As a marketing leader, a primary goal is sharing your school’s message with your community. While you already have an email list of former and current families, you are always looking for ways to expand your reach and drive interest in your school.

Schools ask us if they should purchase email marketing lists of prospective families.The idea of ready-to-use lists is tempting, but we advise against purchasing email lists.

Here’s why.
According to Hubspot, purchasing email lists violates ruling under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Email marketing services won’t let you send emails to purchased lists, and can penalize you for attempting to do so.
Email addresses you buy will most likely bounce, and people on a purchased list don’t know you.
You can harm your email deliverability and Internet Protocol (IP) reputation, and come across as annoying.

What are you left to do? First, let’s talk about digital marketing. There are two classifications: inbound marketing and outbound marketing.

Outbound marketing is the act of reaching out to your audience to gauge interest in your school. Inbound marketing helps families who are searching for information discover you. Purchasing an email list would be part of an outbound strategy. Posting content on your website would be part of your inbound strategy.

Outbound strategies are less effective because audiences are inundated with pitches for new products and services all the time. They are burnt out and skeptical. Inbound marketing is often more effective because audiences want to do their own research before interacting with an organization.

Stop wasting your time trying to generate interest in unengaged families. Instead, focus your efforts on creating content that appeals to families who are motivated to find the right educational fit for their child.

Are you ready to start digital marketing? Click here to check out the ISM School Marketing toolkit. https://go.isminc.com/l/59687