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Internet Strategies for Christian Schools

Jim McKenzie Principal, The Rock School

Consultant, GraceWorks Ministries

GraceWorks Ministries

  Vision: Healthy Christian schools (Daniel Generation)

  Mission: Marketing, fundraising, planning, leadership

  Authors: Marketing Christian Schools: The Definitive Guide

  Research-based Christian ministry

  15 years old

  1,500 schools served

  50+ parents & students take one of our surveys everyday

Case Studies Case Studies: My Clients

SCHOOLS 2010 2011 2012 2013 Increase

Jacksonville School (FACCS) 400 475 520 550 38%

FLOCS Member School X X 198 225 14%

Small Rural Florida School X X 87 97 12%

Oklahoma School (ACTS) 350 400 450 490 40%

Georgia School (ACSI) X 410 490 565 38%

The Rock School 210 225 240 280 100%

National Trends A Gradual Rebound for Local Advertising By Fred Aun, ClickZ, Feb 22, 2010

The findings, reported in BIA/Kelsey's "U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast," did not surprise BIA/Kelsey President Neal Polachek, who said the recession and lingering economic doldrums have "triggered a more rapid switch to online digital stuff." Even though companies are increasingly embracing digital media for local advertising, online/interactive was not immune to the recession's ravages. BIA/Kelsey said there was a slowdown in the growth rate for digital, including search, display and classifieds, but it predicted that digital - now about 14 percent of total local ad spending - will encompass 25 percent by 2014. In 2008, when about $156 billion was spent on all forms of local advertising, about $141 billion was spent on traditional media, according to the researchers. The total expenditure is expected to bottom out this year, reaching only about $129 billion (with $17.5 billion going to digital). By 2014, when the total expenditure is expected to climb back to $145 billion, only $109 billion will go to traditional forms, said the report.

Internet: More Than We Think

Much more than …

“How does our website look?”

Typically missing …

• Overall strategy for current vs. prospective parents

• Conversion strategies

• Email responders

• Real help for selling

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Awareness Vs. Leads

Ford Motor Company can afford awareness…

Can you?

What you are up against

1,000 to 3,000 ads PER DAY per person

How do you cut through that?

A lead focus says:

We don’t care about awareness -- Show me new parents!

Goal: Hits vs. Conversion?

  Hits -- a page is viewed for any duration of time -- even one second

  Conversion – viewer takes some action

Key Point: If we think awareness is important, then hits only is fine.

Note, however, that the web is bad at generating awareness.

Not All Conversions are Equal Leads easiest to close

New family came because of

New family identified themselves to you by

New family came to know you more in depth by

Word of Mouth referral Showing up individually in person at your school

Visiting on-site with the Principal

Church-related Showing up in person at a group event

Visiting onsite with the Director of Marketing

(Development)

Internet-related (good content) Calling you by phone Visiting onsite with the

Secretary

Signage / external appearance Filling out an internet form Reading the website only

Print / radio / TV other paid advertising / Direct mail

Sending your school an email Reading your literature only

Leads hardest to close

Write copy that inspires the most effective actions for enrollment

Thinking Through Audience

  “Definitely committed that my child will get a Christian education”

  A parent-oriented site is just fine for this group

  “Struggling educationally, not sure what to do”

  Parents will be looking for answers-- will they find content from you that helps?

Key Point: We can know EXACTLY what parents are searching for.

Who Are We Writing to?   One person (technically, a persona)

  Persona – a group of people who share common characteristics (AKA, Market Segment)

  Demographics

  Psychology

  Buying Topology

  Religious / spiritual

Christian schools have more than one persona –

typically 4 -5.

Therefore, write specifics that “ring the bell” of most

personas at your school

Personas can be determined by brainstorming with staff or long-time volunteers.

Pre-Selling the Undecided

  More secular = more pre-selling required

  Pre-selling what? The idea that a private Christian education might be possibly be an option

  PROBLEM: The typical Christian school site assumes the parent has already decided for Christian education -- that is increasingly NOT the case.

Key Point: The Internet excels in frequency -- giving people multiple messages -- which is ideal for pre-selling.

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Pre-Selling How? By Email Auto-Responders

  The missing link for most online marketing efforts

  Reflects permission marketing over interruption marketing

  Market to people who want to hear from you

  Content -- information and wisdom -- that really helps people

Key Point: Who better to help increasingly secular people with real WISDOM to help them solve problems they are having with

their kids? If not us, who?

Critical Online Strategies

Thinking Like Our Audience

The two marketing goals for a website:

(1)  Get a new parent to

“darken your door”

(2) Help you enroll them once they get there

Therefore, we need:

  Testimonials

  Test scores

  Championships

  Student achievement outcome indicators

Key Point: The real problem with most Christian school websites is that they are not even selling --

they assume you have already made the sale.

Crucial Points

  When you write, think in terms of moms and dads who are not sure at all they should even consider a private Christian education.

  What will make them show up, or call?

  Don’t give them a reason to stay home. (too much info)

  Don’t give them a reason to say no. (too many negatives)

Target Audience Conflict Item Current Parent New Parent

Re-enrollment Form

Good idea

Bad idea

Complete financial aid application info

Good idea

Bad idea

Basketball schedule

Good idea

Questionable

Parent Handbook Good idea

Bad idea

Therefore … Two Sites

New Parents Site Goal: Lead Generation

  Pre sells

  Sells

  Credibility indicators

  “Why should I consider you?”

Current Parents Site Goal: Customer Service

  Forms / Information

  Financial Info / Links

  Calendar / Homework

  “Donate Now” Button

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Therefore … Two Sites

New Parents Site   Search engine optimized --

what a brand new parent finds first

  Email auto-responders here“Why should I consider you?”

  Not obvious how to get to the other side.

Current Parents Site   Same URL, different

subdomain is fine.

  Both use tracking software like Google Analytics to see if conversion process is working.

  Parents need to bookmark their side.

At a Minimum: Call Me!

 School phone number plastered everywhere.

 Include it in your heading.

 Make sure the phone is answered properly.

Input Form If interested, complete this form

  True: The more we ask, the less responses we get

  True: We can market to someone with only an email

  But: Most Christian schools don’t have it together enough to do that

  Therefore: One form for name, email, phone number

  Everything links to that form

Note: Inquiries by web input forms are responded to immediately and automatically by an email auto responder.

Call to Action

  After the first two-three paragraphs (300-400 words)

  At the end of sections

  At the end of pages

  Call to Action = “Call Me” or link to your “Lead Form”

Item of Value

  The better your item of value, the more information you can get from prospective families.

  “Sign up now to receive four lessons on the value of a moral foundation in solving life’s problems.”

  “We’ll send you our tuition and financial aid information.”

Search Engine Optimization

  Our best internet marketing strategy

  Of course: “Christian School, your town”

  Graduate Level Answer: Work the long tail “Educational resources, your town” “Help with bullying, your town”

  Content Management (Blogs, Updates, Links, SoMe)

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Zipf ’s Power Law Probability Distribution Curve Key Goal: Conversion

 Getting the interested person to identify themselves to you

 AKA: Generating a lead, Call to action, Google analytics goal,

Conversion: In Practice

  Pages can be up to 3,000 words on the same topic.

  Call to action: first 300-400 words, and at the end of every section.

  Call to action emphasizes showing up at an open house or calling for a Educational Success Consultation BEFORE pushing filling out a web form.

How Are We Writing?

 Warm, empathetic, caring, real, authentic, expert, wise, concerned.

 Write in terms of human need.

How we are NOT Writing What Generates Action

  Testimonials of parents, alumni

  Academic achievement indicators

  Indicators that Christian / faith aspects of program are strong

  Teacher / Principal bios

  Non-academic achievements in sports, etc.

  Awards, honors

  “People like me”

  Whatever motivated you to call

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Good Copy Words for Web

  Christian school

  Your city

  Your county

  Grades K – 12

  Interdenominational

  Christian character building

  Patriotism

  Words that describe positive student outcomes

  High academic standards

  Discipline

  Safe(ty)

  Christian truth

  Scholastic achievement

Importance of Internet

  Works hand-in-hand with Word of Mouth

  Is the number two source of leads, ahead of church-related

  Two audience strategy reduces purpose confusion

  Incredibly important answer for an increasing secular world

  Technology is not the issue

  Really driven by writing up WISDOM

-- which we have in abundance

The Role of Social Media

  Works hand-in-hand with Word of Mouth

  Should drive traffic to your school website

  Good for inviting people to Open House Events

  Use it showcase “cool things” happening at your school.

  For reaching moms, our primary demographic, start with Facebook & Pinterest.

  Assign multiple Admins to post to your pages.

  Remember, the goal is to capture leads and increase enrollment, not just have a SoMe presence online.

Internet Strategies for Christian Schools

Jim McKenzie, Consultant

GraceWorks Ministries