I am a marketer in a digital age, but grew up using a typewriter. I still look forward to receiving the blue coupon envelope that arrives in the mail each month. I am not a marketer. I do not have a marketing degree. I do not even have any real marketing training.

Nevertheless, a large part of my responsibilities as a director of a private early childhood program is to ensure that our enrollment is at capacity, as well as helping families understand our program and its philosophy. Filling vacancies means using self-taught marketing techniques.
How do administrators manage their marketing plan when the following must be considered?
Most administrators started as teachers. Yes, they took administration classes, but most rarely had more than a couple of lectures on business practices.
Many are of an age who remember a time when the idea of a “mobile phone” meant that you could stretch the super-long cord into the closet for some privacy. We also remember the joy at hearing our siblings trip over the aforementioned cord when they ran through the hallway too quickly.
If we are hip enough to know what Youtube is, we still think it is to stream music videos. (I can feel my kids’ eyes rolling as I write this.) Iwould rather watch them on MTV in my living room, anyway.
We use Facebook. Enough said.
We do not really get the point of Snapchat and Instagram. We ask, “Why even bother using Twitter?”
But these are today’s marketing tools. They are the communication tools used by the clients to whom we must market our schools and classroom programs. It is not sufficient to throw up one’s hands and say, “I do not know anything about marketing.” Rather, in this fast paced, ever-changing digital landscape, today’s directors must learn about, and actively use, these platforms.
Taking my own advice, I shall stop writing, turn off MTV and see if my daughter will Shapchat with me.
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