121. Millennial Parents and AI Search: How Independent Schools Must Adapt

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Tara: Welcome to Mindful School Marketing. I’m Aubrey Burch. And I’m Tara Clays. Today we are here, just the two of us. We are gonna reflect a little bit on the last year as we’re approaching, I can’t believe it, approaching the end of 2025. So we’re gonna do a little kind of recap and just kind of talk about what’s on our mind and that’s where we’re heading today.

Absolutely. I can’t wait for this conversation, Tara. Yes. [00:01:00] Let’s start by talking a little bit about some of the episodes that we remember from this year. Um, we crossed our 100 episode mark, which is super exciting and, um, we’re so grateful to all of our guests who have joined us to share all kinds of knowledge, whether it’s school marketing, directly related, or wellness.

Related. Um, we love sharing all that kind of information and having great conversations with guests. One of the ones that stands out to me actually is with Bridget Johnson. She talked to us about conflict resolution and dealing with difficult conversations and trying to avoid conflict as well. Uh, this is episode one 15 that aired in August.

Um, I really appreciated. The reminder from Bridget about the importance of being proactive and, and just opening up the difficult conversations and and having expectations set from the outset. So I just wanted to, I’ve been thinking [00:02:00] about that a lot as I start planning for next year. And as you and I start talking about our plans for next year just trying to be really transparent and open about your thoughts to, and to just to help things go more smoothly.

Aubrey: Absolutely. That was a great episode and, um, I, I really appreciated that because conflict. Whatever position you are in a school conflict is relevant to you. And learning those skills and strategies was incredibly helpful to hear. Um, I think I enjoyed that episode and I also enjoyed kind of our AI episodes that we tackled this year.

Um, we had Evan on Jordash TIFF, we also had Brendan on, uh, all talking about ai. And I thought that was incredibly impactful this year because. Uh, as we know, this has been a year of forward leaps in terms of AI and it’s not going anywhere. And so the strategies they shared and kind of like, how do we use this in schools and what are the things to think about when using it in schools, I thought were incredibly helpful.

And, um. [00:03:00] Impactful to schools who, some of them are really starting to put that into play. Some of them enjoyed, like trying out certain strategies that were, uh, discussed and like how to make it work for you, I think is, is really important. Key takeaway. 

Tara: Yeah, exactly. And I’m gonna talk a little bit more about that in a few minutes.

I think when we kind of dive into a couple of topics, but I also wanted to mention Barbara Barron’s episode where, uh, we talked about fundraising and storytelling as part of fundraising. And, you know, as someone who not only works with my clients with their websites and their fundraising content there, but I’m also on the board of a nonprofit where, uh, one of my responsibilities there is to fundraise.

And so I thought it was really a, a. Helpful reminder, again, another reminder. I really liked her idea about, you know, an overall guide to giving that is a central resource. And we do this on a lot on our websites anyway. But just the idea of making sure that you’re providing a lot of different opportunities for people to get [00:04:00] involved.

If they’re not donating, you know, some of money, what are some other things that they can do? And, you know, also helping them, helping them with story become storytellers for you. So I really enjoyed that episode too. 

Aubrey: And I appreciated Peter Barron’s episode regarding like, kind of rethinking how we think about schools and systems and you know, the business of being a school and, and financial, I think responsibility that goes along with that.

I know that’s top of mind for many schools as they’ve navigated this year. And then I also appreciated, uh, we just recorded with Jesse Meadows, um, regarding, you know, the cycles of history and kind of looking through that lens in terms of preparing schools for what’s next and, and how we can kind of navigate through this era of crisis that we’re in according to that theory.

Tara: That was a really interesting episode, uh, with all that’s happening in the world, in the country, and thinking about it in the historical perspective is, was, was helpful for me in some ways, I think. So that was, that was really [00:05:00] a good episode and it just aired, let’s kind of dive in. You know, you do, you work with schools on, on a lot of different marketing tactics and data, and I work with schools to help them build websites.

So what we do crosses over but we also have, you know, have our swim lanes and we each have our expertise and specialties. And I thought we might kind of share a little bit about our thoughts on what we see coming down the pike for next year. In, in our general. Specific areas. And for you, we’ve talked a lot about, we’ve had, we’ve had a couple of podcasts that that touched on the idea of generational shifts and consumer behavior.

So you’re gonna share some thoughts on sort of where we’re heading and how generational shifts are impacting how schools should be marketing going forward. 

Aubrey: Oh yeah, I love this topic. I just recently presented a workshop on this to um, one of my clients in Chicago, and it’s really fascinating the way when we’re looking, let’s talk about millennials in general.

Um, and according [00:06:00] to a lot of studies, 80% of millennials are going to be you know, parents by 2030. So, they are here and they are in our schools. And a lot of us, I think really. As we’re looking at our school’s, you know, processes, our messaging, our systems, especially around enrollment. Some of us aren’t, aren’t really considering, like they are different types of, they’re a different kind of consumer.

And so what I really appreciated you know, learning about more was, you know, millennials are very value driven. And so when we’re looking at our messaging and identifying, you know, who we are and our value proposition and what we have to offer them, like, it’s really important that we dive into that and.

Stand that how we can connect with millennials on, um, that as well as the need to include authenticity, which Tara, we’ve talked about this before. Authenticity, especially on social media, like who we are and, and really showing that behind, behind the scenes type of view of our [00:07:00] schools, um, really does resonate with millennials.

Um, I found it fascinating that, millennials will use like social media as customer service. So I think about all the schools that I work with, those small schools and like they’re, a lot of their processes are still via email and via like, uh, you know, phone call. And yet we have this group that is looking to dialogue on social channels.

Um, and I, I see that as an untapped potential thing that we definitely at least need to address if we can’t be on there answering their questions. What are. You know, some autoresponders or, or things that we can implement that can help with that. Um, and we do know that this generation is absolutely digital first.

Like, they’re online, they’re engaging, they’re doing all these things online. So our presence there needs to be incredibly impactful. And when I was researching I, I was like, is Google still relevant? And it is definitely, still search is definitely still relevant. However, and you’re gonna talk about this, Tara AI is [00:08:00] growing and it is here to stay and they are using it for sure.

And then the thing I love to talk about in terms of millennials and I would say all parents, is that they are definitely. Peer, they, they rely on peer recommendations. So when they’re online, if we’re not as a school showcasing through the words and videos and like, you know, through the thoughts of others, how our school is impactful and how it shines, um, we are really not taking advantage of those peer recommendations.

So, especially whether it’s on review sites. Whether it’s on Terry, you’ll probably talk about this in terms of websites, but like how are we ensuring that we’re telling the stories through, um, the people, the parents, the alumni, the students at schools so that this millennial generation really resonates with what we have to offer.

And I would also say the one fun fact that. I was asking a group, we were in our small school leaders not small school, we small school solutions member meetup, and we are all looking around. I’m like, so how [00:09:00] many of you are millennials? And I was like, so how many of you actually pick up the phone and call people?

Like no. Everyone was like, no, no, not at all. Yeah. Um, and that’s because they have phone call anxiety. There’s like a whole thing called following phone call anxiety. When I’m looking at you know, schools, and we’ll talk about this I’m sure when we talk about websites, Tara, but when they are asking people to call to take a step in their admissions process or something, it’s, this is working against consumer behavior.

And, and that really brings me to like, if we can’t understand the consumers of today and like, and, and really know how they are shopping and we’re just holding to kind of our traditional methods of marketing, um, and engagement with. You know, we’re like, oh, we’ve always done this before. Oh, we’ve always, you know, this is the way we word it on, you know, X, Y, and Z, and this is our system for admissions.

If we’re not questioning at each point, if it’s serving the consumer, we are not serving ourselves because here’s the thing, the consumer behavior is not going to change. We have to [00:10:00] change to meet the consumer behavior to, to remain relevant in this space. 

Tara: Yeah, it’s not about what’s easiest for you. It’s, it’s about what’s easiest for them and, uh, yeah, it is kind of moving forward.

Sometimes. Sometimes that’s a battle internally, but somebody needs to be the champion for it in your school if they’re not already doing that. Right. I think I remember back maybe 10 years ago, I had some customer service issues and I discovered that the best way to get a response was on Twitter.

This was when, you know, Twitter was. Quite different than it is now, but you could get an answer from, you know, a customer service for a company more quickly and effectively on Twitter than you could through a phone call or their website. So I think, you know, people do, they’ll use it to vent. So even if they’re not asking a question they’ll, they’ll make a comment that.

Be positive or negative, and it’s your opportunity to be engaging there on your social media to address that. So, um, it is unfortunately or fortunately, the way things are going [00:11:00] and, and we all have to learn to adapt to it. Myself included, I am not a big social media person these days, but I know that depending on where you are and, and what you’re using it for, it can be really, really important.

1. Absolutely. What, what do you find that that these, these younger generations of parents now coming up, what do they, what do they value in an independent school? 

Aubrey: Oh, I think that’s so interesting. I think they, they want their values to match the independent school’s values, right? So I’m, I’m just thinking off the top of my head, if you’re like a progressive independent school and like maybe you have, you know, you’re involved with nature and sustainability and, and everything like that, and you’re draw, you’re.

You’re the, the consumer, the millennial consumer is looking, oh, this school is like me. ’cause they value X, Y, and Z. Right? And so they’re definitely looking for matching values and sustainability. I think they are looking for causes, social justice causes too. So it’s intriguing as [00:12:00] schools, I think it’s really important that schools understand like, what are your values?

How, you know, if you do have social justice co causes like and values, um, how are you highlighting those? And so that they resonate with people looking for your school and for schools that are aligned with their values. 

Tara: Yeah. And you can’t be all things to all people. Right? You, you need to set your values, define them, and, and focus on them, and not try to please everyone, because some people are maybe not looking for that.

They’re looking for something else. So I think that that’s, you know. That’s also sometimes a challenge because you want, you wanna attract more people, but if they’re not the people who have the same values that you’re, that you are standing for, then they’re not gonna be happy there anyway. Right.

Aubrey: Absolutely. I’m curious, you know, as we’re talking about all this with millennials, you know. How might we apply some of what we’re, we’re learning about the [00:13:00] millennial consumer to websites and I’d love to hear like, you know, websites. Yeah, you’re my website. Go-to person. Talk to me a little bit more about that.

Tara: Yeah, I mean, I think that, I mean, this has been the case for a while, but school websites are, are not just brochures. They are, they are living things. They are, um, the first, oftentimes the first thing that a potential family will see about you. Right. And it. Coming to your website. So it’s a brand experience right from the very top, right, from the very start.

And an outdated design, or a slow loading design. Those are things we hear, you know, when people come to us for, for a redesign, they’re, they want their website to be more updated. They want it to feel more modern, and they wanted to match their, their brand and personality. So all, like I was just talking about your values, you know, being true to what you are, your website should.

Be true to what you are and should communicate that as well. So I think starting out, you wanna make sure before you [00:14:00] are doing any kind of focus on promoting your school through your website, that you wanna make sure that the website is, is up to par. It is matching and, and if your school has, has changed or you know, starts leaning one way or another, focusing on something new, you wanna make sure your website includes that too.

Um, but of course, you know, the main thing, the thing everybody’s talking about is AI and, and AI searches and you know, generative AI and all of those things. So, you know, people are not just putting in like private school near me. They’re, you know, they’re putting like, you know, what’s the best private school in my town?

Or what’s the best private school with stem? Or those types of things. So they’re asking that. Out loud verbally. And the, and we’ve all seen now that a Google search is not just a Google search, it’s giving you an AI summary at the top, and that is related to the content on your website. I’ve seen with my own website that, um, I’m [00:15:00] coming up better in AI searches than I am in Google searches because it’s, you know, it’s, it is reading through the content in a different way.

And. And it’s looking for things like an FAQ page. It’s looking for answers, questions, and answers. So if your school doesn’t have an FAQ page, at least one, it will benefit. It’ll benefit you to have that because it gives AI more stuff to pull from and. Put you higher up in the results, which I think is really interesting.

You know, of course mobile first is something that’s really important too. People are looking on their phones. You wanna make sure that your website is easy to navigate on a phone and that it looks good on a phone as well. Um, and I also think it’s really interesting when we look at analytics for for current times, right?

That’s also changing where your emphasis is because AI results often don’t have clicks associated with them, right? So we’re so focused on, you know, the click-through rates and it’s not necessarily a key [00:16:00] indicator anymore because zero search, means that you’re still, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not visible within AI and that they’re not going to find you after that.

So I think that rethinking analytics and rethinking data, which I know is something that, that you work with, um, may more, maybe more than I do is also gonna be impacted by. By the rise of ai. So I think traditional SEO, which I think has always been a really tricky thing for schools to, to focus on. I think that, and it’s a positive thing in a way because I think that AI systems are they, they value reliable, structured content, rich content that they can use to craft those summaries.

And I think those are. Those are easier to get than, than an organic search result. So I think that’s positive news. 

Aubrey: Absolutely. I love that you talked about FAQs and making sure that your website tells your story. I mean, the website is still important. I mean, when we’re looking at what comes up for those [00:17:00] AI overviews as well as within like AI programs like chat, GPT and stuff like that, like they are pulling from the website for sure.

And that, that information is so, critical to have there. I’ve also seen, it’s so interesting that, um. We talk about, I’ve talked about social proof earlier and like how important that peer recommendation piece is. And when we were, I did this whole workshop bit with about like how to like look for your school on AI and like all sorts of stuff.

And the things that came up, like where they were sourced from. I mean, it was sourced from review sites, it was sourced from the websites, it was sourced. Like they were pulling, what do parents think of this school? And they were pulling from all those things. So. Um, I love what you said about the, you know, the analytics is changing because it is, right?

We have now, I mean, if we look, if you look how you as a consumer search right now, I mean, I’m always asking chat GPT about things, you know, and stuff like, I’m having conversations, right? And I want that easy grab for information. So. [00:18:00] Our, our consumers for, for schools are similar right now. That’s what they’re doing.

So ha making sure that you’re monitoring, you know, what is being said about your school, what data is being like, where data is being pulled from and making sure you have really good information up there is, uh, is really key. 

Tara: Yeah, here’s a little game or a little test I will put out there. I’m a big spreadsheet person as you know, and I will use chat GPT to generate CSB files for me often.

So I would say if you work in a school and you’re curious about how AI is impacting your marketing, try this. Go into your chat. Whatever chat you use, chat GPT and ask it to create a CSV file. Of the top private schools in your market, in your area and ask it to list certain things in the CSV file cost, uh, number of students, [00:19:00] special programs, student to faculty ratio.

Sports, whatever things your school you, you’re interested in knowing about. See what it gives you. See if you, if that information is able to be pulled from chat, GPT if your school shows up in there and, and if that information is, is easily found, if it’s not showing up in those columns, that means you’re not presenting it in a clear way.

So you need to go back and, and make that either, you know, add it to some, add some schema to it, which is part of the, you know, sort of what. What comes up in the backend. But um, but I think that’s a really interesting experiment. We’re starting to do that with schools when we start working with them, and it’s really interesting to see you.

Sometimes you’ll have to ask it to add your school in there if you’re not coming up in the top, but that’s a fun little game to try. 

Aubrey: I love that. That’s a great actionable, uh, thing to do with schools. Yeah. Yeah. ’cause it’s so interesting. Some schools they don’t even, they’re not coming up at all when you’re like, you know, best private schools and whatever.

Oh, forget it. Like, you didn’t make the list. So, [00:20:00] interesting. Thank you Tara for that. Yeah. Exercise. 

Tara: Yeah. I’m curious. Um, yeah. Oh, sorry. I have something to 

Aubrey: add. Like, I was thinking about like, when we were just talking, I wanted to add that something that is really interesting that I see all the time is with websites is still happening in so many times, so many different schools when we’re looking at their websites is like lack of clarity around, well, we always talk about like who you serve and like all that, but also like people do still visit your website.

Like they do still get there from like, yes, we still have ai, but they still go there. Um, and when they get there and they’re looking at your. Admissions process, like first of all, a lot of schools don’t even have the admissions process on there. Like how do you get from point A to point C? Right? How do you get there and what’s involved and what’s the timelines?

And like a lot of schools, it’s like really not clear or it’s completely like this 15 page like document about like with too much [00:21:00] for people to digest. 

Tara: Yeah, you gotta create a login and Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Before you can even learn that information. The 

Aubrey: barriers. And especially if you’re a school who needs enrollment.

I would, I would definitely look through What barriers does a consumer have to getting to the next step, to attending, like coming to on a tour, to just getting some information about your school. How many barriers do you have in place? Because, and then also going back to how phone calls are like dreaded by millennials, like, a lot of them are like, call us and then admission. I’m like, really? No. Maybe text, text if you’re, if you don’t have a system that does, you know, um, you know, scheduling for you at least make it text or something. Work with what we got. But I think that is something to, to mention. I, because I just saw it, so I’ve seen it so much lately and it would be an easy enough change for schools to make.

Tara: Yeah. Well, as, as we, um. Wrap up this episode, and actually this is our last newly recorded episode of the year. We [00:22:00] will be taking a break in December and resharing some podcast episodes from 2025 and maybe even earlier. Kind of just wanna thank our audience and thank our guests. And also maybe just take a moment to talk about, um, being mindful.

Throughout the holiday season and also in 2026, I like to have a word of the year and do planning, but I will say that I decided that I’m gonna redo my year, my word next year, because I didn’t do it very well this year, which is wonder. So I just, you know, wanna wish for people that you’re able to be in the moment during the last few weeks of this year and, and that you take a few moments to think about what you want next year to look like for you.

Aubrey: Absolutely. I would second that. I think you all are doing amazing work in your schools. It’s not an easy job. Um, and I know that this time period in schools is incredibly crazy. Like I always hear from schools October. October is crazy. Oh wait, November is two, right? So, um, just remember [00:23:00] that, um, to take moments for yourself.

I think, you know, anytime you can take time to unplug and to, you know, find what fuels you up and make those connections with other humans and think, you know, activities you love and nature, whatever lights you up. I think, um, make more time for that and schedule it in just as you would schedule in a project in your calendar.

Tara: Exactly. I think one of the benefits of working with and in schools is that for the most part, you do get a holiday break and a lot of other jobs don’t, don’t give you quite the same thing. So make the most of that and um, and savor it everyone. 

Aubrey: Absolutely. And we look forward to seeing you in the new year, but, uh, Tara did we wanna ask people to also remember, like, talk to us anytime we were gonna ask us more in the new year, but like.

If you have something that’s on your mind that you like, you have a question about marketing or development, or any part of independent school life, ask us. And if we don’t know, we’ll we’ll bring on [00:24:00] someone, but we’d love to hear about that and we’d love to answer your questions. 

Tara: Yeah. One of our goals for 2026 for the podcast is to get some more audience involvement.

So we are gonna be sharing a form on our website that you can go to to make some suggestions or to ask questions if you have a question you’re not sure the answer to. And if chat GPT can’t answer it or you want a more in-person answer, you can put that question in there and we will get the answer for you.

Get somebody on who can talk about it in depth. Um, and you can also just comment on social media with your questions as well. We will be engaging there as we practice what we preach. 

Aubrey: That’s so perfect. Thanks 

Tara: everyone. 

Aubrey: Thank you everyone.

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