Marketing and School Choice: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

School-choice programs may increase schools' incentives for marketing rather than improving their educational offering. This article systematically reviews the literature on the marketing activities of primary and secondary schools worldwide. The 81 articles reviewed show that schools’ marketing has yet to be tackled by marketing academics or other social scientists outside the education field. Market-oriented U.S. charter schools and their international equivalents have stimulated recent research, but geographical gaps remain, particularly in countries with long-established school-choice policies and in rural areas. Schools deploy a range of marketing techniques with the intensity of activity directly correlated to the level of local competition and their position in the local hierarchy. Studies have analyzed schools’ use of market scanning, specific words and images in brochures, branding, segmentation, and targeting. These marketing activities are rarely accompanied by substantive curricular change, however, and may even contribute to social division through targeting or deceptive marketing activity.

Enhancing School Appeal: How Experiential Marketing Influences Perceived School Attractiveness in the Urban Context

“…When comparing their respective reactions to the schools' experiential marketing model, the results indicate additional variations among the three categories of parents. When parents can choose which school to send their children to, schools in school-choice systems selectively provide information to their targeted parents (Delale-O'Connor, 2019), responding less often to messages from parents of those students perceived to be more challenging to educate (Greaves et al, 2023). At the same time, parents look for schools that provide valid information that helps them select a school that will nurture their children (Lubienski, 2007).…”

“…In the same way, schools build and maintain their positive images using various marketing strategies to create positive word of mouth that encourages other parents to enroll in their schools through recommendations and referrals (Greaves et al, 2023; Lukosius & Festervand, 2013), which shares the goals of experiential marketing. This is particularly crucial in regions such as the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and Hong Kong (HK), where the growing adoption of neoliberal quasi-market mechanisms involving choices of diverse school types, including private, public, Charter schools (US), Academies (UK), and Direct Subsidy schools (HK), has intensified competition between schools (Dronkers & Avram, 2010; Ho & Lu, 2019; Lee et al, 2019; Lubienski & Lee, 2016).…”

“…A school’s attractiveness can strengthen or even determine a parent’s intention to choose or recommend a school to other prospective parents (Oplatka & Nupar, 2012). Such word-of-mouth often influences a prospective parent’s first interactions with a school (Greaves et al, 2023). Because a school’s attractiveness, is related to a parent’s commitment to a school, including their acknowledgment and support of the school, it may thus represent a potential outcome of the school’s experiential marketing (Deslandes & Bertrand, 2005; Oplatka & Nupar, 2012).…”

“…In general, there are two major types of experiential marketing activities commonly used in schools: (1) one-way disseminating of materials, such as school newsletters, flyers, and other informational materials, meant to enhance parents' knowledge about a prospective school's expectations and policies (Hill & Tyson, 2009;Hoover-Dempsey et al, 2009); and (2) social networking promoting interactive communication with parents via e-platforms, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, School Apps (Curry & Holter, 2019;Greaves et al, 2023). Studies have shown that a welcoming school environment is conducive to parents feeling connected and becoming involved in the school (Hoover-Dempsey et al, 2009).…”

“…Educational marketing practices conducted by schools often focus on promoting the attributes that school management believes will appeal to parents (Oplatka & Nupar, 2012; Povey et al, 2016). However, researchers and practitioners seldom consider the role that parents’ subjective school experience plays in promoting their perceived school attractiveness (PSA), and this is especially true in East Asia (Greaves et al, 2023). Accordingly, the present study examines the mechanisms underlying the effect of school marketing strategies on PSA using experiential marketing theory (Skandalis et al, 2019).…”