How to Get the School Marketing Budget You Need
Empowered Enrollment Team
For many enrollment teams, securing the necessary budget for marketing can feel like an uphill battle. You know that strong marketing efforts can drive inquiries and enrollment, but convincing decision-makers to allocate the right level of funding isn’t always easy.
This challenge might feel like a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma: Do you need revenue to drive marketing, or marketing to drive revenue? Without a clear strategy and a compelling case for investment, it’s easy for marketing to be seen as “throwing money at a problem” rather than a long-term strategic investment.
In our recent webinar, The Big Ask: How to Secure the School Marketing Budget You Need, Andy Lynch, President & CEO of Tassel, and Rudi Gesch, Director of Marketing at Tassel, tackled this question head-on, offering strategic insights and practical steps to help schools navigate budget conversations with confidence.
Understanding the Investment vs Cost-Based Mindset
Schools typically adopt one of two mindsets when it comes to school marketing. Those who have a cost-based perspective tend to view marketing as an expense — something to approve on a project-by-project basis, often with the expectation of immediate returns. In contrast, an investment mindset recognizes marketing as an ongoing effort that builds momentum over time, ultimately driving enrollment growth and long-term sustainability.
Here are a few cost-based mentalities that can hinder marketing success:
- Viewing marketing as a discretionary expense rather than an essential investment.
- Relying solely on word-of-mouth rather than proactive outreach.
- Approving marketing initiatives on an ad-hoc basis rather than committing to a strategic plan.
- Expecting immediate, outsized returns rather than allowing time for marketing efforts to gain traction.
A proactive, investment-oriented approach ensures that marketing initiatives are properly resourced, strategically planned, and consistently executed.
The Right Budget: Knowing Your Numbers
A crucial step in making the case for marketing investment is understanding your school’s budget and industry benchmarks. Drawing from research by Enrollment Catalyst, Rudi highlighted that a school’s enrollment marketing budget should typically fall within 1-3% of the school’s total operating budget (excluding salaries).
For example, if a school’s annual budget is $3 million, the marketing budget should ideally be between $30,000 and $90,000. However, many schools operate well below this range, making it difficult to sustain strategic marketing efforts.
“Knowing your school’s numbers — really knowing your total budget and your current marketing allocation, and what you need — it will help you advocate for necessary increases,” Rudi emphasized.
The Three-Step Process to Secure Your Budget
Andy and Rudi introduced a structured framework to help schools successfully secure and allocate marketing funds.
Step 1: Prioritize
Not all marketing initiatives can (or should) happen at once. Schools need to define clear priorities based on their specific enrollment goals and challenges. This requires gathering key stakeholders—including marketing, admissions, advancement, and leadership—to identify the most impactful initiatives.
To effectively prioritize, schools should evaluate potential initiatives based on three factors:
- Impact: How significantly will this initiative influence enrollment?
- Cost: What level of investment is required?
- Effort: How much time and internal capacity will it take?
By using a structured approach to assess priorities, schools can focus on initiatives that yield the greatest return.
Step 2: Make the Pitch
Once priorities are established, the next step is to present a compelling case to school leadership. The success of a budget request depends on shifting leadership’s mindset and demonstrating why marketing investment is essential.
There are four key beliefs that school leaders must embrace:
- Our school’s story is worth sharing. If word-of-mouth is the only marketing strategy, the school risks remaining the “best-kept secret” in the community.
- We need a proactive approach to reach families. Relying on reputation alone is not enough—especially as communities evolve and new families move in.
- We’ve done our homework. Schools must present clear, data-driven justifications for their marketing priorities.
- You will see what we’re doing and how it’s working. Transparent reporting ensures accountability and builds confidence in marketing investments.
Schools should also explore creative funding sources. While some marketing funds may come from the operating budget, others might be secured through strategic reserves or donor contributions. Schools have successfully worked with donors to fund initial marketing initiatives with a commitment that the school will sustain the investment in future years.
Step 3: Perform and Report
Securing funding is just the beginning — demonstrating impact is key to maintaining and growing marketing investment. Schools must commit to consistent reporting, tracking both qualitative and quantitative data to show progress.
Regular internal meetings and structured reporting should include:
- Qualitative Updates: Status updates on marketing projects, successes, and roadblocks.
- Quantitative Metrics: Inquiry growth, enrollment numbers, tuition revenue impact, and retention rates.
- Long-Term Impact: Demonstrating how marketing contributes to overall school health, not just short-term enrollment boosts.
Marketing is a long-term effort that requires patience and strategic persistence. Schools that maintain a steady commitment to enrollment marketing see the best results over time.
Moving Forward: Securing the Future of Your School
As they wrapped up the webinar, Andy and Rudi reinforced that enrollment is never “solved” — it’s an ongoing effort. Schools must be intentional in securing the funding they need to support marketing efforts, recognizing that the right investment will yield long-term rewards.
If your school is ready to take the next step, consider using the Big Ask Implementation Guide — available for free when you fill out the form below. And when you’re ready to make traction on your goals, schedule an appointment with a Tassel solutions advisor.
Ready to secure your school’s marketing budget?
Fill out the form below to download the Big Ask Implementation Guide, as outlined in the webinar.
Explore additional healthy enrollment™ strategies and contact one of our solutions advisors to learn more.
