As a school marketer, you may be on the fence about how to respond in our current climate, deciding if you should wait it out or offer a virtual open day. There is no doubt that virtual open events are new for our schools, but as we’ve embraced the change for our clients, we’ve seen some fantastic results. The feedback has been that parents are asking a lot of different questions on their tours, that conversations are more relaxed and parents are focusing on what you are saying to them. Most importantly, parents feel they can still put in an enrolment application after having met so personally with the team.
A virtual open event can be run at a specific date and time or made available on demand. It provides you the opportunity to create an online experience with additional options, such as live or recorded presentations, a video gallery, live chat, and a resource download portal. Parents can choose the content they engage with and individual connection is encouraged with live chat. Virus or no virus, these are great tools that we can use to engage our families.
Our schools have built online experiences that will continue to be used when the COVID-19 crisis is over, as a warm-up to in-person tours and a tool to engage interstate families and boarding students.
Visit our ‘Virtual Open Events’ page for ideas on what your virtual open event could look like.
