How to market your school's Art Department to generate leads

When marketing your school, displaying content that communicates your ethos and highlights what makes you stand out from the crowd will generate interest and conversions. How can marketers use what your art department has to offer in helping you reach your goals?

What if Art is not your school's specialism?

Highlighting the creative skills of your students will not only help to foster relationships with prospective students and parents, but also the wider community as a whole. Even the smallest Art departments will have many visual materials created by students that will help to build your school identity and celebrate the unique individuals that are at the heart of your school.

Whether Art is your specialism or not, sharing the work of your students shows prospective students and parents how much your school values creativity. Now more than ever, universities and future employers look for creativity in potential candidates. Creativity allows students to gain skills in flexibility, collaboration, entrepreneurship and much more. Celebrating these key values across your marketing will allow you to demonstrate the key forward-thinking teachings that Art can help to develop students’ skills across all subjects.

What are the Benefits?

Fostering Connections
Through marketing your Art Department you allow your school to open up to new connections in school and across the community. By hosting in-school competitions or hosting exhibitions (be this in person or virtually) you can use this opportunity to create a marketing event. You can use these events to motivate the students to create ambitious work and invite prospective students and parents to view the pieces students are making at these events. Not only would an event like this help build your school profile but it gives students are staff the opportunity to collaborate on a creative project.
There is also the opportunity to look outside the school to build further connections. Could the event be hosted at a local gallery? Maybe a local artist could award an elected artwork? Or perhaps students could go on a trip to help a local creative community group? All interactions with the wider community can be documented and marketed either written or visually and would benefit everyone involved.

Celebrating Talent

Student works of art are the result of many hours of hard work by both the students themselves and their teachers. Therefore, by acknowledging these talents through your school site or newsletter you can give students are staff the reward they deserve. This is a lovely way to shine some light on the individuals that make your school what it is and builds up an identity that is unique to your school. This can be done through profiles or termly awards. Any kind on acknowledgement or award of an individual’s talents to create beautiful art will go far to celebrate them and highlight the importance of Art in your school community.

Generate a Following

Each term, students at your school will be creating new artwork during their lessons, for homework and maybe also in their own spare time. Lots of visually exciting content can be created through capturing these pieces and it should be fairly simple to keep followers updated regularly on what students are working on. Marketers know that to get an online following consistency of content is key. With students continuously making new work there is the opportunity to share their work through a variety of marketing platforms. Share art work across your social media pages and encourage your wider community to do the same.

Show Support for the Arts

Unfortunately, too often in wider society the arts are overlooked and their importance to gaining skills can go unnoticed. Through showing your schools dedication to supporting your students' creativity, you are in turn showing your support for the arts as a whole.

The arts are a vital part of our social connections to each other. By displaying your student artwork throughout your marketing you are able to better connect with your audience, igniting emotive responses. It is through this acknowledgement of support for the arts that your school ethos will truly shine through. By supporting the arts, you are supporting your students' choice for a creative future.