It’s no secret that in order to increase your school’s enrollment, you need to be able to attract prospects to your school.  Not just any prospects, however.  You need the right prospects.  But just who is the right prospect?

To answer this question, you need know the secret to identifying and better understanding your ideal school enrollment customer.  That secret is the creation of buyer personas or, in the case of schools, parent personas.

What is a Parent Persona?

A parent persona is a fictional representation of your ideal enrollment customer based on real data and educated speculation about demographics, behavior patterns, motivations and goals.  Developing parent personas is an ongoing process that begins by taking a look at and talking with your current parent population to identify trends and make assumptions regarding what your ideal customer might look like.  The process continues by doing more research to build on those assumptions to come up with a realistic character sketch of your ideal customer(s).

Creating Parent Personas

If you have not yet had the opportunity to create parent personas, here are some suggestions for information to collect to get you started:

1. Name
   Bring them to life by making them specific.   Give each parent persona a name that clearly describes them.  Example:  “Bob and Betty Busy,” or “Frank and Fran Family.”  Find an image that visually represents them (it is best to use a stock image and not a photo of someone you actually know).
   
   
2. Demographic Details
   Include information such as such as age, income level, education, employment details.
   
   
3. Goals
   List their interests and desires.
   
   
4. Pain Points
   Identify the challenges they face.
   
   
5. Create Their Story
   Weave the facts you have collected into a detailed representation of who this persona is as a person/family.

Parent personas provide the foundation for all your marketing efforts.  With an understanding of your ideal audience, you can tailor your marketing campaigns and create content that is relevant to them.  The type of content that can attract the right visitors to your school, convert them into enrollment leads and ultimately encourage them to enroll at your school.