mount pleasant high school marketing strategy
TRANSCRIPT
1
Mount Pleasant
High School MKT 410 Fall 2015
Claudia Birgy, Danielle Block, Anthony Cavataio, Nicole Daniels, Amy Hord,
Corrie Irving, Alex Kimball, Heather Ouro, Megan Seamans, Morgan Stevens
2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3
Problem Statement 4
Key Objectives 4
Target Audience Demographics 5
Key Influencers 5
Preferred Media 6
Proprietary Emotion 8
Recommendations 9
Budget 10
App Upgrade 11
ROI Measurement 12
Appendix 13
Sources 17
3
Executive Summary With school of choice being an option for parents in Mid-Michigan, enrollment and parent involvement is crucial to maintain funds for schools. Mount Pleasant School District needs to increase their attendance for Parent Teacher Conferences to achieve this. Based off our research, the team has concluded that parent communication needs to be improved to therefore improve parent involvement. The methods that were chosen are low-budget and can also be completed by students. By implementing several new communication methods, parents can be communicated the best way for them. These methods include text alerts, email, and the use of an app. Continued research methods of a survey to be given out at every Parent Teacher Conference will track parents preferred communication methods.
4
Problem Statement
Communication with current students and parents is ineffective and outdated. Parental involvement and conference attendance rates need to increase.
Key Objectives
Objective 1: Update website and social media platforms by the beginning of next school year. Objective 2: Increase interaction with parents: get 65% of parents involved with at least one form of communication with school by end of 2016-2017 school year. Objective 3: Get 65% of parents to attend parent teacher conferences by the end of 2016-2017 school year.
5
Target Audience Demographics
For your target market we looked at information for the entire Isabella County. We wanted to make sure we were covering the majority of your target to represent the most accurate data. Your target market consists of high school students at Mount Pleasant High School and their parents. The county has a population of roughly 70,000 people, with the female population accounting for 51% and the overall population being predominantly white. We found the median household income to be $36,372 with the average per capita being $19,061 and of those in the work force only 25.3% have a bachelor's degree or higher. The per capita is a very important number as 14.1% of the total population is made of single parent households with children under the age of 18, this is part of the reason 30.3% of the county is under the poverty line even with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state of 3.9%.
Key Influencers Kids doing well in school - Teachers - School Administrators - Coaches Your key influencers are the individuals or other factors that are directly impacting the attendance of your parent teacher conferences. The biggest factor is the students doing well in school, this is why there’s parent teacher conferences. The key influencers for getting good grades are your parents, teachers, and coaches if the kids are involved in athletics. The biggest influencer of getting students and parents to conferences are your teachers and school administrators, the effort on their end to encourage the students to come to conferences along with their parents and making sure that all parties are aware of the time and date.
6
Preferred Media
Text message - Email - Phone call We conducted a survey that was sent out by the PTO, there were only 7 responses but they were very helpful and gave constructive answers. We found that text message alerts pertaining to parent teacher conferences, when grades are available, and events going on at school would be the best option for letting parents know when these things are going on or are available. Schools can sign up for a program called E2Campus for free that allows these alerts to be sent out to parents via text. There was a very constructive response related directly to being able to contact teachers via email and the difficulty of finding their email, then the time frame of them responding to the parents in return. For direct communication with teachers, email was the preferred method of contact and the most professional, unless there was an emergency then a phone call is the most appropriate. Flyers and other print were brought up in aspects of being contacted previously by the school, but when asked how they were preferred to be contacted this was something that wasn’t chose as an answer or mentioned. A table detailing your target market’s communication preferences can be found in the appendix.
7
Cell Phones are Key -The Pew Research Group reports that 85% of all adults own and use cell phones, 72% of adults use text messaging regularly, and 97% of adults who are parents of school-age children live in homes with working cell phones -It has been well documented (Edwards and Young, 1992; Mau, 1997) that parents’ involvement in school activities influences their children’s academic performance. Text messaging can provide real-time exchanges between parents and schools. Research conducted by Becta (2008) found that 68% of parents would like to use text messages as a means of receiving more information from the school -Event reminders. Blast messages may also be used as reminders for events that involve the entire school community, such as open house, parent-teacher conferences, and PTA meetings. When the staff implemented this strategy at Inspire Academy, participation at the monthly parent meetings rose 30% in two months. The school found that for young urban parents, this form of communication is most effective.
8
Proprietary Emotion: What drives your target audience?
Your target audience of parents is most frequently driven by the emotions and feelings of security and safety. An education is valued very highly in our society, and in many cases it is required for success. Parents are also driven by the desire for their children to grow more and become more. All parents really want is for their children to be successful with their future, typically starting with a good education. It is often seen in many situations that a parent's involvement in their child’s education may help increase the chances that their student will be successful in school and even later in life. Their desire for their children to be more successful than themselves can also be viewed as another driving factor to increase a parent's motivation to get inspired with taking a more active role in their child’s education. The more involved a parent is in their children’s education, the more they are able to help their child with their coursework or decision making when it comes to planning their future.
Receiving a quality education will result in a secure and safe future, which is exactly what parents want for their children. Therefore, greater involvement in their children’s education will lead to a greater sense of safety and security.
9
Tactical Advertising Recommendations
What: Update website and social media platforms by the beginning of next school year. Increase interaction with parents: get 65% of parents involved with at least one form of communication with school by the end of the 2016-2017 school year, meaning either signing up for text/email alerts, or downloading the school's application. Get 65% of parents to attend parent-teacher conferences by the end of the 2016-2017 school year. Where: Mount Pleasant High School When: Start working on improvements by the end of the 2015-2016 school year, and be ready to implement tactics by the start of the 2016-2017 school year. Recommendations can be measured at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. How: Students from the Graphic Design program (and other students, club presidents student body council members) at the tech center can get involved in re-building the school website. Calendars need to be updated regularly, should be easy to read and interact with, and should include sports, school events, and events parents need to attend. The school should get involved in social media in order to more effectively maintain contact with students and parents. At the very least, the school should maintain a Facebook account in order to answer direct messages, post updates, and send reminders in a timely manner. Texting alerts should be one of the primary methods for contacting parents regarding issues that do not require response, such as parent teacher conferences and events, scholarly and sporting, happening in the school. Academics should be consolidated into one source--BlackBoard, Moodle, etc, to minimize confusion and there needs to be one source where parents access grades and contact info. This will reduce work for the school and make it easier for parents to check all the students happenings in one area. Grades should be accessible by parents through this source, which will ideally have a mobile app in addition to a user-friendly website. Parents should be given access to this program by giving the school their, phone number and email as well as information about their new aps. Student academic and disciplinary files should be consolidated in an online source for easy distribution to parents that are unable to come in to conferences. Parent-teacher conferences should emphasize student success and accomplishments and showcase their work, rather than just being a check-in for grades. Conferences should be brief, with options for parents to get a digital/tangible report if they cannot attend. In addition by rewarding attendance rates at conferences we intend to create a raffle system. By attending conferences, either in person or via email, By doing so parents will be making their students eligible to win prizes such as free yearbooks, school apparel, and even a pizza party that will be awarded to the students with highest parent teacher attendance rates. All of which will will be supplied by the school through the budget. (find pricing estimate) Creating
10
prizes will increase student incentive which will in turn create pull effect from the students, urging their parents to attend.
Why: Ineffective communication exists between pizza party for students and the school. Although the school currently has communication with the parents via mail, a more direct communication method, text alerts, and applications will allow parents to be notified and reminded in real time. Parents are not involved, are not attending events, and do not show up to parent teacher conferences, there is a direct correlation between parent involvement and student academic performance. They are unresponsive to direct mail and to mail sent home with students. We need to find better ways to maintain contact with parents and keep them updated in their children's lives as well as in the school community.
Budget: $1,000-$2,000
Possible Student Incentive Rewards and Budget Options: each of these options are potential ways to motivate your students. In addition to trying to pull the parents to conferences, it would be beneficial if students urged their parents to attend as well. By getting the students involved with parent-teacher conferences, they will be more motivated for their parents to attend. These are just a few possibilities.
1. Yearbook raffle: awarded to a student whose parent attended conferences $50-70
2. Both conferences total cost: $140 3. Cost of apparel raffle: if three winners were to be chosen at each conference
estimated total based on average apparel cost total: $240 4. Cost for possible pizza party: $300 for students whose parents attended
conferences
11
Possible App for Updated Communication:
BuzzMob’s mission is “to turn every classroom into a vibrant, connected community
where teachers, parents, and students are engaged in support and education.” They
accomplish this through being simple, safe, and effective. This app is easy for people of
all ages to use, it requires authorization before use so everyone is protected, and all
messages are delivered instantly through mobile text, email, or the app itself depending
on user preference. They are big on the fact that a student’s success is dependent on a
good relationship involving effective communication between the school and parents.
Notable features:
- Works on iPhone, android, tablets, desktops, and SMS phones. - Has a smartfeed feature that allows parents and students to quickly see what is
most important or coming up at a glance - Has a calendar that can help organize different classes and their assignment, as
well as out of the classroom activities. - Teachers can upload files for assignment and include due dates - The messaging feature allows communication from the teacher to the entire
class or just one on one messaging if a parent has a specific question.
- There is a special emergency feature that will send push-notifications directly to
a device’s home screen if something like a school cancellation occurs. If
something is important, such as a science project being due that day, but not an
emergency, the event feature can do the same thing.
There are a variety of plans depending on how many classrooms would be using the
app but we feel that it would be the most effective if the entire schools adopts it. This
cost is per-year and also requires a one-time setup fee.
School Complete
$995.00 /yr.
Setup Fee: $295.00
Up to 5 Administrators
1 School-wide Group
1 Staff Group
Unlimited Members
Unlimited Posts
Unlimited Messages
School Rollout Package
Customer Support (M-F)
+
Classroom BuzzMob For
All of Your Teachers
Unlimited Teachers
Unlimited Classroom Groups
12
Plan for Tactic ROI Measurement
a. How should the client measure the success of each tactic?
Measure attendance by parents at school events such as conferences and open houses and compare it to attendance numbers of these events in the past. An increased number of parents in attendance will indicate success in the method. No increase in attendance indicates that the the method was unsuccessful. In addition, a survey can be given to the attending parents asking if they attend conferences every year, or if they are new. If they are newly attending, ask the parent why they chose to attend this year. As well as the number, age, and grade of their children would be asked to assess if their child’s grade standing is a contributing factor. b. Consider the plan and process Encourage teachers to keep a class blog that parents can follow, or even use a Facebook page so parents can get up-to-date information from alerts. For measuring parents attendance of parent teacher conferences this simple survey [added below] can be distributed during parent teacher conferences. This ¼ piece of paper with five questions is short enough that parents can fill it out while waiting in line. Every trimester this survey will be administered and the results added to in an Excel Spreadsheet to measure attendance numbers.
13
APPENDIX
Survey Results
#1
Q1: What is your age and how many kids do you have?
45 yrs, 4 kids
Q2: What grade/s are they in?
1 finished college
1jr in college
1 jr in high school
1 8th grade
Q3: How have you been contacted by the school in the past?
Phone, postal mailing
Q4: How would you prefer to communicate with the school?
Q5: What methods do you have for accessing the internet?
Home computer
Q6: Which events have you attended at the high school/ tech center?
Open house
Q7: What kind of updates would you like to receive about your child's involvements at
school?
Updated modernized school website
Q8: How do you access your child's grades?
I don't
Q9: What day and time is most convenient for you to attend parent/teacher conferences?
Any time
Q10: Do you know about the school Facebook page or the activities going on through the
student website?
No
#2
Q1: What is your age and how many kids do you have?
40, 2
Q2: What grade/s are they in?
7,10
Q3: How have you been contacted by the school in the past?
email, phone, text
Q4: How would you prefer to communicate with the school?
14
Q5: What methods do you have for accessing the internet?
Phone
Q6: Which events have you attended at the high school/ tech center?
games, open house
Q7: What kind of updates would you like to receive about your child's involvements at
school?
progress on grades
Q8: How do you access your child's grades?
power school
Q9: What day and time is most convenient for you to attend parent/teacher conferences?
evening
Q10: Do you know about the school Facebook page or the activities going on through the
student website?
Yes
#3
Q1: What is your age and how many kids do you have?
45, 2 kids
Q2: What grade/s are they in?
8th and 10th
Q3: How have you been contacted by the school in the past?
email, text, flyer, phone calls
Q4: How would you prefer to communicate with the school?
Text
Q5: What methods do you have for accessing the internet?
Phone
Q6: Which events have you attended at the high school/ tech center?
Orchestra concerts, choir concerts, parent sports meetings, parent-teacher conferences
Q7: What kind of updates would you like to receive about your child's involvements at
school?
Respondent skipped this question
Q8: How do you access your child's grades?
Powerschool
Q9: What day and time is most convenient for you to attend parent/teacher conferences?
M or F, 5-9 p.m.
Q10: Do you know about the school Facebook page or the activities going on through the
student website?
Yes
15
#4
Q1: What is your age and how many kids do you have?
I am 41 years old and have 5 children.
Q2: What grade/s are they in?
9, 7, 4, 1, preschool age
Q3: How have you been contacted by the school in the past?
Email, phone, flyer
Q4: How would you prefer to communicate with the school?
Q5: What methods do you have for accessing the internet?
Home computer
Q6: Which events have you attended at the high school/ tech center?
Orchestra concerts, Open House (HS & tech center), school plays, sporting events & parent
meetings
Q7: What kind of updates would you like to receive about your child's involvements at
school?
Meeting times and contact information. Performance times.
Q8: How do you access your child's grades?
Powerschool
Q9: What day and time is most convenient for you to attend parent/teacher conferences?
Tuesday or Thursday evening or during the day.
Q10: Do you know about the school Facebook page or the activities going on through the
student website?
No
#5
Q1: What is your age and how many kids do you have?
One female age 16, Junior Next child is in MS and will be coming up soon to MPHS, therefore
this respondent hopes that these changes will be implemented in a timely fashion.
Q2: What grade/s are they in?
On school website teacher emails inaccessible.
Teacher emails need to be accessible and visible, not having to click on email link next to
teachers name. This is very limiting as certain computers will not allow you to open up that
link, therefore it needs to be typed out like this: [email protected] next to teacher
name. This would only facilitate communication between parent and teacher and not have
parent got to main office every single time the parent cannot reach the teacher. Teacher
responses need to be within a 24 hour time frame, this is expected in every single profession
worldwide. Therefore teaches need not be exempt, especially since the advent of the iphone
in 2005.
Q3: How have you been contacted by the school in the past?
Yes, once
Q4: How would you prefer to communicate with the school?
Q5: What methods do you have for accessing the internet?
16
Home computer
Q6: Which events have you attended at the high school/ tech center?
None
Q: What methods do you have for accessing the internet needs to allow for multiple
responses, not one.
Therefore, I access the internet via smartphone, ipad and home computer.
Kindly revise this survey.
Q7: What kind of updates would you like to receive about your child's involvements at
school?
I would like to receive the MPHS announcements via email. The school principal should also
initiate reminders via weekly telephone call at 5:00 pm or 6:00pm this would instill school
spirit as it would remind parents about upcoming events. Not just football games, but the
results of sporting or academic activities, for example the date of upcoming standardized
testing, telling parents to remind their child to get a good nights rest, etc. If there is a coat
drive, canned food drive, whatever.
Q8: How do you access your child's grades?
No access, my child excels at all she does, via report card. Excels means far exceeds
parental and school expectations.
Q9: What day and time is most convenient for you to attend parent/teacher conferences?
Evening - they need to be regularly scheduled and on a monthly basis. To encourage parents
to attend the school can have pizza available, it can be Little Caesars. Kindly notify the
school administration of this constructive feedback.
Q10: Do you know about the school Facebook page or the activities going on through the
student website?
No
#6
Q1: What is your age and how many kids do you have?
54, I have 4 children
Q2: What grade/s are they in?
10th, college or college grads for rest of them
Q3: How have you been contacted by the school in the past?
email, phone, mail, text
Q4: How would you prefer to communicate with the school?
Other (please specify) All of the above is fine with me
Q5: What methods do you have for accessing the internet?
Home computer
Q6: Which events have you attended at the high school/ tech center?
Open house
Q7: What kind of updates would you like to receive about your child's involvements at
school?
Mail, email, text, etc. More info the better. Power school is excellent when it is updated.
Q8: How do you access your child's grades?
Power school or student :)
17
Q9: What day and time is most convenient for you to attend parent/teacher conferences?
Lunch time or evening, any day. I make it a priority.
Q10: Do you know about the school Facebook page or the activities going on through the
student website?
No
#7
Q1: What is your age and how many kids do you have?
I'm 32, and I have one daughter.
Q2: What grade/s are they in?
My daughter is in 9th grade.
Q3: How have you been contacted by the school in the past?
phone call
Q4: How would you prefer to communicate with the school?
Q5: What methods do you have for accessing the internet?
Phone
Q6: Which events have you attended at the high school/ tech center?
We haven't been to any events yet.
Q7: What kind of updates would you like to receive about your child's involvements at
school?
I would love to get a message on my phone when she gets a new grade.
Q8: How do you access your child's grades?
Through the mt. pleasant high school website.
Q9: What day and time is most convenient for you to attend parent/teacher conferences?
Mornings
Q10: Do you know about the school Facebook page or the activities going on through the
student website?
Yes
18
This past month, I communicated with my child's teacher about…
Face-to-face
(%)
E-mail (%)
Phone (%)
Written Communication
(%)
Skype/FaceTime (%)
Texting (%)
Average (%)
1. …my child's grades in the class.
10.2 23.3 2.8 1.9 0 .1 6.4
2. …why my child has a missing assignment.
4.9 18.7 1.9 1.0 0 0 4.4
3. …how my child can improve his/her grade.
9.8 24.7 2.7 1.4 0 .2 6.5
4. …why my child received the grade
he/she did.
7.1 18.6 2.0 .7 0 0 4.7
5. …why my child was not completing assignments.
5.1 15.0 1.8 1.5 0 0 3.9
6. …learning more about homework assignments.
7.9 34.0 2.5 4.0 0 .5 8.2
7. …a question I had about an assignment.
10.0 38.6 3.2 4.3 0 .3 9.4
8. …solutions to address my child's behavior in
class.
7.5 13.5 3.1 1.5 0 .2 4.3
9. …my child talking back to the teacher.
2.7 5.8 1.2 .7 0 0 1.7
10. …my child goofing off in class.
5.5 10.4 1.9 1.2 0 0 3.2
11. …my child's ability to make/maintain
friendships with peers.
5.9 7.0 1.1 .5 0 .1 2.4
12. …how my child was not bringing materials to
class.
2.6 8.3 1.1 .7 0 0 2.1
13. …my child being picked on by his/her
classmates.
4.2 7.9 3.3 .5 0 .3 2.7
14. …a major classroom behavioral incident (fight,
racial slur).
4.0 6.8 2.7 .7 0 .2 2.4
15. …a temporary health issue that my child is
experiencing.
5.8 17.0 6.0 2.3 0 .1 5.2
16. …a major physical health issue that my child
is experiencing.
4.1 9.8 3.8 1.0 0 0 3.1
Academic performance mean
7.9 24.7 2.4 2.1 0 .2 6.2
Classroom behavior mean 5.2 9.9 2.1 1.1 0 .1 3.1 Preparation mean 4.3 7.7 1.1 .6 0 .1 2.3
Hostile peer interactions mean
4.1 7.4 3.0 .6 0 .3 2.6
Health mean 5.0 13.4 4.9 1.7 0 .1 4.2 Overall mean 5.3 12.6 2.7 1.2 0 .2 3.7
-Table 1 offers a percentage summary. The results indicated that parents most frequently communicate academic support via e-mail
(12.6%), compared with face-to-face (5.3%), phone (2.7%), written communication (1.2%), text messaging (.2%), and Skype/FaceTime
(0%). Parents selected e-mail most frequently across each dimension of parental academic support. RQ2 queried whether parents would
select richer modes more frequently for complex topics and leaner modes for instrumental topics.
19
WORKS CITED
7 Free Apps for Keeping Parents and Teachers Connected -- THE Journal. (2013,
June 11). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/06/11/7-free-apps-for-keeping-parents-and-teachers-
connected.aspx
Adoption of SMS and Web Based System to Measure Usability and Effectiveness of
Text Alert System as Broadcast Communication for Managing and
Disseminating Information - Volume 2 Number 1 (Jan. 2013) - IJCCE. (2013).
Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://www.ijcce.org/show-29-171-1.html
E-mail vs. SMS vs. Push Notifications: Which is More Effective. (2014, September
29). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://publ.com/blog/2014/09/29/e-
mail-vs-sms-vs-push-notifications-which-is-more-effective/
Features - e2Campus. (2015). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://www.e2campus.com/higher-education/emergency-notification-system-
ualert/features
Graham, E. (Ed.). (2015). 10 Ideas for Engaging Parents. Retrieved November 30,
2015, from http://www.nea.org/tools/56945.htm
Graham-Clay, S. (2011). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://www.adi.org/journal/ss05/Graham-Clay.pdf
Grow Connected. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2015, from https://www.buzzmob.com/home
Isabella County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. (2014). Retrieved November
30, 2015, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26/26073.html
20
McCrea, B. (2013, June 11). 7 Free Apps for Keeping Parents and Teachers Connected – THE
Journal. Retrieved November 25, 2015, from
https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/06/11/7-free-apps-for-keeping-parents-and-teachers-
connected.aspx
MPHS PTO / PTO Board Members. (2015). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://mtpleasantschools.net/Page/1039
Remind. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2015, from https://www.remind.com/
"Sample Best Practices for Parent Involvement in Schools." Ohio.gov. Ohio
Department of Education, n.d. Web. 6 May 2013.
Social Media for School Leaders. (2014). Retrieved November 30, 2015.
Starnes, D. (n.d.). 2013-2014 SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT COVER LETTER.
Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://tech.mtpleasant.k12.mi.us/mpps/annual_reports/ed_reports/mphs-aer.pdf
Stephens, G. (2015). Cell Phones, Parents and Schools. Retrieved November 30,
2015, from
http://www.nassp.org/tabid/3788/default.aspx?topic=Cellphones_Parents_and_Schools
The Changing Nature of Parent–Teacher Communication: Mode Selection in the Smartphone
Era. (2015). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03634523.2015.1014382#.VlxzXXarTIU
Tode, C. (2012, May 25). SMS has eight times the response rate of email: Study. Retrieved
November 30, 2015, from http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/sms-has-eight-times-
21
the-response-rate-of-email-study
What is push notification? - Definition from WhatIs.com. (2015). Retrieved
November 30, 2015, from
http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/push-notification
ZICKUHR, K. (2011, February 2). Generations and their gadgets. Retrieved
November 30, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/02/03/generations-
and-their-gadgets/