Is it "Prime Day" at Your School?

Welcome to the Catholic School Leaders Podcast. My name is John Mahalio, the President and Founder of Elementary Advancement Solutions. The goal of this podcast is to connect Catholic school leaders from across the world to help grow Catholic education. Visit us at www. elementaryadvancement. com to see how we can help make advancement seem elementary at your school. Well, how are you doing today? I hope that your day is going great. I hope that your summer is going great.

I hope that you're getting a lot done, but also having a little bit of time to rest and recharge your batteries. Uh, maybe took a vacation, maybe took a staycation, uh, whatever the case might be, but I hope you're doing well on this day.

I hear from, uh, some principals and different leaders from, uh, not only across the country, but across the world, and, and let me know what's going on in their schools, which is always exciting, and hearing about the successes, but also the, the struggles that, maybe you're dealing with. And so that's what we're here for.

That's why I do this podcast is to really help you to connect with other Catholic school leaders so that, you know, those things that you're dealing with at your school, you're not the only one, I promise you. And so, keep going, appreciate everything that you're doing. Appreciate that you are, you have said yes to that vocation of leading Catholic education in your school community.

So it's that time of year again, If you are listening to this, if you are hearing this on this day, it has become one of the most days in our nation where a lot of people get really excited, where people get, just all sorts of giddy because July 16th and 17th is Prime Day. And if I would have said to you 15 years ago, hey, it's Prime Day, you might have thought that maybe you have a math test coming up or something like that.

But Prime Day has become one of the most advertised days and shopping days, for people all over the United States and probably over the world. They look forward to it each and every year. They do it several times a year, um, just depending on the frequency. Uh, it's gonna take place this year on, July 16th and 17th. I'm sure it's filled with a lot of great deals no matter what you're looking for.

Uh, sometimes Amazon tells you what you're looking for before you even know it, uh, suggesting things for you to buy and things like that. But Prime Day is coming up, and so I'm going to ask you this question. Is your Catholic school experiencing a Prime Day of its own on July 16th and 17th as it pertains to getting ready for the next school year? Now before I get into that, I'd like to ask you just a quick favor, if you would.

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So, if I could just ask you to take a quick minute, just give that little button a like, or a subscribe, or just share it with somebody that you feel would benefit from this. I can't say thank you enough for that, and like I said, it just really helps us to grow Catholic education together. So, let's get into Prime Day. Prime Day, it's an advertised day, there's a lot of stuff going, and I mentioned to you before, Is Prime Day happening at your school?

Now, I don't mean that that's a special day where you're, hey, for this day only we're running a special on tuition or things like that. That's not what I mean. But let's look at what Prime Day represents, the emotions that are associated with Prime Day, and see if that's the emotions that people within your own school community would use to describe your school. And if they're not, maybe we can do something to move you in that direction.

So The first word that I guess I would use to describe Prime Day is excitement. Uh, the excitement begins a few weeks before because, you know, the media will be out there saying, hey, Prime Day is coming, and they're placing ads out there, and they're placing commercials, and online articles are leaking what the deals could be this year, and things like that. How is that going to take place? How are we going to find out?

And we're on, oh look, you can already get these deals on Amazon right now. all this great excitement that's building up. How about your school's excitement for this coming school year? Maybe when it comes to your new families. Maybe when it comes for your recruitment for next year. Have you already begun to build excitement about this process for next year? Um, the new school year is going to be here before you know it.

Are you taking advantage of communicating with people, or is the last time they heard from you the last time they filled out that final application form and they haven't heard from you a whole lot since? Are you building excitement about school opening for the 24 25 school year? That's when I'm recording this, you may be listening to this in the following year at some point. But, for the school year ahead, are you building excitement? Are you taking advantage?

of the opportunities you have for well placed communications, maybe social media posts, maybe things in bulletins, maybe communicating things in terms of the exciting growth that's happening at your school. How are you communicating that excitement about why your school is a great place to be? Build that excitement up today as you're preparing for this upcoming school year, and don't wait until the school year arrives because then it's kind of too late.

We want to build that excitement up now to give people something to look forward to. And that kind of takes me to the next word that I would use to describe

Prime Day is that anticipation. Now, if you've opened an Amazon page, the first thing you see is a, is a reminder to say, Hey, Prime Day is coming, and they've created this anticipation of what deals there are that are going to be out there. Are you creating that same kind of anticipation for your school, for the class of students that's going to be joining you for this year?

Now, one of those schools that I served as a principal of had a call during our enrollment period, and the person, when they would ask to enroll their child, we would get information from them. And I'll never forget that one time we had a call, and my recruitment and marketing director came in and she said, You're not going to believe this one. We just got a call. about somebody wanting to enroll their, their child in our school. And I said, great.

And she said, you don't understand when I asked him what grade the child would be entering next year. She said that the child would be born in a couple of months, but they wanted to make sure that they weren't going to miss out on enrolling their, their child. And I thought, wow, you talk about anticipation, uh, and excitement for a parent. They wanted to make sure that their child wasn't going to get waitlisted or anything like that.

and so that anticipation of families to be part of your school and be part of your school community is something that they're really seeking and something that they really want to be part of. They're enrolling their children in your school community, but they also want to be part of that school community. We talk about that community engagement piece.

That's why it's such a big part, because that engagement is going to lead to involvement, the involvement is going to lead to engagement, which is just going to lead to that investment in your school, and I don't just mean financially, the investment in your school, whether it becomes how they talk about your school, the investment in your school about when something is needed, a helping hand for whatever, just that investment in your school, but getting that anticipation

started for your families now, is something that you really, really, really want to start building up. Now, Prime Day is going to bring, I will bet you, more visitors to Amazon's site in search of good deals or things that maybe they've been waiting on purchasing for a while and people finally get that Prime Day and maybe that coupon is just 10 off but people are finally going to pull the trigger and make that purchase.

When your enrollment opened up, and when your school year opens this year, when things are happening, are you getting a lot of people that are excited about it, or is that something that you're not really hearing a lot about? choosing a school is an important decision for people, and so the people that are coming to your school, are they ready to buy, or are they just browsing? Um, what's happening right now when you're doing your tours, when you're having people come in?

And by now, I would hope that you're having a lot of visitors coming in in terms of maybe some community engagement pieces of getting classes together to give new students those opportunities to meet your current families. it's a great way to get people together, to visit with each other, to get to know each other. Uh, it makes a huge impact on them, to show them what incredible and unique opportunities your school has to offer.

And maybe anybody that's still in that decision making process, it helps get them over the top. And make that decision to quote unquote purchase coming to your school. Prime day, when we talked about Prime Day, we talked about people getting a good deal. And I think people get excited about coming away with a great thing. So admit it, there's that retail therapy out there. Uh, there's a happiness that exists out there. Maybe until you get your credit card bill.

But there is that retail therapy out there that I, I don't recommend. Dave Ramsey would not allow that, and so I won't encourage that either, but it does exist out there. You do your searching. You find the item that you want at the price you want to pay for it. It's a great deal for you. It's something you've been waiting for and you hit add to cart and just like that for many of us, the item will arrive at our house maybe the next day or two days from now.

Um, and it's in a nice Amazon box and when people leave that Amazon box on your porch or in your mailbox, you're so excited to get it and you rush home and you open it up and boom, that item that you've been waiting for is there and you're excited because you have finally made that purchase.

So when people leave your school, maybe after a tour, after a visit, or after a shadow day, or whatever the case might be, when they leave your school, when they leave your school's website, when they leave an open house, when they leave a tour, are they having that same feeling of leaving with something great that they were looking for in your school, or are they leaving disappointed? Everyone's looking for a unique reason to come and explore a Catholic school and your Catholic school.

And when a family leaves your school after a visit, the feeling of coming away with something that they just can't live without is something that they should feel in their hearts and something that they're calling you back immediately going, How do we apply? How do we make sure our son or daughter is enrolled in your school for next year? Because we just have to have this. When you have that, and you leave people with that feeling that they're coming away with a great thing, that's exciting.

And then to actually deliver that great thing is even better. To be who you are, to showcase what you are as a Catholic school in a Catholic community, is only gonna get people excited, and that word of mouth is gonna spread. Which is a great thing for your school community. Now, I mentioned before about that Amazon box arriving at your doorstep, and when the Amazon box arrives, there is that sense of happiness to know that your order is here.

When your family, when a family enrolls in your school, are they experiencing that same happiness? Or, as Matthew Kelly would point out, a sustainable feeling beyond just one moment. Now, Catholic schools have the opportunity to partner with their parents and families to provide the foundations. With Catholic education at the center of their mission. It's got to be the center of what it is that you're doing.

And not only do we get to partner with these parents and these students for one year, It's We get to do it for multiple years. Now that's a serious, serious vocation that we take on as Catholic school leaders. So providing opportunities for your families to experience that same happiness. That they experienced on the first day that they came to your school is something that we want to do and something that we want to provide for them and something that we want to make sure that we give them.

So, it's Prime Day.

It's here. Maybe there's some great deals. Maybe there's something that you've been waiting on out there that you're going to jump on. But don't forget about Prime Day at your school. It's a two day event at Amazon, but it certainly doesn't have to be a two day event at your school. Make sure that each experience is a unique one for each individual family.

It takes a lot of work, but it's so worth it in the end to establish a strong Catholic culture at your school that's going to plant seeds for each family to help them grow. So, get out there, make every day at your school prime day, especially for those current and new families out there, those families who are considering your school.

Give them that excitement, give them that happiness, give them that feeling that they're coming away with something great and that anticipation for the year ahead. If we can help you do this at Elementary Advancement Solutions, don't hesitate to give us a call. Let's set up a time to have a virtual cup of coffee and talk about the goals at your school. What are your aspirations? What is it that you want to see happen at your school over the next one to three years?

Let's grow enrollment together. Let's spread that message and, and the joy of Catholic education for generations to come.