The Target Audience: We’ve All Been There
As professionals in independent school marketing and communications, we all know the importance of defining a target audience. The saying, “If you market to everyone, you’re marketing to no one,” rings true—and for good reason. Many schools dedicate countless hours to honing in on this audience: identifying where they live, their income levels, how many kids they have, and more. These demographics are checked off neatly, the content is created, and yet…the messaging doesn’t seem to land.
Parents aren’t connecting. Families aren’t seeing the value.
But how is that possible? You’re speaking to your target audience!
External Identity: The Starting Point
Here’s where things often go off course: most schools (as well as nonprofits and businesses) focus solely on external identity. That includes factors like age, gender, ethnicity, zip codes, or income brackets—data that can be easily slotted into a spreadsheet. While this information is useful, it only scratches the surface of what really matters.
Think of external identity as the outermost layer of your audience. It’s what you can observe, but it doesn’t tell the whole story of a target audience.
What About Internal Identity?
To truly connect with your audience, your messaging needs to go deeper. This is where internal identity comes into play.
Internal identity reflects the hopes, dreams, struggles, and values that make people who they are. Don’t just group families based on location or socioeconomic status. Instead, focus on understanding what keeps them up at night, what excites them about the future, and what challenges they face day-to-day.
Unlike external identity, internal identity goes beyond assumptions. Two families may live in the same neighborhood and have children in the same grade, but their experiences, values, and priorities can be vastly different. Messaging that resonates needs to speak to those individual, emotional stories.
Here’s What That Looks Like
Let’s take a school designed for students with learning differences as an example. Families who seek out this kind of school are often navigating unique challenges: a child with ADHD struggling to stay focused in a large public school classroom, or a student with dyslexia feeling left behind by traditional teaching methods. IEPs are a thing, and homework likely becomes a warzone at home. Don’t forget how all of this can fracture a family.
Now compare those experiences to a student without learning differences who just needs help with motivation. Both may struggle academically, but their stories, pain points, and likely solutions are completely different.
For the school serving students with learning differences, speaking to internal identity means addressing the frustrations and emotional burdens those families face—feeling like their child has been overlooked, misunderstood, or unsupported. By crafting messaging that acknowledges these struggles and offers a solution, schools can create a sense of connection.
When a family hears their story reflected in your video content, they feel known, valued, and understood. That emotional resonance is what moves them to take action.
Why This Matters in Video Marketing
As it may come to no surprise if you read my blogs often, video marketing is one of the most powerful ways to showcase your school’s understanding of internal identity. Through storytelling, visuals, and authentic testimonials, you can highlight not just what your school offers, but how it aligns with the internal identities of your prospective families. You can read more about how to craft a compelling videos here.
Making It Work for Your School
So, how do you start using internal identity in your messaging? Begin by listening. Talk to current families about why they chose your school (before the filming!). Pay attention to the emotional language they use: What were they worried about? What did they hope to find? What has changed for them and their kids since enrolling?
Next when you’re working on your pre-production for your video, make sure to focus on the emotional side of the story and keep it as customer focused as possible. It’s not about you- its about them.When you understand these stories, you can create videos that aren’t just informative—they’re deeply personal. That’s what turns marketing into connection and prospective families into enrolled students.
Want to chat about video marketing for your school? Feel free to reach out to me, joe@monzomediapro.com.