Sue Grossbauer

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is such an evocative hot-button today that some organizations are unsure why they worry about it. It’s like paying taxes: You’re just supposed to do it. Or are you?

Luxurious? Soothing? Relaxing? These marketing messages are hard to believe when rendered in a font most of us would reserve for one day of the year—Halloween. Yes, this one goes bump in my brain. When passing this sign recently with a friend, I heard the exclamation: “I would never let them TOUCH me!” Someone else said: “Pointy! Like knives.”

If you work in a school or nonprofit organization, you may believe that integrated marketing is out of reach. We hear it often: “I can’t do integrated marketing. We’re on a very tight budget.”

But integrated marketing isn’t really about budget. Yes, if you want to run ads and billboards—and don’t have free placement offers from your community—you may feel limited. However, you can still leverage the core elements of integrated marketing to promote school enrollment, student retention, staff recruitment, and positive community relationships.

Public perception is a key concern for PR leadership in many of the nation’s schools. Media coverage—from conventional news stories to social media—can bring on criticism, and sometimes even relate blatant misinformation. At the same time, a positive image of a school district among communities can promote enrollment and essential grassroots support. It can help schools achieve the ambitious goals laid out for public education.

For many executives, advertising is a comfortable, tangible way of demonstrating marketing at work. Inside the organization, it looks good. Sometimes it’s incredibly effective. Sometimes it’s an OOPS. Sometimes you can’t predict outcomes. But often, you can predict (and avoid) an OOPS.