Houseway Consulting
Marketing Strategy for Independent Schools
Houseway Consulting focuses on marketing strategy for independent schools and education institutions.
I work with the school leadership and marketing departments of these institutions to help them achieve their goals using strategic marketing.
Houseway Consulting is awarded the LUXLife Best Education Marketing Consultancy 2023 – South Africa
Marketing strategy company Houseway Consulting is delighted to have received the award for Best Education Marketing Consultancy – South Africa in the LUXLife Private Education Awards 2023.
The LUXLife Private Education Awards are now in their third year, and they serve to recognise excellence in the private education sector in UK and beyond. The programme categories cover everything from schools and teaching facilities, EdTech companies, administration and support, school supplies, and course delivery.
Learn more about the LUXLife Private Education Awards and view the listing of winners by clicking the button below.
Marketing for Independent Schools in the Contemporary Market
Houseway Consulting is a marketing consulting company based in Hillcrest, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.
We offer consulting services to independent schools and education institutions in marketing strategy and implementation. This includes:
- Market research
- Analysing customers and markets
- Identifying opportunities for growth
- Developing a competitive market positioning
- Building market strategy
- Developing marketing and branding messages
- Choosing and planning marketing platforms
- Structuring a marketing department
- Admissions, alumni and development strategy
- Measuring marketing effectiveness
Putting a Wealth of Experience to Work for You
The main problems I solve are growth-related.
Often a company is unable to see the opportunities in the market without independent research, analysis, strategic discussion and collaboration regarding the trends in the market, the attractiveness of the opportunities and the practical steps that are required to choose and grasp these opportunities and communicate the implementation.
Our clients in the independent education sector find our hands-on expertise and experience offers the different approach that they are looking for.
Require a Consultation?
Contact me to book an online call to discuss how we can help your organisation achieve the growth potential you are looking for.
From my Clients
My clients share their thoughts about working with me.
CBC Mount Edmund engaged the services of Keryn and Houseway Consulting in 2022 as part of our College’s marketing strategy for our centenary celebrations (1922-2022).
It was something new and different, a journey of meetings and interviews with various stakeholders, reports and further meetings to unpack and understand the data. The end result was a fairly detailed plan of action to take the college’s marketing to a whole new level.
As Principal of the College with no prior marketing experience, I found the target marketing most useful. The idea of personas and being intentional about our events and messaging around the College, was most enlightening.
CBC Mount Edmund is an inclusive faith-based college with a particular Catholic ethos and our commitment to transformation is 100%. The work of Houseway Consulting has made us more aware of our unique selling proposition (USP) in the independent schools market. In this highly competitive market and current economic climate in SA, we believe that Keryn’s work with us is a bonus to help us be more strategic and intentional to tell our stories and be proud of our history and success.
I wish to say thank you to Keryn and Houseway Consulting for accompanying us on this journey of discovery and growth. It is a process that I would highly recommend to other schools and companies out there.
Keryn was an excellent choice to lead our school through its marketing think-tank. Her knowledge of every aspect of school marketing is obvious and she provided a clear roadmap for us to follow in terms of positioning our school in the optimal marketing space.
Keryn has a superior academic and intellectual ability and talent that she generously shares with all. Her amazing vision and insight, as well as her corporate experience with regard to an organisation’s strategic future planning, image, communication, press liaison, trauma management and various policy requirements, have provided significant guidance for me in my role as Principal and also for the members of our Management Team.
We asked Keryn to present a short talk here at Clifton on ‘The Emerging Trends in School Marketing’ to a gathering of Independent School Marketers. I was given her name as a possible speaker by referral. Keryn delivered a concise, relevant and informative talk with research into both South African and International school marketing trends. She spoke to her topic and her many years of experience in school marketing and strategic planning was evident.
Keryn at Houseway Consulting provided a very professional Market Research service for St Martin’s School. Throughout the interview and data collection process we were kept up to date with progress and interesting feedback, always conducted with the utmost respect to the anonymity of the interviewees. The final report and feedback was extremely valuable and provided us with a great deal of target audience insight to apply to our school’s marketing messaging and positioning.
I’m going through this report with a highlighter, and I’m taking it slow. It’s great, and I can’t thank you enough. I’m very excited, and a little bit overwhelmed, and having huge “aha, I knew it!” moments. I think that having you on board is so beneficial.
Keryn really took a deep dive into the special structure and market of our school. Throughout the process it became clear that she is not offering a one-size-fits-all solution but wants to establish an individual base-line for future marketing activities.
Thembelihle is a relatively new and developing Independent School in South Africa and in need of a marketing and communications strategy. Without having the personnel within the school to conduct such a strategic exercise, Houseway Consulting was extremely helpful in assisting us. Keryn provided the Board and key staff members with essential information around the marketing of an Independent School in South Africa as well as assisted us with developing our own unique brand messaging.
Keryn is exceptionally professional in her manner of approaching both the School Board and staff members to collate their inputs ahead of a strategic planning meeting. She provided valuable insights into the “world of school marketing” and the relevance of this to our particular school. In addition Keryn was able to assist us with developing key issues which we as a School wished to highlight in all our brand messaging. This was extremely valuable to us as we were, for example, in the process of updating our website and social media platforms.
I commend Keryn House for the way in which she engaged with us – making every effort to understand our culture and ethos. She has an easy way about her and in a short time was able to motivate us towards doing things differently. Our revised marketing plan has been significantly influenced through her professionalism and personal input. I would recommend her without reservation.
Woodridge was introduced to Keryn by ISASA during a marketing workshop we hosted. Subsequently we decided to engage Keryn on an external market research project due to her wealth of knowledge on marketing and communications within independent schooling.
Woodridge needed to bridge the gap between having a full school that operates at maximum capacity and a nearly full school that cannot perform as it should. We needed specialised expertise and insights that would allow us to bridge that gap by working smarter and not harder. Keryn House was phenomenal at doing just that.
Keryn’s knowledge of the independent school industry and marketing and communications expertise was a great fit for our school. She is also super approachable and always professional.