Bona Fides
The education sector is a major focus of the practice’s work. Over the course of the last 20 years, Jeff Wack has conducted marketing and advancement projects for nearly 100 private schools, colleges, and universities. Jeff’s expertise in this sector is suggested by the following:

• Member of the Board of Trustees of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the voice of independent pre-collegiate education and the center for collective action on behalf of its 1,200+ member schools.
  
  
• Invited speaker at Council for the Advancement of Secondary Education (CASE), National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and Ivy-Plus conferences.
  
  
• Produces the popular annual Marketing and Advancement Institute for Independent Schools, as well as the annual Business of Independent Schools Institute (BISI) at Harvard. To learn more about these two conferences, please click here.
  
  
• Wrote several chapters regarding marketing in schools, including ones in Marketing Independent Schools in the 21st Century, and Affordability and Demand, both published by NAIS. To learn more about these books or to purchase them, please click on the book covers to the right.

Advancement Issues
JTWack & Company consults on virtually every marketing issue faced by leaders of educational institutions. The most common marketing issues and market segments that the firm addresses for colleges and independent schools include the following:

• Marketing is a philosophy, a thoughtful and rigorous approach to how one addresses the marketplace. It is not a merely a collection of tactics or activities, of websites or brochures.
• Marketing is the only business function whose prime responsibility is attracting resources to the organization. This is accomplished by managing the 5 R’s: Reputation, Recruiting, Retention, Relationships, and Revenues.
• Marketing is what happens every time a part of the organization touches a customer. The big question is how consciously the organization manages these “touchpoints.”
• Many in education have adopted the term “advancement” to convey the idea that admissions, communications, fundraising, etc. must collaborate to advance the institution. In this usage, the term “advancement” is a genteel re-labeling of what others would call “integrated marketing.” To learn more about integrated marketing, click here.

Examples
Perhaps the best way to convey how contemporary marketing can advance schools is to simply list descriptive examples. Accordingly, below is a partial list of projects that JTWack & Company has completed for private schools and colleges.

Analysis

• Completed “Wall Street quality” study for billionaire donor of market potential for a $80 million middle and upper school.
• Used innovative metrics in analysis of demographic trends to project demand in a complex metro market.
• Produced demographic analyses that informed decision to relocate a K-12 from an urban to a suburban campus.
• Guided administrative team in a competitive analysis intended to reveal gaps and areas of distinctiveness.

Research

• Developed and implemented a five-year survey research agenda that addressed key decision and satisfaction points across the lifespan of students, from prospect to graduation to bequest.
• Conducted surveys of Ivy League college alumni, diagnosed reasons for giving or not, tested case statement possibilities and strategies of engagement.
• Assessed validity of admissions selection criteria used to predict student success.

Planning

• Completed market analyses and financial scenarios that informed board’s decision to expand enrollment.
• Steered data-driven strategic planning process. This included designing research that not only drove the plan, but also served the additional purposes of meeting accreditation requirements and framing messaging for new admissions materials.
• Prompted redirection, articulation, and calendaring of a school’s recruiting process.
• Assisted board in creating a dashboard to monitor performance of the key advancement goals of reputation, recruiting, retention, and relationships to supplement the revenues measures customarily received.

Communications

• Led strategic phase of branding initiative, then guided the work of the communications agency selected to execute the print and internet vehicles.
• Conducted research for Ivy League client, and then led client work team through data-driven decision process that optimized print and web modes of alumni engagement.
• Developed strategy and tools (e.g., positioning statement, message platform), and provided direction for communications agency.
• Designed and directed the process that produced memorable message platforms and signature statements; e.g., “Tradition of Excellence. Spirit of Innovation. Culture of Caring” (Choate); “Academics for Life, Values for Living” (Convent of the Sacred Heart).
• Guided school in implementation of website strategy, including vendor selection, design, and analytics.

Organization

• Engaged in a multi-year retainer to fill the role of Vice President for Advancement. Responsibilities included coaching senior leadership in contemporary advancement practices, from recruiting to retention to relationship enhancement.
• Led Ivy League college’s initiative to design an integrated program with the goal of creating a multigenerational community that would support advancement goals from admissions through donations.
  Advised head and board on major upgrade of communications and marketing capabilities, including job designs and recruiting for new role of Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications.

Strategy

• Conducted an analysis that spearheaded board’s strategy of “build it and they will come.” Created marketing plan that yielded record enrollment and revenues in two years.
• On behalf of Ivy League college provost, completed surveys of the alumni of graduate school programs that informed changes to financial aid policies.
• Convinced head of upper school to recognize college counseling office underperformance as a complex web of marketing problems. Created resolution strategies that included students, parents, faculty, and college admissions.

Facilitation and Speaking

• Facilitated myriad workshops in support of planning, governance education, and faculty in-services.
• Frequent keynoter at association meetings on a variety of market and education industry topics.

Partial List of Education Clients

Colleges and Universities

• Columbia University (New York, NY)
• Mount Holyoke College (Holyoke, MA)
• Quinnipiac College of Law (Hamden, CT)
• Sarah Lawrence College (Westchester, NY)
• University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA)
• Williams College (Williamstown, MA)
• Yale University (New Haven, CT)
• Yale School of Art (New Haven, CT)
• Yale School of Architecture (New Haven, CT)
• Yale School of Drama (New Haven, CT)
• Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health (New Haven, CT)
• Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences (New Haven, CT)
• Yale School of Music (New Haven, CT)

Boarding Schools

• Canterbury School (New Milford, CT)
• Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford, CT)
• Fishburne Military Academy (Waynesboro, VA)
• Foxcroft School (Middleburg, VA)
• Hotchkiss School (Lakeville, CT)
• Mercersburg Academy (Mercersburg, PA)
• Northfield Mount Hermon School (Northfield, MA)
• Pomfret School (Pomfret, CT)
• Portsmouth Abbey School (Portsmouth, RI)
• San Domenico School (San Anselmo, CA)
• Westminster School (Simsbury, CT)
• Westover School (Middlebury, CT)

Day Schools

• Ancona School (Chicago, IL)
• Crane School (Santa Barbara, CA)
• East Woods School (Long Island, NY)
• Episcopal Academy (Philadelphia, PA)
• Greenhill School (Addison TX)
• Hawken School (Cleveland)
• Holton-Arms School (Bethesda, MD)
• John Burroughs School (St Louis, MO)
• Kingswood-Oxford School (West Hartford, CT)
• Laurel School (Cleveland, OH)
• Landon School (Bethesda, MD)
• Latin School of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
• Morgan Park Academy (Chicago, IL)
• Mounds Park Academy (St Paul, MN)
• National Cathedral School (Washington, DC)
• North Shore Country Day School (Winnetka, IL)
• O’Neal School (Pinehurst, NC)
• Palm Beach Day Academy (Palm Beach, FL)
• Phillips Brooks School (Menlo Park, CA)
• Pomfret School (Pomfret CT)
• Ravenscroft School (Raleigh, NC)
• Rio Grande School (Santa Fe, NM)
• Roeper School (Bloomfield Hills, MI)
• Rudolf Steiner School (New York, NY)
• Schools of the Sacred Heart (San Francisco, CA)
• Shady Side Academy (Pittsburgh)
• St Luke’s School (New Canaan, CT)
• St. Matthew's (San Mateo CA)
• Trinity School (Midland, TX)
• Trinity Valley School (Fort Worth, TX)
• Urban School (San Francisco, CA)
• Washington International School (Washington, DC)
• Williams School (New London, CT)