Make your customers feel

Whilst scrolling through my LinkedIn newsfeed, I came across a quote posted by a friend on her feed, by Maya Angelou, an American Poet:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

I couldn’t help writing a post on the back of this quote. It strikes a strong chord with Admissions & Marketing. It also supports the “Script or no script” blog for we often get so caught up in trying to remember all the things we have to tell a prospective parent, all the information we think they want to hear, all the facts we think make a powerful sell, that we forget to connect with our customers and create an emotionally-impacting
experience that they cannot forget.

The factual information about your school might be interesting and useful, it can also be easily forgotten if delivered without any emotional impact. Let’s take an example about, say, your school’s music programme:

Factual-manner:
“Our school offers an instrumental programme that allows pupils to be introduced to and experiment with a wide range of musical instruments, enabling them to freely explore what interests them…”

Emotionally-impacting manner (a little longer than the former, but it’s necessary to illustrate the point!):
“Our instrumental music programme is a great way for Ella to explore a range of instruments and see if any captures her interest. As parents, it’s difficult to know which instrument to invest in and encourage Ella to commit to before she has had the chance to try out a few. Our programme does exactly that: it helps you as a parent and Ella to make the decision in a more informed way. We had a child at the school who came into the instrumental programme at the same age as Ella. She didn’t have any prior knowledge of music- other than mumbling along to every Ed Sheeran song whenever they were played on the radio- discovered her interest and passion for the Clarinet after trying out a few musical instruments at school, and was eventually awarded a music scholarship from a prestigious senior school. Her parents were beyond proud of her and humbled, as neither of them had a musical career or gift. As a school, we are committed to creating these opportunities for every pupil…”

It boils down to our biological make up. We are emotional beings and our decisions are based largely on emotional responses or impulses. The science behind why building emotional connections is important can be found in a great article by Lindsay Kwan via Wider Funnel. It gives a lot of reference and application to Marketing also: https://www.widerfunnel.com/emotional-marketing-guide/

So, the next time you are writing an ad’ copy, choosing a photo for a poster, or meeting a parent to show them your school, ensure that you connect with their emotions and that the interaction leaves them with a positive emotional response. Even if they don’t go home and sign up that evening, they will sure be wanting to book another visit, perhaps bringing other family members along for a similar experience. (When this happens, you know it’s also a good sign!)

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