Episode 5: 8 Effective Ways to Promote and Recruit for Your CTE Program
Click the icon of your favorite app to listen:
Here's what to expect on this episode:
Episode 5. We all know the frustration of having a class full of students who are not interested in our CTE class. We also know the thrill of having students who love our classes and will be on our rosters for multiple years.
As you seek to advocate and grow your program, you will need to implement plan to support your vision. In this episode, I share 8 effective ways to promote and recruit for your CTE program. Although I specifically focus on fashion marketing, the same concepts apply to any CTE program.
RESOURCE
The Ultimate Fashion Marketing Class Bundle is packed with 4 vibrant presentations, fun and engaging activities, quizzes, and 4 major projects for an immersive semester of fashion exploration. Learn more about this resource here.
If you find this podcast valuable, please subscribe, rate, review and share it with someone who will benefit from the information shared here today.
Follow me on Instagram @marketingedventure. I'd love to connect.
Visit my website for marketing education curriculum, www.marketingedventure.com.
-----------------------------------------------------
CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT FOR THIS EPISODE
00:00:02 Hey there, EdVenturous Educators in episode 3 I talked about developing a multi level fashion marketing program for those of you who want to move from teaching one prep a fashion marketing to multiple preps are you just need to know how you can add more rigor to your fashion classes that exist already so this week let's talk about how you can fill those seats in your program with the right students. Today I'm sharing 8 effective ways to promote and recruit for your fashion marketing program. 00:00:38 You're listening to Marketing Adventure, the hub for Business, Fashion Marketing and other CTE educators who integrate marketing into the learning experience I'm your host Jack you walker each week. I'll cover marketing education. Concepts strategies, tips trends, frameworks and other information to equip you to connect your classroom to digital natives while cultivating an engaged learning environment so come on into the room where your favorite beverage, snacks, and even your cell phone are all welcome. 00:01:18 Let's get into talking about how do you feel your classes? How do you get these students into your program? Well, if you decide to develop say a magnet program or a an academy or whatever it is did you develop for your campus? You could and I don't know how your school is set up I'll tell you that the way that our district was set up we have magnet schools, we had innovation schools, we had PTEC programs, dual credit, collegiate academies, all those different things in our district but initially started off with just having magnet programs and so the fashion program for the school that I taught at was a part of a magnet school career development center and we actually interviewed students so students couldn't just be placed in our courses or in our program. They had to go through an interview process because they're incoming freshmen. It would be during their 8th great year in the spring of their 8th great year and actually it's gotten earlier. So they started applying in the fall of their 8th great year and then again the interviews happen like in January and February are even later on in the spring semester if there gonna be a part of the second round or 3rd round or students if they didn't get into their desired program the first time around so it was an interior process. With us we're accepting students into the fashion program as a whole and the students do take design class and the marketing class they're freshman year before it's determined if they're going to be on the design track for the next 3 years or the marketing track for the next 3 years, so they had to take both programs. So we had a portion of the process where they had to do some design elements things on our evaluation and assessment and then a part of the assessment for the fashion marketing side was you know an actual ridden assessment where they had to do something and then we encouraged them to bring something to the interview that we can observe and give them points based on the item that they brought to the interview and of course we looked at the dress you know when it came to the interview where they dressed appropriately in things of that nature and then we scored the oral interview and we also had a portion of our interview be a peer interview. So we had some of our students who actually got them into small groups and talk with them and gave and scored them on their interactions with them during the process, so that's one way you can get students into your program, the other way is by maybe your school isn't ready to do and your district isn't set up for magnet programs where I can do the whole process of interviewing. Then you get with your counselors and your um principal who's over the CTE Programs, or however it set up at your school and you let them know. This is how my program is designed and these are the students I would like to feed into my program, you know, based up on what their desires are if you have the student who is truly interested in fashion or even marketing per same and just really wanted to pursue their pathways because there's different pathways in Texas that are set up where students can really choose those. There a great year and they're set up on that' pathway in high school and then I think they have 2 years and they can switch over to a different pathway so you could choose to bring students into your program that way and that would just require some recruiting you let people know you advertised on the campus, hey, this is what program we have come to our tables see what it's all about' you have your students to tell them what the program about what they do, where they get to go for field trips what did they create as projects and how the classroom environment is and so you really get your students involved in these they are great recruiters and magnets for your program, so you do that and then you also talk to the middle school counselors you get them involved you connect with them and you say, hey tell your students about this when they're looking at their choices for coming into high school. So you invite the counselors to the campus for a luncheon. That's what we did. We would have a luncheon for the all the middle school counselors they would come and we would give them little key rings, our you know pencils and different things from our programs and little foldable pamphlet from our program we created social media sites where they can sign up to be connected to our social media. We will post things on our social media so they gonna see what's going on in our classrooms. We would have fashion events and we would invite the counselors like especially for our fashion show we would send out packets to the councilor media kit to our counselors and have a pass in there for the fashion show and a couple extra passes they can give to students based on whatever you know. Maybe it was a student of the month or something like that then we also add them to like any kind of communication we had so that the counselors would know about like what's happening in our programs and then they could also see the district CTE newsletter when we were advertising there for the different things that we were doing with our programs, 00:06:43 We would have an open house that's another way that' you can get them involved or to see what your program is all about so you. They have a chance to come into your classroom and you have your students there to demonstrate things so for instance, like we would do the color analysis we would do the body types and then we would give them little instructional sheets that let them know for your body type. This is what you should wear you know any, the type of clothing, the shape of clothing, the length and all that kind of stuff, and then we will let them know what their color season was and then we. Have a little print out that says these are the colors that look good on you, so when you're shopping be sure to think about these colors went so that you can make sure that something that you wear is really popping off of you right, and then so with the open house they also got to tour our labs which again I said in the earlier video that that is our store also our closet and then our visual merchandising area they get to tour all of those things so that they can actually see what the whole program is comprised of and then you can have your student sign up to receive have them sign up to receive communication so when they came to any of our event or our programs, we definitely connect them to our social media these are just students actually counselors we connected them to our communication students. We connect to our communication then also when they came to our open house there was an opportunity to help them get enrolled or registered into our program. So all the restoration is online so we would direct them to the online enrollment we would help them walk through how to get all their information input and then we would give them the packet of information for when our interviews were going to be happening in the springtime and they could be prepared to come to the interviews already okay and then like I said, social media was a thing that we worked on could have been a little bit more consistent about it but yet still was a part of our communication and letting people know about our program. Hey, EdVenturous Educator I just want to take a quick break to ask is this your first time teaching fashion marketing or do you need a boost in your curriculum? Well look no further. I have the ultimate fashion marketing class bundle is packed with 4 vibrant presentations fun and engaging activities quizzes, and 4 major projects for an immersive semester of fashion exploration, and it comes with the pacing guide for an 18 week semester. Additionally, each assignment has detailed student instructions and suggested pacing times so that you can tailor the time brain to fit your teaching schedule for more information about this must have bundle go to marketing, adventure com and search. Ultimate Fashion Marketing Class. Bundle or simply click the link in the show notes. Now back to the show. 00:09:44 Now to even extend the recruiting for your fashion marketing program. Definitely consider after school activities now. These can consist of workshops that you have like Dress for Success or you know different things that just let your students come up with the ideas of hey we can do these after school activities cause they know what their peers are interested in so let them come up with some after school activities that um, students who are not a part of your. Program can come and participate in also think about doing a fashion club and from the fashion club. Those students can actually help with the fashion show and be in the fashion show so definitely, that's a consideration that's a great recruiting to I can tell you I can't tell you how many times students who participated in our fashion shows as models are like miss, how can I get into this program? I'm like, oh well, you know you can apply what great level you're like oh, I'm a junior or, their senior, I'm like, well, it's too late, you know you can't really join our program at' that level you really have to look at joining it and your freshman or your sophomore year so you can get out there and do a community service go to the middle schools, work with the students, and even the elementary schools like we had an elementary school across the street from our high school. You know. A lot of time students would go over there in just volunteer to sit in the classroom with the students talk about what they do in their programs and all of that so it's an opportunity for you to start' planting that seed really early in the minds of those elementary students and definitely with the middle schools go connect to those middle school students go out over there and maybe do tying session with the boys are a dress for success with the girls we did um collaborate with a middle school one time when they were having a career program of some sort and we did a fashion show for them, showing them how to dress professionally and a stylishly and so that was a lot of fun and then also look at mentoring. What kind of mentoring program can use set up where maybe one of the high school students buddy with the middle school students doing whatever it may be. It could just be some type of friendship entering program or maybe you're mentoring. They're mentoring them' on something that' they're doing in the classroom 00:12:10 Then also we've had where students come in shadow they come to your class it was the campus thing that we did with our magnet program is to allow the students from the middle schools to say hey I like to come in shadow your program for half a day just to see like what it is that you do so they stay in your classroom and they they don't travel to any other classrooms, but they they stay in your classroom for half a day, usually like in the morning time until lunch and they get to see like what the different classes do because during that time we would have at least 2 classes change they get to see what students do at the various levels depending on what class was you had at that time that they were shadow and I. Usually tried to bring student into shadow my freshman class and my sophomore class because they can see what oh, this is what I would initially be doing when I come to school here and then they would learn about what happened at the junior in the senior level classes. But definitely shadowing is very key, so those are just some after school activities shadowing, of course is during, today, but those are other ones that I mentioned. The workshops, the clubs, the mentoring, the community service. Those are some activities that you can do that will help engage those students and get them interested in your program. 00:14:28 Now we also started to do a lot of recruitment on campus towards the freshman and the sophomores because after sophomore year it was kind of too late for the students to join our magnet programs because the students before them they're already in the program already had like 2 solid years of some really advanced learning and so we would market to freshman primarily and sophomores so that they can get a start and get an idea. Because maybe and this happened a lot. Maybe the students chose to be in let's say the culinary arts program and they decided you know all that cooking and been in the kitchen is just not for me. I really maybe fashion was their secondary item on their form when they filled out their Magnate application so then we will give them opportunity to look you know come and interview with us and and even after I got to see you know, this was what fashion does are doing a fashion show okay, I'd rather do a fashion show than the cook. I'd rather do a fashion show than viewing photography, you know, I'd rather do something that's at' fashion oriented instead of whatever it was they chose to be a part of in the beginning, so they had an opportunity to switch magnet programs and so we would definitely host recruitment opportunities throughout the campus a couple of times a year, especially in the fall, so the students would know that hey you have to go through the magnet application process just like the the 8th graders did so definitely don't miss out on inviting students who are your lore levels into the programs that you're considering, but if you're just now starting it up you might want to bring in some juniors and seniors just so you know how you can start filling the seats and give them opportunity to take part of your fashion program so those are just some ideas how you can go about recruiting and have emplacement into your programs and you know if you've build that relationship with the counselors, your administration, and you really express them this is what I'm trying to do. I want you to see help them see your vision, then that will definitely help with them funneling students into your program and not just any students but students who truly want to go down the marketing are the fashion route as far as their career or their extension into college courses all right. There. You have. It about recruiting and placement look forward to talking with you about more fashion marketing. 00:16:06 I know that went pretty quickly, but I hope you were able to snag a few ideas to incorporate into your plan to start and or grow your fashion marketing program coming up in episode 6 on Feature Friday you'll hear from a teacher who is using these tactics right now for her program, so be sure to come back to the hub for Business Fashion Marketing and CTE teachers 00:16:35 thanks for listening to Marketing Adventure. Remember to subscribe, rate, review and share this episode with someone you think a benefit from the information shared here today if you have any questions or want to connect with me, find me on Instagram at Marketing Adventure. All links and resources discuss this episode can be found in the show notes at Marketing EdVventurecom.
-----------------------------------------------------
MORE ABOUT JACQUE' WALKER:
Marketing EdVenture® is THE HUB for business, fashion, marketing, and other CTE educators who integrate marketing into the learning experience. Specializing in introductory to advanced and dual credit fashion marketing curriculum.
The founder is Jacqueline Walker a former Fashion Marketing Educator who spent 14 years in a magnet school curating a 4-year fashion marketing program that consisted of a 3-year dual credit visual merchandising certification and an entrepreneurship academy. In 2020, she realized the need for digitally accessible marketing curriculum specifically for secondary classrooms. So, she decided to merge her experience in sales, retail management, project management, and teaching into an entrepreneurial endeavor to create a reservoir of resources for educators and students.
Over the years, Jacque' has attained a wealth experience, knowledge, and skills.
- Taught an 18-hr college credit certification program on a high school campus.
- Produced 12 student-run fashion shows.
- Empowered hundreds of students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
- DECA chapter advisor for 14 years.
- Educational collaborative opportunities with Earnst & Young, Mary Kay, JC Penney, Frito-Lay, Old Navy, Target, El Centro College, Wade College and many other businesses.
- Managed national IT projects for a top telecommunications company.
- Sales and management in clothing apparel and business data service industries.
Join our communities:
