crafting a sustainable student enrollment campaign for charter schools
TRANSCRIPT
Crafting A Sustainable Student Enrollment Campaign
2015 CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOLS CONFERNECE
March 17, 2015
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
INTRODUCTIONS
Kim Brater VP, Marketing
Charter School Capital
Kirt Nilsson COO
Charter School Capital
Scott Kaufmann Partner
Lucid Agency
Michael Barber Founder
barber&hewitt
WHY ARE WE HERE Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
WHY ARE WE HERE
Enrollment issues:
1. Need to attract and retain students. Nobody just shows up when you open the doors.
2. Budgets are tight, resources strained, and priorities many.
3. The thought of marketing yourself and your school can be confusing at best, and daunting at worst. But, it doesn’t have to be…
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
AGENDA
• Define student enrollment and marketing in the context of charter schools
• Discuss enrollment strategies and tactics to drive goals and objectives
• Slides are available here: www.slideshare.net/CharterSchoolCapital
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WHAT DOES GROWTH LOOK LIKE? Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc. 2015 CCSA | 7
CHARTER SCHOOL GROWTH CATEGORIES # of Stude
nts
Start-‐up Survival/Establish
Sustainable Maturity Efficiency
Time (years) 0 2-‐3 5-‐10
100%
Growth Flexibility/Stability
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc. 2015 CCSA | 8
DEFINE GOALS UPFRONT
“First have a definite, clear practical idea; A goal, an objective.” -Aristotle
• How many students? • What type of students? • How much retention is needed? • Team should understand these goals
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
DEFINE & REFINE ENROLLMENT METHODS
• On the spot / event • Online • Normalize the enrollment process
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MARKETING & CHARTER SCHOOLS Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
MARKETING IN THE PUREST SENSE
Marketing is communicating the value of a product, service or brand to customers, for the purpose of promoting or selling that product, service, or brand. Source: Wikipedia
2015 CCSA | 11 Source: Wikipedia
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
ENROLLMENT & MARKETING
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• Students are not required to attend your school – Why would parents choose us? – What makes us unique? – How are you going to find these students? – How are you going retain students?
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
MARKETING FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
SO, HOW DO WE GENERATE AWARENESS & NEW STUDENTS WITH LIMITED TIME & MONEY?
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START WITH WHAT MAKES YOUR SCHOOL UNIQUE
Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
THE PROCESS OF PROMISE
Define what makes your school unique, distinguishable, and compelling. Define the values that will connect your school to your students, families, and community. Your uniqueness & values build to the core essence of who you are.
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE
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Define what makes your school unique, distinguishable, and compelling. What makes your school different? Program focus? Students served? Educational philosophy? Which aspects of your organization can’t be easily replicated?
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE
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• Who do you want to serve? • Why should students choose your school? • Why would parents want to send her kids to
your school? • What are you providing to families and the
community that isn’t already offered? • How are you different? Better?
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
DEFINE YOUR VALUES
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Values define who you are, how you work, who you want to serve and why, they help you know when to say yes and no. More than anything, your values are the benchmark of the legacy you want to leave behind.
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
YOUR SCHOOL’S ESSENCE
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Take what makes you unique and your core values, and then craft your essence. Your essence should be embodied in everything people see, hear, touch, taste, or smell about your school. It articulates a higher-calling, a clear positioning amongst your competitors. Your team should be able to convey this whenever needed.
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
NOW SHARE YOUR VALUES / PROMISE
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
NOW WE KNOW WHO WE ARE, IT’S TIME
TO CRAFT OUR MESSAGES.
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CRAFTING YOUR MESSAGE Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
AUDIENCES & GOALS ARE KEY
Audiences: • Students • Teachers • Parents • Leaders • Community /
media
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Goals: • Awareness • Increase
enrollment • Fundraising • Student retention
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
COMMUNICATION METHODS MATTER TOO
Methods: • Face-to-face • Social media • In-school • Web • Media
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
MESSAGE / CALL-TO-ACTION
Leverage what makes you unique, your values, and promise to craft messages for specific audiences, goals and the communication methods. Ensure appropriate call-to-actions are leveraged.
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
NEXT UP, WHAT DO WE LOOK LIKE?
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SCHOOL IDENTITY Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
SCHOOL IDENTITY
Identity consists of the visual elements the define your school including:
– Logo – Color palette/system – Visual style/guidelines – Signage – Templates (letterhead, presentations, etc.) – Name badge (everywhere) – Business cards – School lapel pins – Shirts
Share your story (your promise) with your design resources. Identity should reflect your story.
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS
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$ $$ $$$
99designs.com crowdspring.com
Volunteer
Independent designer Small agency
Large agency Design firm
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
• Identity done well can position your school for growth opportunities.
• Bad identity can turn away potential parents / students.
• Pay attention to the demographic and geographic influences on identity and design.
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START-UP PHASE Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
BEFORE YOU EVEN START
• Establish an advisory team – Find people who believe in your promise/values – Make the ask – Find broad advice (parents, community leaders,
business leaders, former charter leaders) – Identify creative ways to compensate them
• Ask for help – Seek help from your contacts – Connect and seek mentors/advisors that can
compliment your skills
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
YOUR PEOPLE ARE YOUR GREATEST STRENGTH AND ASSET
• Students, teachers, parents, and the community are your greatest assets – Run workshops with groups to help them tell the
school’s story and its values. – Have them tell your story. Often.
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
LEVERAGE NON-PAID MARKETING CHANNELS • Social – Primary: Facebook, Instagram (we are visual people) – Secondary: Twitter, LinkedIn – Tertiary: Pinterest
• Email – Multiple vendors offer free services for education/non-
profits – Easy, opt-in communication with stakeholders, fans,
friends of your school • Website – www & blog
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
WEBSITE AND/OR BRANDED EMAIL OPTIONS
• Tons out there. Here are a few we like: – Google Apps for Education (lots of additional
productivity tools) – GoDaddy – Squarespace – Wordpress – Pagely
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GROWTH PHASE Sustainable Student Enrollment
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
LAYER PAID CHANNELS Search Marketing – Organic • Best for giving your website
maximum visibility to those who are searching for your school on search engines.
• Organic listings are free. Rankings are determined by the search engine to produce the best user experience.
• Relative content, easy navigation, etc., all play into a positive user experience which, in turn, improves your search rank.
• Create a strategy to include top-quality, relevant information on your website to match what users are searching for. This is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 2015 CCSA | 38
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
LAYER PAID CHANNELS Search Marketing – Pay-per-click • Best for giving your website maximum
visibility to those who are searching for your school on search engines.
• Advertisers bid in on search terms
(keywords) users are likely to use to find their school.
• Paid listings use a “Pay-Per-Click” (PPC) system where the advertiser pays for each click on the their ad.
• Once the user clicks on the ad, the goal is that they visit the page and complete a desired action, such as filling out a contact form, donating, or applying for enrollment.
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
LAYER PAID CHANNELS
Display and retargeting (“banners”) Best used for creating brand awareness and bringing users back to your website to complete a conversion. • Display ads appear next to content on various websites in
text, image or video format.
• Display campaigns can be set up to target audiences in a variety of ways (time of day, on certain websites, etc.).
• Retargeting: Showing display ads to users who have previously visited the website, leveraging their familiarity with your brand to encourage them to complete a conversion.
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
ENHANCE NON-PAID CHANNELS
• Social – Display and retargeting advertising available through these
platforms. – Target your audience based on location, industry, job title, etc.
• Email – Begin to segment audiences
• Website – Enhance content created for your site – Begin to develop content calendar that shares your school’s
stories
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SUSTAINABLE MATURITY Sustainable Student Enrollment
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
MATURE YOUR MARKETING PLANNING
• Quarterly/annual marketing planning and budget – Identify goals by audience/target – Develop strategies and tactics to target
audiences – Identify budgets by channel – Ongoing measurement
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
BRING YOUR STORIES TO LIFE
• Leverage video and other visual storytelling mediums – YouTube is the second largest search engine – Snapchat, Periscope, Meerkat offer other visual storytelling opportunities
with different audiences
• Help your school stand out and connect with your audience by creating videos worth sharing.
• Use video to explain concepts and visions that are difficult to put into words.
• Create a YouTube channel where all of your videos will reside for your audience to view.
• Share your videos through social media or blog posts.
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
LEVERAGE MORE SOPHISTICATED TOOLS
• Audience segmentation and relationship management (Salesforce, Base, Hubspot)
• Marketing automation (Hubspot, Eloqua, Marketo)
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
CREATE REVENUE GENERATING MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES
• Community sponsorship – Street signage – Digital signage (if applicable) – Annual banquets/benefits – Sponsored content (i.e. emails sponsored by
local service business)
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RETENTION MATTERS TOO Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
RETENTION, RETENTION, RETENTION
• Talk about your accomplishments, always – Build your case all the time – Promote to parents and advocates
• Seek feedback – Online surveys
• Foster word-of-mouth – Engage parents and advocates in “About Us”
sessions – Help them advocate for and sell your school
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THE BUDGET QUESTION Sustainable Student Enrollment
Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
AVERAGE MARKETING BUDGETS
5-15% of annual budget
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
BUDGETS FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS
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Copyright © 2015 Charter School Capital Inc.
CHARTER SCHOOL MARKETING BUDGETS
Budget = time + sweat equity
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Start-‐up
Growth
Sustainable Maturity
Budget = limited dollars + time + sweat equity
Budget = dollars + time + sweat equity
THANK YOU Digital Marketing 101 for Charter Schools
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Kim Brater VP of Marketing
Charter School Capital
Kirt Nilsson COO
Charter School Capital
Scott Kaufmann Partner
Lucid Agency
Michael Barber Founder
barber&hewitt
Slides available at: www.slideshare.com/charterschoolcapital