Digital Marketing 101For Charter SchoolsArizona Business SummitNovember 17, 2016

Hello.

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Kim Brater VP Marketing

Charter School Capitalkbrater@charterschoolcapital.org

971-634-1880

Walt ValoAccount DirectorLucid Agency

walt@lucidagency.com480-219-7257

1. Overview // Digital Marketing Defined2. Tactics // The Best Tools for Charter Schools3. Final Thoughts // Where to Start? Budget?4. Resources // Where You Can Learn More?5. Slides // SlideShare.net/CharterSchoolCapital

Agenda

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No. 1What is digital marketing?Let’s get definitive.

What is digital marketing?

• Communicating with the appropriate target audiences online in a meaningful way.

• Digital marketing can help your charter school overcome obstacles such as fundraising, enrollment, and gaining necessary support from the community.

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Your vision onlineUse your school’s purpose to create a powerful marketing message.

• Define your brand.Why is your school unique? What is the essence of who you are? Once defined, how will you deliver on your brand promise?

• What are you trying to accomplish?What is a reasonable goal for your charter school? Increasing enrollment, awareness in the community, new facilities, etc. deliver.

• Communicate strategically.What channels will you use to connect with your audience? What is most effective and efficient for your budget and goals? How will you measure results?

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No. 2The best tactics for charter schools.The digital channels at your fingertips.

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Digital Marketing Tactics

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)

Email Marketing

Display Advertising

Retargeting Advertising

Video Marketing

Social Media

Mobile/responsive website

Mobile/Responsive Website

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Google rolled out changes to its algorithm that favor mobile sites last year. Recent changes have focused on content first.

Ensuring your website is fully responsive and quick to load are the two most important factors in a positive user experience.

So, where do you start?

Mobile/Responsive Website

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Website platforms to consider.Build Your Home Base

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Ask the important questions:

1. Design: What does the layout look like. How is color and text used? How are visuals incorporated?

2. Innovation: Does the website look like a template, or is it original, conveying the uniqueness of the organization?

3. Content: Is the content fresh and interesting? Does it get updated frequently? (Google cares about this.)

4. Technology: Do the pages load promptly? Do the hyperlinks work?

5. Interactivity: Is the information presented in a variety of ways to engage the user, including text, video, photos, and hyperlinks?

6. Ease of Use: Is it hard it is to navigate the pages or perform a search function?

Build Your Home Base

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Google offers a free website analysis tool that outlines any technical issues that may be slowing down your website.

Google PageSpeed Insights

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)• “Organic” listings are

free and based on relevance to the search term.

• Goal: produce the best user experience.

• Best user experience:• Easy navigation• Fast load time• Relative content• Mobile/responsive

website

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SEO Example

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1. Person searches for “Inspire charter schools.”

2. Person clicks organic link to Inspire Charter Schools.

SEO Example

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3. Person is taken to website where they are prompted to enroll.

4. Person completes the enrollment/interest form.

Local Search Results

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My Business

Put your school’s information on search, maps, and Google+ so that students and parents can find you, no matter what device they are using.

Local SEO is focused on providing search results that are relevant based on the location of the user.

Five SEO Tips for Your School1. Pick 10-15 relevant “keywords” with a monthly search volume

of 300-3,000 searches.

2. Incorporate keywords into your content naturally, as you would in conversation.

3. Write original, quality, educational content for your site. Avoid duplicating content.

4. Submit your website’s sitemap to various search engines —www.google.com/webmasters. Check indexed pages.

5. Reach out to reputable education directories and .orgs to get them to link to your website.

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Social Media

• Connect with your audience instantly, visually and on an individual basis.

• Advertising available through these platforms.

• Target your audience based on location, industry, job title, etc.

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Best for interacting with community and advocates (in real-time).

Social Media

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Don’t forget to leverage the older platforms and test the new.

Social Media

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By the numbers.

Email Marketing

• Create personalized messages and newsletters for your leads, customers, and target audience.

• Email marketing is cost effective and easy to implement.

• Email is easy for users to share and schools to track.

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Best for keeping your brand top of mind of an interested audience who opt-in for your updates.

Email Tips• Almost everyone reads emails on their phones these days;

keep emails mobile friendly.

• If you can, let the images do the talking.

• Copy/text should be minimum 15pt font

• Follow SPAM compliance.• Technically you can email email address one time, but focus

on opt-in contacts only.• Ensure you include your organization name, address, and

phone number.• Ensure you give subscribers the ability to unsubscribe.

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MailChimp is free*

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Video

• Help your school stand by connecting with your audience and creating videos worth sharing.

• 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.

• Video doesn’t have to be pricey, but it can be. Let’s look at the options…

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Bring your brand to life by creating captivating videos your audience can share.

High Production Value

26https://youtu.be/jhyPGmtA1HQ

Animated/Sketched

27https://youtu.be/dJp71WQEqaI

Short video :15 / :06

28https://www.instagram.com/successacademy/

Short video :15 / :06

29https://vine.co/u/1155010261451943936

Pay Per Click (PPC)

• Organizations bid in on search terms (keywords) users are likely to use to find their school.

• Keyword examples:• “science charter school”• “Phoenix charter schools”

• Paid listings use a “Pay-Per-Click” (PPC) system where the advertiser pays for each click on the their ad.

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Best for giving a website maximum visibility to those who are searching for your school on search engines.

PPC Example

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Display “Banner” Advertising

• Display ads appear next to content on various websites in text, image, or video format.

• Best for increasing brand awareness.

• Display campaigns can be set up to target audiences in a variety of ways: specific websites, time of day, geography, etc.

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Use visually engaging display ads to increase brand awareness and target potential customers.

Retargeted Advertising

• Retargeting leverages the user’s familiarity with your brand to encourage them to complete a conversion.

• Most users do not convert on the first interaction with your brand.

• Keep your brand top of mind when they are ready to enroll, donate, etc.

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Use image advertisements to target users who have previously visited your website.

No. 4Final ThoughtsSome thoughts on where to start & budget.

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Where to start?

• Your digital tactics should support you overall marketing objectives and/or strategy.

• Execution can be internal or external.

• Look for social advocates in your community and parent groups.

• Don’t reinvent the wheel.

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Augment your current marketing plan.

What to spend?

• Time + money = total investment (especially with digital).

• Some tactics require initial plus ongoing budgets, while others require just initial investments.

• Add to or leverage current marketing budget.

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Different tactics require different budgets.

What is success?

• Cost Per Lead (CPL)= total marketing cost ($) / # of leads or conversions

• Cost Per Student (CPA) = total marketing cost ($) / # of students from specific marketing efforts

• Conversion Rate (%)= (# of clicks / # of leads) * 100

• Acquisition Rate (%)= (# of students / # of leads) * 100

• Number of leads necessary to generate 1 student= # of leads / # of students generated from specific marketing efforts

• Life-Time Value (LTV)= Overall revenue represented by avg. student –CPA

• Profit= (LTV * # of students) –all other expenses

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What metrics help define success.

No. 4ResourcesTools for lifelong learners.

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ResourcesOrganic Search & Search Engine Optimization

**Google Analytics IQ CertificationMoz (SEO Software)The Beginners Guide to SEO

Paid Search (PPC), Display, & Retargeting**Google Adwords CertificationThe Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up An Adwords AccountThe Beginner’s Guide to Adwords Display AdvertisingTips for Creating Effective Display AdsCreate Your First Remarketing Campaign5 Tips to Maximize Your Retargeting Campaign

Email and Social MediaMailChimpHootsuiteHootsuite Resource Library How To Set Up Facebook, Twitter, and Every Other Social Media Profile

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Thank you.

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Kim Brater VP Marketing

Charter School Capitalkbrater@charterschoolcapital.org

971-634-1880

Walt ValoAccount DirectorLucid Agency

walt@lucidagency.com480-219-7257

1. Slides // SlideShare.net/CharterSchoolCapital

Download the presentation

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