epstein school crescerance case study

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The Crescerance Effect in ActionA case study: The Epstein School

Founded in 1973, The Epstein School is a bilingual, independent Jewish day school located in Sandy Springs, GA, for children ages 18 months through eighth grade. The Epstein School is a member of the Solomon Schechter Day School Association.

“Creating the app is one of the ways in which we have helped increase our parent engagement through social media and thus showcase our nationally recognized school... This makes it easier for parents, grandparents, alumni and teachers to readily view, comment and share photos of their children at the school. That helps

drive not only engagement, but also our organic marketing, enrollment and SEO. “

- Coleen Lou, Director of CommunicationThe Epstein School


Opportunity Areas

As a recognized leader in technology, The Epstein School was looking for new and creative ways to enhance their communications, marketing, engagement and fundraising strategies. The communications team additionally sought to create convenience for parents without overburdening the staff. Noticing the increasing role that mobile phones play in today’s society, The Epstein School felt that a mobile solution was the best way to address these needs.

Mitigation Measures

To enhance their marketing, communica-tions and social media engagement, the Epstein communications team:

• Engaged in a rebranding process • Redesigned Epstein’s website• Shifted their strategic focus toward

engaging constituents through social media

Intended Outcomes

The communications team sought to develop a comprehensive, thoughtful and integrated approach to its marketing plan to drive engagement, organic marketing, enrollment and SEO. They had also adjusted their social media strategy to make it easier for parents, grandparents, alumni and teachers to share, view and comment on photos of their students at Epstein.

Results

Although The Epstein School already had a solid web presence, the communications team soon realized that a majority of their prospective and current stakeholders were accessing school information on their mo-bile phones more frequently than they were on desktops. The team concluded that in order to be effective, adding a mobile plat-form to their existing strategy was needed.


Choosing Crescerance

Epstein School Director of Information Systems Anthony Shields approached Director of Communication Coleen Lou about developing an app. Both Shields and Lou had discussed mobile solutions in the past, but after reviewing product samples with Crescerance founder and CEO Alefiya Bhatia, they decided that the Crescerance mobile app was definitely the best solution.

Ultimately, The Epstein School chose Crescerance because of Crescerance’s ability to create a custom mobile app solution, branded to The Epstein School, that would seamlessly enhance their marketing and communications efforts without overloading Shields or Lou.

Building a Custom Solution

With input from Coleen, Alefiya recom-mended a set of features for an app that best fit The Epstein School’s unique needs and priorities. With feedback from Epstein, Crescerance built an app that met their specifications in roughly 4 weeks. With the new app, The Epstein School can now:

• Reach current parents by sending daily push notifications and other reminders

• Respond to and generate new inquiries by providing admissions and curriculum information in a mobile-friendly, easy-to-read format

• Help parents reach teachers directly with the Staff Directory feature

• Gather parent feedback and suggestions with the Suggestion Box feature

• Drive more traffic to social media pages by embedding important links into images, videos and other app content

• Increase word-of-mouth advertising with the Click and Share feature and social media tools

Delivering Outstanding Results

“The process was fantastic…and much easier than I had ever antici-pated. I have been through many website designs and re-designs and I understand the time and effort that these important marketing and communications projects can take. However, Crescerance understood how to deliver outstanding results with minimal output of time on our part. They worked with us as part-ners in the process and understood where to take reigns. This helped us to efficiently and successfully deliver an outstanding product that is being used by our parents, grandparents, alumni, faculty and staff alike.”



Launch and Marketing

Prior to launch, Coleen initiated a public relations campaign to spread the word about the new app. Crescerance helped by:

• Developing a QR code for the school to use on its website and other print collateral linking to the app download page• Promoting the app on Crescerance’s social media channels, at school events and on parent forums

In the Media:


In the Media:


“The Epstein School’s app is definitely a 21st century marketing and communications tool. Additionally, The Epstein School is widely recognized as a leader in technology that is continually seeking creative technological solutions; the app that we were able to design with Crescerance is a cutting edge technology tool that helps make our parents’ lives a little easier.”


Impact

Since the launch of the Epstein App, Epstein’s communications team observed the following results:

1. Skyrocketing social media and parental engagement over the last 18 months

2. Increased enrollment3. Increased online fundraising

Favorite Features

Duration: November 2012 – July 2013 Total unique app users: 500 Total sessions (times the app has been used): 8,073App stickiness: 1,850 sessions with 1-3 mins

The Epstein School’s favorite features include:• Direct links to social media• Electronic communications to parents• The Calendar, which allows parents to

search for the school events that interest them most

Usage Statistics

Unique UsersSessions

Could a custom mobile app solution benefit your school or school district? Call Crescerance today for details and to schedule a demonstration.

Phone: 404-913-CRESE-mail: [email protected]

www.crescerance.com

epstein school crescerance case study

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