Main Variable versus Dynamic Variable

In the Spring-Meadows case I have chosen Innovative Schools as the main variable and Community Integration as the dynamic variable.

MV: Innovative Schools (primary)

DV: Community Integration

The primary variable will be the main variable as is appropriate when pursuing an acquisition stimulate demand strategy. The goal here again is to get institutions that otherwise do not invest in education to realize that the best way to make an impact in education is to promote the programs that have proven to be successful. The measure of the success of a program will be based on the accomplishments of the children who have left the program. The measure of success of our marketing program will be simply the measure of new donors to the school and amount raised.

Since the heart of Spring-Meadows competitive advantage is centered on integration of the children and learning opportunities into the community, I have made this the dynamic variable. Spring-Meadows clearly shines in this regard and will stand out among the competition, especially against private schools.

Additionally, since part of the value proposition is that the school will become a model for programs of all types in the future, the schools ability to integrate and 'play well' with other programs will maximize its attractiveness as a high-impact investment. The message will be something like: "This is a fantastic program, every other school in the area can learn from them and they have proven that they can integrate with other groups and programs such that value is created for all involved."

As I continue I am constantly reminded of the path to purchase and sales cycle for the school. Spring-Meadows will likely have to contact each institution directly, or perhaps through it's alumni, current parents, current donors or other grassroots means. I am not convinced that our target institutions will agree with the notion that investing in a high quality model will lead to propagation of the model entities practices and qualities into other programs, thus increasing net benefit to all.

I am currently working on my 5-box after choosing to proceed with a marketing objective of acquisition and stimulate demand source of volume.

My target audience is institutions that don't currently invest in education directly, but may have an interest in helping to create learning economies. One of the primary problems I foresee going forward with this approach is the path to purchase. My background is not in non-profit or fundraising for social programs. So, I know very little about how to go about approaching these firms. I will deal with that part when I come to implementation. However, the question is lingering: should I be considering this more deeply now?

In any case, at this point I am trying to attract new category users.

The five box approach I will take is as follows:

Current Do: Do not invest in education directly.

Current Belief: It's hard to justify investing in education because the public schools systems are wasteful, private schools are for the rich and there are no other alternatives that directly align with our core businesses. Despite those facts, we know that the future of our markets depend on a strong base of highly educated, creative individuals

Consumer Proposition: Spring-Meadows has a compelling and innovative approach to education and the children coming out of their program go on to perform significantly better than their peers from both private and public schools alike.

Desired Belief: A direct investment in Spring-Meadows will transform an already great school into a high-profile model that can be collaterally copied by schools of all types, thus maximizing the impact of our investment in education and granting us social goodwill and status as a contributor to innovation in learning.

Desired Do: Invest directly in Spring-Meadows

Spring-Meadows FE, Source of Volume, Marketing Objective

I have revised the goal of my project slightly. Initially, the purpose of my project was to evaluate the marketing impact of my anonymous non-profit private school, for the purpose of this post called Spring-Meadows leading an initiative to create a co-operative community in a large facility. The problem was a combination of capacity planning and the role of marketing in the process of restructuring this entity's face in the community.

I have shifted to the more simple approach of determining the core competencies of the school itself, aside from the capacity planning problems, and taken on the task of trying to increase the donor profile of the school. I realized that if money were not issue, the best thing for the school to do would be to remain a stand alone entity, unfettered by the messages of other entities that may or may not be aligned with the schools methods, means and objectives.

My fundamental entity is now Spring-Meadows.

I am now considering the marketing objective and source of volume and have narrowed my selection down to two choices: Acquisition/Stimulate Demand and Retention/Earn Share. I am NOT choosing Retention/Stimulate Demand because I believe the current donors are tapped. Also, I am not choosing Acquisition/Earn Share because the most likely target I'll be earning away from is the public school system, and I think the negative PR associated with completely acquiring donors to the public school systems would be detrimental to the schools progress.

A brief profile of my market objective, source of volume, ideal customer and target audience:

Acquisition/Stimulate Demand

• Target audience: Institutions that don't invest in education but may have an interest in helping to create a learning economy. (i.e. The Googles, Microsofts, IBMs, research endowments of the world.)
• Ideal Customer: Invests in our school because the state is falling short of it's role in public education, believes that our school is an innovative model leader and that the private sector can provide better education alternatives that in the end contribute to better markets overall.
• Category: Premium (K-12) Innovative Education (as opposed to premium exclusive traditional private offerings)
• Note: In this region, the school is very well regarded and may very well be the category leader by reputation.

Retention/Earn Share

• Earning share from: Institutions investing in public education
• Target audience Institutions that invest in public education but believe that opening the education markets to the private sector will provide competition, choice and ultimately stimulate growth across the category.
• Ideal Customer: Simultaneously invests in our school and the public schools to foster more options for the education consumer, leading to competition and growth.
• Category: K-12 Education

Of the two, I am leaning towards the first but need to assess both in terms of the likelihood of gaining an investment in light of the current capital crunch. It may be easier to reach investors already in the space, but the category really requires a broader pool of capital and new investors would be very beneficial.

My project will be to come up with a marketing plan for a local non-profit school (name kept private) that is trying to solve an enrollment vs capacity/location problem. In short, the school needs more students to be economically viable, but is constrained by the capacity of the building in which it currently resides. The school's mission has always been to integrate the children in the community and is considering solving it's capacity problem by co-locating the school with other entities in the child development and cultural growth spaces.

There are several problems with this approach, but of utmost importance is the nature of the fundamental entity. While the school may benefit from being affiliated with an entity that manages the co-location, it is probably not in the school's best interest to lead the effort. If this is true, the best way for the school to participate may be as an 'anchor tenant' in the effort, in which case there would be another entity in the leading role.

This is my first entry on the Marketing614 blog. I think this will be a fun project and look forward to having a record of my progress.