221: What is a Design System and do I need one?
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
Release Date: 08/01/2024
251: When a school’s brand just makes sense – 4/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Creating clarity parents can see and navigate – What we see A school brand can look impressive and still leave parents uncertain. In this episode of the Insight Series, Charlie is joined by imageseven Account Director Shelley Garcia-Webb to explore the difference between a brand that looks polished and one that genuinely helps parents understand a school. Shelley explains how clarity starts when a school’s story, experience and digital presence reinforce each other, rather than asking parents to join the dots. When that alignment holds, the...
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250: Where brand and website inconsistency erodes trust – 3/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Creating clarity parents can see and navigate – The Insight Clarity of message depends less on one strong asset, than on the system connecting every interaction. Charlie explores why a school can follow its style guide perfectly, yet still feel difficult for parents to understand. Exploring the differences between style guides and design systems, he looks at the layers beneath execution, from strategy and message architecture to visual identity and experience design. When those layers connect, parents are less likely to notice the system itself....
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249: Where brand and website inconsistency erodes trust – 2/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Creating clarity parents can see and navigate – The Reality Small disconnects in brand experience can do more damage than a school realises. In episode two of ‘Creating clarity parents can see and navigate’, Charlie discusses how outdated documents, broken links, mixed messages and confusing website journeys make parents work harder to understand a school. That extra effort can quietly shift confidence into doubt. He explores how a more coherent visible experience can help each touchpoint reinforce the same promise, rather than leaving parents...
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248: Why visible clarity shapes parental decisions – 1/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Creating clarity parents can see and navigate – Orientation In episode one of ‘Creating clarity parents can see and navigate’, Charlie explores why visible clarity is more than a design issue. He explores how parents experience a school through its website, visual identity, photography, publications, signage, social posts and everyday communications. Charlie then poses that parents do not see these touchpoints as separate from the school experience. Instead, they use them to judge how organised, professional and trustworthy the school is. ...
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247: Designing a marketing strategy that builds confidence intentionally – 5/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – How parents form confidence - and what it means for your marketing strategy – Applied In the final episode of ‘How parents form confidence – and what it means for your marketing strategy’, Charlie discusses how to turn parent confidence into a deliberate part of a school’s marketing strategy. He explains why schools need to look beyond enquiries and conversions, and build confidence through clear positioning, structured messaging, connected touchpoints and shared ownership across the entire enrolment journey. In the next lecture, Charlie...
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246: What changes when strategy aligns with how confidence is formed – 4/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan and Suzanne Willcock – How parents form confidence - and what it means for your marketing strategy – What we see In episode four of the Insight Series on how parents form confidence, Charlie is joined by imageseven Group Account Director Suzanne Willcock to explore what happens when a school’s marketing, enrolment and leadership teams are working from the same understanding of how confidence is built. Drawing on her experience working with schools across Australia, Suzie explains why prospective parents rarely arrive at tours and open...
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245: Confidence is built in systems, not moments – 3/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – How parents form confidence - and what it means for your marketing strategy – The Insight In episode three of the Insight Series on how parents form confidence, Charlie discusses why confidence is rarely built in one standout moment. While open days, tours and campaigns all play an important role, he argues they usually confirm what parents already believe, rather than create that belief from scratch. Charlie explores how confidence is built over time through repeated, consistent signals across the prospective parent journey, and why strategy...
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244: Where schools unintentionally create doubt – 2/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – How parents form confidence - and what it means for your marketing strategy – The Reality In this episode of the Insight Series, Charlie examines why schools do not usually lose enrolments because they lack visibility, but because prospective parent confidence has been gradually worn away. As part of the Insight Series on how parents form confidence, he explores how inconsistent messaging, unclear differentiation, unsupported claims and internal misalignment can create doubt at key points in the enrolment journey. Charlie also explains why simply...
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243: How parents form confidence long before they enquire - 1/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – How parents form confidence - and what it means for your marketing strategy – Orientation In episode one of ‘How parents form confidence – and what it means for your marketing strategy’, Charlie explores why enquiry is not the beginning of the school choice journey, but a sign that a decision is already taking shape. He explores how parents often form views of a school well before making contact, drawing on reputation, word of mouth, lived experience and repeated brand signals over time. Charlie also probes the commonly...
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242: Applying brand clarity in schools – 5/5
SMC: School Marketing and Communications
The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Why school marketing works differently – Applied In the final episode of ‘Why school marketing works differently’, Charlie explores what it looks like to apply brand clarity to a school. He explores how a school brand is shaped by far more than marketing outputs alone, with every touchpoint contributing to how families interpret the school and how confident they feel in their decision. Charlie then shares a practical framework for assessing brand consistency, encouraging marketers to gather staff perspectives and...
info_outlineSchool marketing and communications with Charlie Maughan, James Tindall and Chris Leopardi
In this episode of SMC, Charlie is joined by imageseven Account Manager James Tindall and Senior Designer Chris Leopardi. In the Making News segment, the trio discuss where out-of-home media fits into your paid advertising mix and how to leverage its strengths to increase your return on investment. In the Deep Dive, Chris takes us through Design Systems, including how they differ from a Style Guide, and the team explore how to work out if a Design System is right for your school. Finally, the team Rave about AAMI’s new campaign involving the Olympics.
- Out of home is a growing driver of ROI in media mix
- Design Systems vs. Style Guides
- Design Systems 101
- AAMI shows support for ‘athletes in the making’ in new campaign via Ogilvy
Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:
· Email: smc@imageseven.com.au
· Survey: imageseven.typeform.com