, “I need all of them.” But here’s the three that first came to mind. Improve one page on your website. Do an audit of your top 10. Go to Google Analytics, pull what the top 10 pages were from the last school year, July 1 to June 30th, ’cause you wanna neutralize for seasonality.

[00:35:18] Pick one of those top, I would say, five, probably an admissions page or the homepage, whichever the first one, you know, a prospective family is gonna see. And spend that, an hour making that- and ask, is it supported by a number? Can I give a concrete example, a testimonial, or a real piece of data? You’ve gotta go through at least one page and beef it up.

[00:35:39] Name your teaching methodology. Put a parent quote in as text. Make one page meaningfully better. That will do more for you than spreading yourself thin across five other things. The second is a bigger one. I had to throw a bigger one in there. Start a nurture sequence, even a simple one. We talk to our school partners about this all the time.

[00:36:00] We’re out here raising your brand awareness, casting a wide net, getting people in your funnel, sending people to your front door, your digital front door, your website. And then they might walk through it and then never hear from you again. You send maybe one follow-up email. Do you know how many follow-up calls I have from, like, every gym within a 30-mile radius of me that is trying to get me to come to their gym?

[00:36:20] Like, it’s gonna take time. I’m putting some feelers out. It’s the same thing for a parent. You have to continue to nurture that relationship. Queue up three or four emails that answer real parent questions. How do you teach differently? Who thrives at your school? What does growth look like? And what happens after graduation?

[00:36:40] That’s it. You don’t need a fancy CRM. You could do that very simply in most email CRMs that are out there, Constant Contact, MailChimp, all of that. Because if a family reaches out, fills out your inquiry form, or comes to an event and doesn’t hear anything for days, they’ve gone, they have gone cold in that immediate sense, but they’re not cold permanently.

[00:37:00] You can still nurture these folks, but you have to have a plan in place for that. I, you need to be proactive. And the last one, do this now while it’s the be- we’re talking in September. School has just started for many of our schools. Before the year gets away from you, make a plan to ask for reviews three times this year.

[00:37:20] They are one of the single big- biggest levers for both AI and parent trust, and most schools, if they even ask at all, they only ask once at the end of the year. So pick three now. Pick something in the beginning of the year when families are feeling good and grateful, kids are back to school, they’re happy.

[00:37:37] Maybe after a milestone, like a tradition that happens around the holidays or, you know, a family visitation day, family fun day. Maybe that first parent-teacher conference when they’ve really gotten that sense that you really, really know their kid. You know, and a third time at re-enrollment when they’re happy, they’re re-signing.

[00:37:55] And give them some specific direction. Don’t just say, “Leave, leave us a review.” Prompt them. Has our school made a difference for your family? Share your story. A review will help other families li- like yours find us. I’ve, I’ve given some advice to advancement directors. We know we’re used to hearing from them asking for cold hard cash.

[00:38:14] But what would happen if the advancement director said it- sent an email in May to your graduating families, depart- we call them departing families, right? Their last child’s graduating. They’re, they’re leaving the community. And says, “Over the years, I’ve asked you for a lot of things, but I’m gonna ask-” And it might be the most meaningful one you ever give our school, and it’s your story That’s the last gift you want that family to leave is their happy, satisfied story of their graduate who’s grown in all these ways.

[00:38:43] Getting a little choked up about it, but like that’s, that’s the moment, right? Is, is to ask them, “Are you a happy customer? And tell us about how your child’s transformed here at our school.” Those are the three I’d start with today 

[00:38:55] Moira: Yeah. I, I love that last one especially, but if I could add one more, I think going back to the faculty bios is a huge win but easy lift where if you add some credentials, beef that page up a little bit, it can make a measurable dist- difference in how AI assesses your school authority.

[00:39:15] Aubrey: I love that. You all gave people practical things to implement on a Monday morning, so thank you. We’re gonna transition to our rapid fire questions, questions we ask every guest. They’re meant to be quick. So are you all ready? 

[00:39:28] Heather: Yes. 

[00:39:29] Aubrey: All right. If you could put one book as mandatory reading in the high school curriculum, what would it be?

[00:39:33] Moira: For me, it’s 1984. I read it in high school, and it really got me thinking. 

[00:39:38] Heather: This was a tough one. I’m a big reader. It was hard to pick just one. I know this isn’t meant for kids, but I’m gonna say The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown because I do think we should be talking to kids about living into their values and identifying the kind of person they wanna be at an earlier age.

[00:39:53] So Brené, if you’re listening, come out with a workbook for kids. 

[00:39:55] Aubrey: Oh, yes, please. That’s a great idea. Thank you. Good, good book recs. I can’t wait to read these. Well, I’ve read the Imperfection one, but I haven’t read 1984 in a long time, so thank you. What is one app you couldn’t live without? 

[00:40:07] Moira: For me, it’s the Notes app, an old classic, but I, I love a brain dump that I can access anywhere, something that I thought of right before bed, and then I can find it again when I’m feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, so love that.

[00:40:19] Heather: That’s a great one. Mine is Libby, which is an app where you can download e-books from your library. 

[00:40:24] Aubrey: Okay, I use 

[00:40:25] Heather: both- I’m always shopping on there. 

[00:40:26] Aubrey: I, I use both of those, like, every day. So I’m a big library fan, and my Notes app is full of all my thoughts. So great recs. What are you reading right now?

[00:40:37] Moira: I’m reading two things. Dungeon Crawler Carl I am listening to, and I’m also reading paperback copy of We Can Do Hard Things, also Brené Brown, Abby, and her sister, so. 

[00:40:48] Heather: Glennon Doyle, that one, but yes, very much endorsed by Brené, for sure. 

[00:40:52] Moira: Oh, yeah. That was a test, Heather. Thank you. 

[00:40:54] Heather: It was a test. Don’t worry, I passed.

[00:40:56] I am actually reading two things also. I’m reading Kristin Hannah’s new One Summer Island, and I’m reading a really incredible book I could not promote more happily with my daughter called The Millicent Quibb School for, of, of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, it’s a little bit of a tongue twister, by the hilarious Kate McKinnon from SNL.

[00:41:18] It’s her young adult novel series. The third book’s coming out this fall, and my daughter and I are just, like, dying laughing reading it together. It’s so funny. 

[00:41:25] Aubrey: All right. How old is your daughter? ‘Cause I’m taking notes. 

[00:41:29] Heather: She’s in fourth grade. 

[00:41:30] Aubrey: Awesome. I will be putting this on our, our read list. I, too, love books, as do my children, so this will be a great one.

[00:41:37] Great recs, guys. 

[00:41:37] Heather: And you love comedy too, 

[00:41:39] Aubrey: right? 

[00:41:39] Heather: Yes, of course. Get you 

[00:41:39] Aubrey: some comedy in 

[00:41:40] Heather: there. 

[00:41:41] Aubrey: Yes. Of course. Who doesn’t wanna laugh? What is one great piece of advice you’d like to leave us with? 

[00:41:47] Moira: So mine is nothing brand new, but eating the frog early in the day. So whatever your hard thing is, especially if you can identify it the night before, if I identify the thing that’s gonna suck the most tomorrow and say I’m gonna do it before, like, 10:00 AM, then the rest of the day I feel great and accomplished and just have better days when I do that, so.

[00:42:06] Heather: I’ve never heard that expression, Moira. 

[00:42:09] Moira: You haven’t? I think it’s a book or- Yeah … some guy said you should eat the frog, which eating a frog is miserable, but if you get it done, if you’re dreading it all day, it just makes it so much harder. And then when you actually do it, it just, yeah, just tops it. I’m 

[00:42:22] Heather: gonna be thinking about that the rest of the day, thanks.

[00:42:25] Moira: Eat the frog anyway.

[00:42:26] Heather: I don’t know what this podcast is rated, but mine my father-in-law once said, “If you’re not shitting your pants a little bit, you’re not doing the right thing.” And we were hap- we happened to be talking about buying our first home at the time, but his point was, push yourself outside your comfort zone, stay curious, take risks, and, and never stop growing.

[00:42:46] And I live by that. Well- I like to be uncomfortable … 

[00:42:49] Aubrey: these are both, like, golden gems here. I mean, the eat the frog one I follow daily ’cause n- having that hang over your head for the rest of the day is not fun, so just getting it done. And I love that, yeah, getting outside your comfort zone that’s how you grow, so that’s beautiful.

[00:43:03] Well, Heather and Moira, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I really, this conversation was fantastic, and I know our audience is gonna get so much out of it. Where can people find you and connect with you and learn more about you and what you do? 

[00:43:15] Moira: So you can find me on LinkedIn, Moira Anderson.

[00:43:18] I think for my forward slash it’s Anderson dash Moira. It’s an O-N. Anderson with an O-N, so… 

[00:43:25] Heather: I’m somewhere on LinkedIn too, but you can always find us at truthtree.com. 

[00:43:29] Moira: Yep. 

[00:43:30] Aubrey: Great. Thank you again for everything, and this has been a fantastic conversation. And thanks for kicking off September with this episode. We appreciate you.

[00:43:38] Thanks for joining us on the Mindful School Marketing Podcast. We’d love it if you’d pop into iTunes and leave a review. Five-star preferred. Let us know how you like the show. It helps us improve what we’re doing and helps others find us too.