Keeping the Buzz!

Marketing Awareness

Sharing ideas to foster active business partners, community

involvement, and student recruitment

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What does it mean to “Market”?

• Print Materials• Advertisements• Speaking Engagements• Social Media

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What “target markets” should you focus on?

• Businesses– To cultivate partnerships for bettering curriculum and

experiential learning

• Parents– To advocate the academy program to family decision

makers

• Students– To increase enthusiasm about academies amongst those

that actually attend

• Teachers– To ensure faculty understand the existence and benefits

of the academies

• Guidance– To encourage counselors to provide accurate and timely

information about academies to potential enrollees 3

Where do I start?• You must appoint someone to

take charge of your marketing.• Form a district-wide advisory

board–Made up of various stakeholders

(education, industry, community)

• Develop content that is updated, fresh, and sustainable.

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CollaborationDefined

…a process of participation through which people, groups and organizations work together to achieve desired results.

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Community Linkages

Networking

Cooperation or Alliance

Coordination or Partnership

Coalition

Collaboration

Purpos

e, S

truc

ture

, Pro

cess

Career ClustersIt is important to

group your academies into their respective career clusters in order to best align them with industry standards.

• Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

• Architecture & Construction• Arts, A/V Technology & Communication• Business, Management & Administration• Education & Training• Energy• Finance• Government & Public Administration• Health Science• Hospitality & Tourism• Human Services• Information Technology• Law, Public Safety & Security• Manufacturing• Marketing, Sales & Service• Science, Technology, Engineering &

Mathematics (STEM)• Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

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Who do you need in your corner?

• Champions– Industry and community leaders who can promote

you within their circles

• Board of County Commissioners– Political clout that can help you get things done

• Chambers and Economic Development Committees– Teams that understand the importance of a job-

ready workforce

• Local colleges– Higher education institutions that require an

academically-proficient student base. Can also collaborate with dual enrollment.

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MAKING THE CONNECTION

• Industry

• Higher education

• School

• Parents

• Community

Immediate industry, satellite industry, related industry, support

industry

Community colleges, universities, private colleges, trade schools,

tech centers

Academy staff, integrated teachers, administration, guidance,

district staff, students

Parents are important stakeholders

Chamber, Rotary, government, charities

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• Chamber of Commerce, Past/Existing Supporters, Alumni, Religious Organizations, Chapters of Professional and Service Organization, Post-secondary, Parent Survey

• Host Recruitment Event

– Share your needs– Confirm level of commitment– Schedule short-term activity

Identify and Recruit Potential Business and Community Partners

BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP BENEFITS

Mission and goal Curriculum guidance “Go to” advice Guest speakers Field trips Scholarships Donations Equipment Make things happen

Library Shadowing Internships Monitoring &

Assessment Real-world focus Marketing & publicity Networking Goodwill Certifications

HOW TO RECRUIT PARTNERS

Call local business leaders and set up meetingsBring students with youBring champion or other AB member with youBring “WIIFMs” with you

Make a presentation at regular meetings ofChamber of CommerceKiwanis, Rotary, Lions, other club meetingsProfessional associations (bankers, CPAs, etc.)

Ask parents for their involvement and referrals

Use Student Testimonials

Showmanship Ideas

• Board Orientation

• Mentor Programs• Board Retreats

and Workshops• Facility Tours• Program

Observations

• Photo Ops• Board Meetings• Galas, Events• Talking Points• Spokespeople

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Business Incentives

Higher employee recruiting opportunities Identify and groom future entry-level workers Reduce recruiting costs Retain local talent from the geographic area Lower training costs Lower employee turnover Higher morale in current workers Greater ability to work in teams Greater work ethic Greater employee productivity

Maintaining

Stay in constant contactGo to themHave them come to youAppoint a liaisonUse technologyHave students contact themGive back, don’t just take

Managing your Partnerships

• Free collaborative Wikis–www.wikispaces.com

• Academies web-page– Promote your partners by linking to

their websites

• Business Partnership Expo– Update existing partners and

recruit new ones by doing a yearly county-wide expo

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Online Marketing Channels

• Facebook–News Updates, Photos, “Fan”

Retention

• Twitter– Engage with like-minded users,

reach a broad audience

• Youtube– Videos!

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Why use Social Media?

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Social MediaFacebook Twitter

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Video Marketing• Provide a place

for anyone to access your video marketing at any time, and measure the effectiveness and popularity of your campaigns.

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Action Steps• Create a Facebook Page• Create a Twitter Account• Create a Youtube Account• Appoint someone to be in charge

of generating, finding, and posting content to social media channels.

• Promote your channels!

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NobleHour’s GOAL:To allow schools to create, manage, track, and measure their world.

VPSC’s GOAL:

To support

partnerships that

seek to

implement an

interdistrict

approach.

How does NobleHour work?

How do organizations benefit?

Advocate your organization to thousands of student, faculty, and parents.

Simple, intuitive, easy. Be up and running in no time.

You can offer all of your internship and job opportunities in one place.

See who has signed up to intern and contact all users with one click.

No IT-guy required. All online. Nothing to download or install.

Flexible: Choose to promote your opportunities to only certain schools and academies

Manages all students in one centralized place.

Keep track of your internship programs.Measure your community impact.

How do organizations get involved?

Organization representatives will register on NobleHour.com and add their business to the database.

Faculty and students can find local organizations based on zip code and view their profile.

Organizations can host an unlimited number of opportunities, including paying jobs, internships, and volunteer service for students.

NobleHour’s hour tracking system allows organizations to easily vet and verify student work submissions for school credit.

Contribute content directly to partner schools and their faculty & students.

Open Discussion• How have you been able to “Keep

the Buzz?”• Who are your best champions?• Have business partners bought into

your academy program?• Do you have an advisory council?• Are your students your best

marketing tools?• Have you started using social media?

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