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CHARTER SCHOOL MARKETING Inbound Marketing and building a culture of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
CHARTER SCHOOL MARKETING Inbound Marketing and building a culture of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CHARTER SCHOOL MARKETING Inbound Marketing and building a culture of marketing January 8 th , 2019 1 ABOUT BRIGHT MINDS MARKETING AND NICK LEROY Bright Minds Marketing o Boutique marketing firm specializing in
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ABOUT BRIGHT MINDS MARKETING AND NICK LEROY
- Bright Minds Marketing
- Boutique marketing firm specializing in helping
schools improve their student enrollment.
- Over 60 clients in 9 states
- Nick LeRoy, founder and principal
consultant
- 2 years as ED of the Indiana Charter School
Board
- 15 years as a global marketing executive with Eli
Lilly & Co.
- MBA (with honors) from Emory University
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OUR SERIES
Date Topic 10/16/18 @ 12:00 Introduction: Understanding the foundations of enrollment marketing 11/13/18 @12:00 Operations: Utilizing Data to Shape and Inform your Enrollment Marketing 12/11/18 @ 12:00 Operations: Your environment and your customer 1/8/19 @ 12:00 Marketing: Inbound marketing and building your culture of marketing 2/12/19 @ 12:00 Marketing: Lead nurturing and social media 3/12/19 @ 12:00 Recruitment: The school tour 4/9/19 @ 12:00 Retention: From first to last day 5/14/19 @ 12:00 Retention: Surveys and communication at your school
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YOUR RESOURCES
https://www.doe.in.gov/grants/school-marketing-and-webinars
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ENVIRONMENT
What have we learned through our environmental analysis
1. The structure of families in America is changing
- Increasingly diverse population
- “Non-traditional” households are increasing
2. General school age population is shrinking due to decreasing birth rates
- Greater impact in the non-urban areas
3. Varying development of the concept of school choice
- Do parents realize that they have a choice?
4. Competitive analysis
- # of schools in your area are competing for the same students
- Their academic ratings
5. Some potential sources of students (Other schools, churches, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, etc.)
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YOUR SCHOOL
What have we learned through analyzing our data and our school?
- 1. Your metrics
- Average enrollment numbers
- Yield rate
- Replacement rate
- 2. Your point of differentiation
- What do we offer that is unique and compelling to get a family to enroll?
- 3. The challenges in your enrollment system
- Marketing, Recruitment or Retention?
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YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMER
1. Where she lives
1.
Student location mapping gives you demographic information: HH Income, educational level, ethnicity
2. Her goals and objectives for her child’s educational experience
1.
Don’t always assume it is just a state test score
3. Her barriers about attending your school 4. Where she gets information 5. Who can potentially influence her
What do we know by creating a customer persona / conducting a customer analysis?
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LEROY ACADEMY OF AWESOMENESS
- K-8 school located in the
Broadripple neighborhood
- f Indianapolis
- STEM Focused school
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COMPETITIVE SCHOOLS: ALL
46 Competitive Schools
Source: Greatschools.org
Charter Public Private
LeRoy Academy of Awesomeness
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LEROY ACADEMY OF AWESOMENESS
K-8 STEM oriented charter school located in the Broadripple neighborhood of Indianapolis
Population trends are favorable / Moderately competitive environment
Environment
- Competition: There are 46 competitive schools. 25 public / 2 charter / 12 Private (Catholic)
- Prime competitors are the public Center for Inquiry schools (Offer project based learning and an IB curriculum)
- Unique difference: Only school in the area with a dedicated STEM program and afterschool Spanish
School has stable enrollment
School
- Average yearly enrollment is 40 Kindergarteners a year and 10 students in other grades.
- Retention at 90%
- Yield rate is 75%
- Focus is on enrolling more kindergarten students
Female aged 30 - 45
Customer
- Wants an alternative to IPS and Washington township (big classes and disruptive environment)
- Likes STEM because she sees it as the jobs of the future
- Mix of white, Black and Hispanic
- Economically diverse: About 40% make over 100k / 60% make under 50K
- Gets her information online, from friends and in her neighborhood
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ENROLLMENT TRENDS FOR LEROY ACADEMY OF AWESOMENESS
40 41 39 42 35 11 9 10 7 8 46 50 49 49 47 10 20 30 40 50 60 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019
Enrollment at LAA
Kindergarten Other Grades Total
65 70 72 54 62 71% 71% 68% 91% 76% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019
LAA Yield Rate
Open house Enrolled Yield rate
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LEROY ACADEMY OF AWESOMENESS
K-8 STEM oriented charter school located in the Broadripple neighborhood of Indianapolis
Population trends are favorable / Moderately competitive environment
Environment
- Competition: There are 46 competitive schools. 25 public / 2 charter / 12 Private (Catholic)
- Prime competitors are the public Center for Inquiry schools (Offer project based learning and an IB curriculum)
- Unique difference: Only school in the area with a dedicated STEM program and afterschool Spanish
School has stable enrollment
School
- Average yearly enrollment is 40 Kindergarteners a year and 10 students in other grades.
- Retention at 90%
- Yield rate is 75%
- Focus is on enrolling more kindergarten students
Female aged 30 - 45
Customer
- Wants an alternative to IPS and Washington township (big classes and disruptive environment)
- Likes STEM because she sees it as the jobs of the future
- Mix of white, Black and Hispanic
- Economically diverse: About 40% make over 100k / 60% make under 50K
- Gets her information online, from friends and in her neighborhood
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STUDENT LOCATIONS
Most students reside in the Broadripple area
- Though LAA attracts students from 23 zip
codes, most students reside close to the school in the Broadripple / Binford corridor
- 4 zip codes make up 74% of all students:
- 46220:
48%
- 46250:
11%
- 46240:
9%
- 46256:
6%
- Three public school districts make up 93% of
LAA’s student population
- Washington Township: 40%
- IPS: 33%
- Lawrence Township: 20%
LAA Students
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CUSTOMER PERSONA
Patty Parent
Demographics:
- Lives in the two zip codes by
the school 46220, 46250 (IPS/ Washington Township
- Associates degree
- Married
- Age: 30 - 45
- African American
- Makes 100K
Goals and needs:
- Wants an alternative to IPS
and Washington Township schools
- Wants a safe environment
for her children
- Looking for a technology
- riented school to gain skills
for the jobs of tomorrow
- Wants a more personalized
educational environment
Barriers to choosing us
- Doesn’t understand
what a charter school is
- Not aware of our
school
- Lives in Washington
Township so unfamiliar with Enroll Indy process
- Lives more than 2
miles from our school so transportation is an issue Where does she get information?
- She uses social media –
mainly Facebook and Instagram
- She relies on family and
friends
Who can influence her?
- Family and friends with older
children
- She is involved in a number
- f community groups
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LEROY ACADEMY OF AWESOMENESS
K-8 STEM oriented charter school located in the Broadripple neighborhood of Indianapolis
Population trends are favorable / Moderately competitive environment
Environment
- Competition: There are 42 competitive schools. 25 public / 2 charter / 12 Private (Catholic)
- Prime competitors are the public Center for Inquiry schools (Offer project based learning and an IB curriculum)
- Unique difference: Only school in the area with a dedicated STEM program and afterschool Spanish
School has stable enrollment
School
- Average yearly enrollment is 40 Kindergarteners a year and 10 students in other grades.
- Retention at 90%
- Yield rate is 75%
- Focus is on enrolling more kindergarten students
Female aged 30 - 45
Customer
- Wants an alternative to IPS and Washington township (big classes and disruptive environment)
- Likes STEM because she sees it as the jobs of the future
- Mix of white, Black and Hispanic
- Economically diverse: About 40% make over 100k / 60% make under 50K
- Gets her information online, from friends and in her neighborhood
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LEROY ACADEMY OF AWESOMENESS Our challenge: 1. Awareness is too low
1.
Though we close the deal in the recruitment phase, we are traditionally only getting 68 people to come to our open houses
2.
Our school pulls from a lot of different schools, it seems like we have no consistent feeder schools
2. Parents don’t seem to know us
1.
Many say that we are the best kept secret in town!
How do we get more parents to know about us and be interested enough in our school to take the next step?
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MARKETING PLAN
6 steps to a strong marketing plan
- 1. Understand your
potential customer
- What does she look like?
- What motivates her?
- How do we reach her?
2. Establish your story
- Ensure that it resonates against
her needs
3. Set your goals and
- rganizational structure
- What are you going to do and who
is going to do it?
4. Tell your story
- Use the channels that your
customer uses
- Repeat your story multiple times
and in multiple places. Ensure that it is consistent across channels
- Drive engagement
5. Get her to “buy” you!
- Wow her in her interactions with you
- Follow up and close the deal
6. Keep her happy
- She will tell her friends about you
Thinking / Planning Doing
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- Almost half of our schools ask
the principal to manage enrollment in addition to all of their other tasks
- Less than 20% have a
dedicated person
18% 47% 29% 6%
Enrollment Responsibility
Dedicated Enrollment person Principal Committee of staff members Office Manager
HOW OUR SCHOOLS IN INDIANA ADDRESS THEIR STUDENT ENROLLMENT
Survey of Indiana charter school leaders 10/13/18
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
- A single person needs to be accountable for
student enrollment
- This job is important enough to dedicate one staff
member
- Others can share responsibilities but one
person needs to “own” it
- Management by committee is a challenging
approach and traditionally is not the best approach
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QUALIFICATIONS FOR YOUR RECRUITMENT PERSON
This doesn’t need to be an educator
- Sales & Marketing oriented
- Recent college graduate
- Interpersonal skills
- Strong follow up and attention to detail
- Comfortable with numbers
- Digital skills
- Make sure that you provide training and clear expectations to
this person
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CREATING BUY IN FROM THE STAFF
- Your entire staff needs to feel ownership
and responsibility for student enrollment
- Enrollment goals need to be shared with
the staff
- Job descriptions need to include supporting
marketing efforts
- Celebrate enrollment success as much as
academic success
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SETTING YOUR ENROLLMENT GOALS
- Write out your SMART enrollment goals:
- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant/Realistic, Time bound
- We will increase enrollment
- We will increase enrollment by 10%
- We will enroll 35 students in our kindergarten class
- By June 30th of 2019, we will have enrolled 35 new kindergarten
students
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YOUR STORY
Make sure that there is an alignment between customer needs and your story
- Wants an alternative to IPS and Washington Township schools
- Wants a safe environment for her children
- Looking for a technology oriented school to gain skills for the jobs of
tomorrow
- Wants a more personalized educational environment
- LeRoy Academy of Awesomeness is Broadripple’s only free, public charter school. At LAA
we provide an immersive STEM education for students in K-8 grade levels. Our personalized approach to teaching allows every child to achieve his/her academic goals in a safe and welcoming environment.
- We are consistently an A rated school from the Department of Education and our
graduates can be found at some of the top high schools throughout Indianapolis and at some of the premier engineering programs throughout the country.
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WHAT ARE THE BEST CHANNELS TO REACH PATTY?
Bright Minds Marketing client data.
Marketing Recruitment
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OUTBOUND VS. INBOUND MARKETING
Outbound marketing Pushing your message out in the hopes
- f breaking through the clutter and
enticing your target customer to engage with you Examples of outbound marketing TV advertising Billboards Radio Direct Mail Spam Expensive and hard Inbound marketing Attract people who are actively seeking a solution by providing strong content that resonates with them and fulfills their needs Examples of inbound marketing Search Engine optimization Targeted digital advertising School blog Social media Strong website Easier and relatively less expensive
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YOUR WEBSITE
This is the hub and the most important part of your marketing mix
- Targeted towards the prospective parent
- Mobile enabled
- Easily found through search engines
- Key words, SEO, Updated content, backlinks
- Local Search
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THE IMPORTANCE OF SEO
- www.google.com / STEM Schools in Indianapolis
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YOUR WEBSITE
Design this to express your brand and most importantly, move them through the buying cycle
- 1. Design
- Interactive elements (video, pictures, etc.)
- 2. Intuitive navigation that mimics their enrollment process
- Learn, engage (visit, tour, shadow), enroll
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EXAMPLE OF STRONG BRAND ELEMENTS AND ENROLLMENT CADENCE
www.globalprepindy.org
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YOUR WEBSITE
Design this to express your brand and most importantly, move them through the buying cycle
- 1. Design
- Interactive elements (video, pictures, etc.)
- 2. Intuitive navigation that mimics their enrollment process
- Learn, engage (visit, tour, shadow), enroll
- 3. Proof points
- Testimonials
- Quantifiable academic facts
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ACADEMIC QUALITY
KIPP Memphis
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VIDEO TESTIMONIALS
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YOUR WEBSITE
Design this to express your brand and most importantly, move them through the buying cycle
- 1. Design
- Interactive elements (video, pictures, etc.)
- Do the elements represent what you want people to think about your school?
- 2. Intuitive navigation that mimics their enrollment process
- Learn, engage (visit, tour, shadow), enroll
- 3. Proof points
- Testimonials
- Quantifiable academic facts
- 4. DOES IT CAPTURE LEADS?
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CAPTURING CONTACT INFORMATION
- It is your job to ensure that parents move through the
buying cycle
- Newlsetter forms, want more information, lead magnets,
- etc. – all allow you to capture information to allow you
to nurture prospects
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LEAD CAPTURES
Example from KIPP Memphis
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LEAD MAGNET
Example from Sewickely Academy
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PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
Mason Prep has proven to be the perfect school for our
- daughter. Beyond the excellent
academics, the school strives to help develop well rounded, good citizens in a nurturing environment. We couldn’t be more pleased with our experience at Mason Prep
- Laura and Brad Brisson, Mason
Prep Parents
Call to action
Lead magnet to capture contact info
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THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT SITE FOR INDIANAPOLIS CHARTER SCHOOLS
- Enroll Indy
- Make sure your site is updated and complete
- School description
- About your school
- Event features
- Pictures
- Favorite button
- Explain what the process of Enroll Indy entails to people outside
- f IPS
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ENROLL INDY
www.globalprepindy.org
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Longfellow STEM Magnet Program (IPS)
- No picture of campus or of
students
- No link to social media
- Programs and other ancillary
information is lacking
- Logistical information is
incomplete Purdue Polytechnic (Charter)
- Pictures that represent the
brand
- Compelling academic in the
description.
- Social media links
- Comprehensive information
about the school
EXAMPLES ON ENROLL INDY
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ONLINE REVIEW SITES
- Online review sites
- 70% of consumers use online review sites (Social Media)
- 84% of customers trust online review sites (Small business trends)
- 93% of millennials use online reviews before making a decision (Ad Age)
- You need to be present and have positive reviews
- Sites to prioritize: Greatschools, Google, Facebook
- Secondary sites: Schooldigger, Noodle, Niche
- Solicit reviews from parents, faculty, even students
- Hold a few in reserve in case you get some bad reviews
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REVIEW EXAMPLES OF CATHEDRAL HIGH SCHOOL
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DIGITAL ADVERTISING
- Digital advertising
- 1. Pay Per Click
- 2. Facebook Ads
- 3. Retargeting
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PAY PER CLICK
- Advertising that is
- n the main
Google page
- Targeted towards
certain key words
- Very trackable
- Best if you don’t
have good SEO
- But don’t do it prior
to fixing your website
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FACEBOOK ADS
- Allows for building of
custom audiences
- Customizable
- Trackable
- Fairly inexpensive
- But don’t do it prior to
fixing your website
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RETARGETING ADS
- The most targeted – shows your ad to people who have visited
your website before
- Only pay when somebody clicks on your ad
- But don’t do it prior to fixing your website
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OFFLINE ACTIVITIES
- Signage
- Are you leveraging your location?
- Are you utilizing yard signs during recruitment season?
- Feeder schools
- Get contact information!
- Community events
- Where will your prospective parents be?
- Events at your school
- Bring them to you!
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- Indianapolis live professional
development session
- When: January 29th (Tuesday)
- Where: Indiana Government
Center South 302 W Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204
- What time: 8:30 – 2:30
- Cost: FREE!!!
- NW Indiana live professional
development session
- When: January 30th (Wednesday)
- Where: The Excel Center in
Hammond, 3438 169th Street Hammond, IN 46323
- What time: 8:30 – 2:30 (Central)
- Cost: FREE!!!
UPCOMING LIVE TRAINING SESSIONS
Contact Amreen Vora (AVora@doe.in.gov) to RSVP
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OUR SERIES
Date Topic 10/16/18 @ 12:00 Introduction: Understanding the foundations of enrollment marketing 11/13/18 @12:00 Operations: Utilizing Data to Shape and Inform your Enrollment Marketing 12/11/18 @ 12:00 Operations: Your environment and your customer 1/8/19 @ 12:00 Marketing: Inbound marketing and building your culture of marketing 2/12/19 @ 12:00 Marketing: Lead nurturing and social media 3/12/19 @ 12:00 Recruitment: The school tour 4/9/19 @ 12:00 Retention: From first to last day 5/14/19 @ 12:00 Retention: Surveys and communication at your school
CONTACT US FOLLOW US
THANK YOU!!!
Facebook.com/brightmindsmarketing @brightmindsmktg 531 W. 83rd Place, Indy, IN 46260 317-361-5255 nick@brightmindsmarketing.com
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SOCIAL MEDIA
- Supplement to your website but
a very powerful medium and critical communication channel
- Where are your potential
customers?
- YouTube
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SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
Use the ones your customers use
Platform Total Age 18-29 Age 30 – 49 Female 30k – 50K 50k – 75K 75K + African American White Facebook 68% 81% 78% 74% 66% 70% 75% 70% 67% Twitter 24% 40% 27% 24% 21% 26% 32% 26% 24% YouTube 73% 91% 85% 72% 78% 77% 84% 76% 71% Instagram 35% 64% 40% 39% 42% 32% 42% 43% 32% Pinterest 29% 34% 34% 41% 32% 34% 39% 23% 32%
- Age: 30 - 45
- African American
- Makes 100K
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USING AN AGGREGATOR WILL SAVE YOU TIME
- Allows you to cross post, schedule and monitor your social
media feeds
- Examples are Hootsuite, MeetEdgar and Buffer