| Abstrakt: |
Traditional public schools no longer have a guaranteed market share of students, or tax dollars, based on geographic location. Families with little to no options in the past about where their child would attend school, now have many. In response to the expanding options available to them--in the form of charter schools and vouchers--families today are no longer simply sending their students to the school assigned to them based on geographic location. Today's public school employees need to understand why, when, where, and how to market their schools to continue to serve their communities in this changing educational climate. If public schools are going to thrive in today's society, they must respond to a new operating environment. Due to the changing competitive landscape in education, it becomes vital to understand how families select schools for their children. To date, there have been a number of published books and articles calling for greater need for schools to market. However, we argue that the emphasis of the literature has not provided administrators with a solid foundation of marketing theory. Instead, too great a focus in placed on communication tips and techniques, which gives educators a mistaken understanding of the marketing process. This paper will address the principles of marketing and how they can be applied in a public school setting. It focuses on the elements of the marketing mix, in a context unique to the competitive climate in which today's educators are operating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
