School competition is continuing to grow across the country. Schools have started utilizing political campaign tactics to recruit students. Traditional marketing practices are still necessary, but they aren’t enough by themselves anymore. Your district’s competition is using door knocks, live phone calls, robo-calls, grassroots teams, and other political campaign tactics to recruit your students. HERE ARE TWO TIPS TO HELP YOU GET STARTED FORMING A GRASSROOTS, RECRUITMENT STRATEGY. 1. Form Strong Messaging Get your talking points ready. Your district needs to form message points that highlight the great things you are doing. Occasionally we have districts ask us, “What if we don’t have anything to highlight?” Our response is always, “We’ll let you know when we find one of those districts.” Every district has things that can be highlighted: a great counselor that works hard with students on college applications, higher test scores, or elective programs that teach trade skills. Every district is doing something great, and your messaging needs to highlight those things. 2. Pay Attention to Your Competitors If your district isn’t already keeping up with news and social media about your competitors, you need to get out there. If they are out in the community knocking on doors or meeting with prospective students, you need to as well. There are many strategies your district can take to recruit students, and it varies from school to school. However, student recruitment has become more competitive in recent years and we are seeing the increased need for grassroots methods in your student recruitment plan. If you are interested in learning more about our proven process that utilizes grassroots methodologies to recruit students for your district, please email ariel@caissaps.com or click the button below.