indiana department of education charter school … · 1/8/19 @ 12:00 marketing: inbound marketing...

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INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONCHARTER SCHOOL MARKETING

Inbound Marketing and building a culture of marketing

January 8th , 2019

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ABOUT BRIGHT MINDS MARKETING AND NICK LEROY

• Bright Minds Marketingo Boutique marketing firm specializing in helping

schools improve their student enrollment.

o Over 60 clients in 9 states

• Nick LeRoy, founder and principal consultanto 2 years as ED of the Indiana Charter School

Board

o 15 years as a global marketing executive with Eli Lilly & Co.

o 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 RESOURCEShttps://www.doe.in.gov/grants/school-marketing-and-webinars

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ENVIRONMENTWhat have we learned through our environmental analysis

1. The structure of families in America is changing

o Increasingly diverse population

o “Non-traditional” households are increasing

2. General school age population is shrinking due to decreasing birth rates

o Greater impact in the non-urban areas

3. Varying development of the concept of school choice

o Do parents realize that they have a choice?

4. Competitive analysiso # of schools in your area are competing for the same students

o Their academic ratings

5. Some potential sources of students (Other schools, churches, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, etc.)

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YOUR SCHOOLWhat have we learned through analyzing our data and our school?

1. Your metricso Average enrollment numbers

o Yield rate

o Replacement rate

2. Your point of differentiationo What do we offer that is unique and compelling to get a family to enroll?

3. The challenges in your enrollment systemo 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 of Indianapolis

• STEM Focused school

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COMPETITIVE SCHOOLS: ALL46 Competitive Schools Source: Greatschools.org

Charter

Public

Private

LeRoy Academy of Awesomeness

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LEROY ACADEMY OF AWESOMENESSK-8 STEM oriented charter school located in the Broadripple neighborhood of Indianapolis

Population trends are favorable / Moderately competitive environmentEnvironment•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 enrollmentSchool•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 - 45Customer•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 3942

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11 9 107 8

4650 49 49 47

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019

Enrollment at LAA

Kindergarten Other Grades Total

6570 72

54

62

71% 71% 68%

91%

76%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0

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 AWESOMENESSK-8 STEM oriented charter school located in the Broadripple neighborhood of Indianapolis

Population trends are favorable / Moderately competitive environmentEnvironment•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 enrollmentSchool•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 - 45Customer•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 LOCATIONSMost 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 PERSONAPatty 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 oriented 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 of community groups

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LEROY ACADEMY OF AWESOMENESSK-8 STEM oriented charter school located in the Broadripple neighborhood of Indianapolis

Population trends are favorable / Moderately competitive environmentEnvironment•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 enrollmentSchool•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 - 45Customer•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 low1. 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

organizational 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 enrollmento 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 PERSONThis doesn’t need to be an educator

• Sales & Marketing oriented o Recent college graduate

o Interpersonal skills

o Strong follow up and attention to detail

o Comfortable with numbers

o 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 o 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:o 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 STORYMake 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

of 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 WEBSITEThis is the hub and the most important part of your marketing mix

• Targeted towards the prospective parent

• Mobile enabled

• Easily found through search engineso Key words, SEO, Updated content, backlinks

o Local Search

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THE IMPORTANCE OF SEO

• www.google.com / STEM Schools in Indianapolis

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YOUR WEBSITEDesign this to express your brand and most importantly, move them through the buying cycle

1. Designo Interactive elements (video, pictures, etc.)

2. Intuitive navigation that mimics their enrollment processo 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 WEBSITEDesign this to express your brand and most importantly, move them through the buying cycle

1. Designo Interactive elements (video, pictures, etc.)

2. Intuitive navigation that mimics their enrollment processo Learn, engage (visit, tour, shadow), enroll

3. Proof pointso Testimonials

o Quantifiable academic facts

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ACADEMIC QUALITYKIPP Memphis

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VIDEO TESTIMONIALS

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YOUR WEBSITEDesign this to express your brand and most importantly, move them through the buying cycle

1. Designo Interactive elements (video, pictures, etc.)

o Do the elements represent what you want people to think about your school?

2. Intuitive navigation that mimics their enrollment processo Learn, engage (visit, tour, shadow), enroll

3. Proof pointso Testimonials

o 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 CAPTURESExample from KIPP Memphis

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LEAD MAGNETExample 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 completeo School description

o About your school

o Event features

o Pictures

o Favorite button

• Explain what the process of Enroll Indy entails to people outside of 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 siteso 70% of consumers use online review sites (Social Media)

o 84% of customers trust online review sites (Small business trends)

o 93% of millennials use online reviews before making a decision (Ad Age)

• You need to be present and have positive reviewso Sites to prioritize: Greatschools, Google, Facebook

o Secondary sites: Schooldigger, Noodle, Niche

• Solicit reviews from parents, faculty, even studentso 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 on 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

• Signageo Are you leveraging your location?

o Are you utilizing yard signs during recruitment season?

• Feeder schoolso Get contact information!

• Community eventso Where will your prospective parents be?

• Events at your schoolo Bring them to you!

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• Indianapolis live professional development sessiono When: January 29th (Tuesday)

o Where: Indiana Government Center South 302 W Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204

o What time: 8:30 – 2:30

o Cost: FREE!!!

• NW Indiana live professional development sessiono When: January 30th (Wednesday)

o Where: The Excel Center in Hammond, 3438 169th Street Hammond, IN 46323

o What time: 8:30 – 2:30 (Central)

o 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?o Facebook

o Twitter

o YouTube

o Instagram

o Pinterest

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SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMSUse 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