Advocacy Isn’t Accidental: How to Create Raving Fans at Your School
Focused School Identity
Most schools think of advocacy as something that just happens. If families are happy, they’ll talk … right? But here’s the truth: parents are sharing their experience — the good and the bad — whether or not you’ve asked them to. The real question is, are you listening?
Families are talking about your school in the parking lot, at the ball fields, in group chats, and on community Facebook groups. What they say (and how often they say it) shapes your reputation. It influences the decisions of prospective families and the commitment of current ones.
The challenge is that most schools haven’t built a system to capture, respond to, and amplify the kind of word-of-mouth that reflects their mission. When done well, advocacy becomes a pottery wheel that shapes your reputation, retention, and reach with every spin. Let’s explore what we mean by that.
1. Keep your hands on the wheel
Picture a pottery wheel. Before anything meaningful can take form, you have to center the clay and start the wheel turning. At first, it takes steady, deliberate effort to get it moving. Each kick requires focus and force. But as the momentum builds, the wheel spins more easily, and the sculptor can shift attention to shaping. Without that early effort, however, it won’t create anything worth keeping.
That’s how advocacy works.
Early on, it takes real effort. You have to ask for feedback, collect stories, follow up with families, and pay attention to what you’re hearing. But as you build systems and stay engaged, you begin to shape something strong and consistent.
The challenge is that many schools take their hands off the wheel too soon. They feel satisfied with a few positive reviews, or they get overwhelmed and let advocacy drop to the bottom of the list. Worse, they treat it like a project with a finish line, rather than an ongoing practice.
And when you stop shaping, the clay collapses. Advocacy becomes reactive instead of intentional. It gets harder to surface the stories that build trust, and harder to earn that trust back when families feel they’re not being heard.
2. Build the system before you need it
A glowing testimonial or feel-good graduate profile are more than nice additions to your website. These are outputs of a healthy system — one that helps families feel heard and connected to your school’s mission.
That system includes:
- Ongoing feedback loops — not just once-a-year surveys.
- Mission-aligned story collection — the kind that shows transformation, not just satisfaction.
- Internal accountability for retention — because if no one owns it, no one does it.
If you want your school to be the one families rave about, you have to do more than attract and enroll. Your processes need to continue the conversations that began in the recruitment phases of the Family Journey™ and carry them forward into the retention phases: Evaluation and Advocacy.
3. Watch for the moments that matter
Advocacy doesn’t begin when a student graduates. It starts the minute they’re accepted to your school. If you want families to share meaningful stories down the road, you need to invest in the systems that shape those stories now.
Without a system in place, schools miss some of the most important moments. Families who would sing your praises aren’t asked to share, so their stories remain untold. Those with small frustrations never find the right outlet to voice them, and what could have been a quick resolution becomes a lasting complaint.
A request for a review sent at the wrong moment can feel tone-deaf. Or worse, disingenuous. Imagine a parent navigating a tough season with their child, or feeling uncertain about a recent interaction with a teacher, only to receive what is clearly a one-size-fits-all automated message asking for a five-star review. It doesn’t just fall flat — it erodes trust. It signals that you’re more interested in marketing than listening.
The strongest stories often surface after a challenge has been resolved or a meaningful milestone has passed (not at the end of the year when everything runs together). When a family feels seen, supported, or even surprised in a good way, they’re more open to reflecting on the deeper impact your school has had. Timing is everything.
4. Create a feedback loop that works
If you’re not doing this already, here’s a simple framework we recommend. It’s repeatable and powerful, and something you can easily integrate into your existing rhythms (no overhaul required!). Think of it as the steady potter’s hand that keeps the experience centered:
- Ask regularly — not just once a year, and not only when something goes wrong.
- Listen carefully — create space for open-ended, reflective feedback.
- Act when needed — surface what matters to leadership and address it when you can.
- Respond transparently — let families know what you heard (and what’s being done about it!).
- Repeat — consistency is key to trust.
There are great tools and platforms out there that can support this kind of intentional, ongoing feedback. But more important than what you use is how you use it. Build rhythms your team can maintain, and commit to showing families that their input is valued and acted upon.
5. Turn feedback into mission-aligned stories
Once you have your system in place, you’ll begin to uncover moments of transformation worth sharing — the kind of stories that help prospective families connect with your mission and see themselves in your community. That’s where your story collection framework takes shape.
Start by thinking broadly about who you invite into the process. Parents, students, alumni, and even teachers all experience your school from different vantage points. Each brings valuable perspective on how your mission is lived out day to day.
As we mentioned before, when you ask is just as critical as who you ask. How you ask matters, too. Don’t default to a generic review request. Instead, invite thoughtful reflection. Try prompts like:
- “What part of your child’s growth this year has surprised you most?”
- “What does our school’s mission mean to you, now that you’ve experienced it?”
The goal isn’t just a glowing quote; it’s stories of formation and impact, of alignment between what you say you value and what families actually experience.
6. Sustain the momentum
Too often, advocacy is treated as the final phase of the Family Journey™ — a capstone moment when the student’s journey is complete. But true advocacy is shaped through every conversation and check-in that contributes to a family’s experience at your school.
From their first campus tour to mid-year check-ins, re-enrollment conversations to hallway hellos and thank-you emails, you have opportunities to deepen trust and clarify expectations. Each of these touchpoints keeps your hands on the wheel, shaping the family’s experience with care.
When that consistency is in place, a family’s positive support isn’t just likely. It’s inevitable. It’s the natural result of ongoing communication, aligned expectations, and mission-centered formation.
That’s something that doesn’t just benefit your school today, but shapes your reputation for years to come.
Ready to create raving fans at your school?
At Tassel™, we help schools turn everyday conversations with right-fit families into stories that are shaped with care and built to last. Schedule a conversation with a Tassel™ solutions advisor to learn more about our Age-and-Stage® Message Workshops, Seasonal Message Maps, and Content Packages designed to amplify your school’s story.
