SMC: School Marketing and Communications

The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Turning confidence into enrolment momentum – Applied

Where should you start when your enrolment pathway needs attention? In the final episode of 'Turning confidence into enrolment momentum', Charlie introduces a repeatable five-step review for teams to use. Map the journey families actually take, add performance evidence, compare the school's view with the parent experience and test each stage for confidence, a clear next step, reassurance and friction. Use the framework to move leadership conversations beyond more activity and towards the exact changes most likely to help families enrol.

Episode Links:

• Engaging the next generation of school parents – McCrindle
• Drivers of School Choice 2022 – Independent Schools Victoria
• Independent Schools Snapshot 2026 – Independent Schools Australia
• School Choice: A Research Report 2021 – Independent Schools Australia
• What Parents Want: Key Findings 2025 – Independent Schools Queensland
• Enrolments Growth Program and Enrolments Health Check – imageseven

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.

The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Turning confidence into enrolment momentum – What we see

When enrolment pressure rises, the first response is often to generate more enquiries. But what if demand is not the real problem? In the fourth episode of 'Turning confidence into enrolment momentum', Charlie and imageseven Advancement Specialist Pauline Shuttleworth explore what the headline figures can hide. They explore where families slow between enrolment and commencement, why acceptance is not the finish line and what aligned schools do differently. This is a practical conversation about seeing the whole journey more clearly and focusing effort where it can make the greatest difference.

Episode Links:

• Engaging the next generation of school parents – McCrindle
• Drivers of School Choice 2022 – Independent Schools Victoria
• Independent Schools Snapshot 2026 – Independent Schools Australia
• School Choice: A Research Report 2021 – Independent Schools Australia
• What Parents Want: Key Findings 2025 – Independent Schools Queensland
• SMJ 243: Enrolment pressure and the new parent priorities

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.

The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Turning confidence into enrolment momentum – The Insight

After discussing where enrolment momentum quietly stalls, the third episode of 'Turning confidence into enrolment momentum' explores how schools can deliberately create the conditions that make each next step for their prospective families easier to take. For school marketers, it offers a way to look beyond generating activity and examine how communications, enrolments and the wider school experience work together to sustain confidence throughout the whole journey.

Episode Links:

• Engaging the next generation of school parents – McCrindle
• Drivers of School Choice 2022 – Independent Schools Victoria
• Independent Schools Snapshot 2026 – Independent Schools Australia
• School Choice: A Research Report 2021 – Independent Schools Australia
• What Parents Want: Key Findings 2025 – Independent Schools Queensland

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.

The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Turning confidence into enrolment momentum – The Reality

Your school tour may have been executed to perfection. Your prospective families may have driven home full of confidence that they've found "the one". What happens next is crucial. In the second episode of 'Turning confidence into enrolment momentum', Charlie explores how uncertainty builds through unclear next steps, disconnected handovers and weak follow-up, even when internal processes appear to be working. For school marketers, the challenge is recognising these small points of friction before they make the enrolment journey harder for families to continue.

Episode Links:

• Engaging the next generation of school parents – McCrindle
• Drivers of School Choice 2022 – Independent Schools Victoria
• Independent Schools Snapshot 2026 – Independent Schools Australia
• School Choice: A Research Report 2021 – Independent Schools Australia
• What Parents Want: Key Findings 2025 – Independent Schools Queensland

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.

The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Turning confidence into enrolment momentum – Orientation

More enquiries are not always the answer to an enrolment problem. In the first episode of 'Turning confidence into enrolment momentum', Charlie explores why interest and confidence do not automatically lead to commitment. He discusses the difference between generating demand and creating momentum, and why enrolment performance needs to be an institutional responsibility. For school marketers, the challenge is seeing where families hesitate and making the next step clear, timely and worth taking.

Episode Links:

• Engaging the next generation of school parents – McCrindle
• Drivers of School Choice 2022 – Independent Schools Victoria
• Independent Schools Snapshot 2026 – Independent Schools Australia
• School Choice: A Research Report 2021 – Independent Schools Australia
• What Parents Want: Key Findings 2025 – Independent Schools Queensland

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.

The Insight Series with Charlie Maughan – Creating clarity parents can see and navigate – Applied

In the final episode of 'Creating clarity parents can see and navigate', Charlie turns the series into a practical framework for school marketers. He explores why clarity starts with what parents need to understand, not what a school wants to show. Rather than relying on any single asset to do the work, the episode looks at how a connected brand experience can reduce effort, strengthen understanding and make the next step feel clearer. In the next lecture, Charlie explores how to build on that clarity by turning parent confidence into enrolment momentum.

Episode Links:

• Information Scent – Nielsen Norman Group
• Design Systems vs Style Guides – Nielsen Norman Group
• Design System 101 – Nielsen Norman Group
• Top Information Architecture Mistakes – Nielsen Norman Group
• Minimize Cognitive Load to Maximize Usability – Nielsen Norman Group

Got more questions or topics you would like to hear about for Charlie and the team? You can reach us via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.

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 brand feels easier for families to recognise, trust and choose.

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.

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. They simply feel that the school makes sense from every interaction.

Episode Links:

• Design Systems vs Style Guides – Nielsen Norman Group
• Design Systems 101 – Nielsen Norman Group
• Information Scent – Nielsen Norman Group

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.

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 to reconcile or bridge the gaps.

Episode Links:

• Information Scent – Nielsen Norman Group
• Minimize Cognitive Load to Maximise Usability – Nielsen Norman Group
• 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design – Nielsen Norman Group

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate

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.

Episode Links:

• Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility
• Jakob's Law – Nielsen Norman Group
• Information Sent – Nielsen Norman Group
• Minimise Cognitive Load to Maximise Usability – Nielsen Norman Group

Got more questions for Charlie and the team? You can ask them via the following:

• Email: [email protected]

Have you heard about imaginate? The bespoke video solution for schools. If you're ready to take your school's video to the next level, head to imageseven.com.au/imaginate.