Objective
Raise awareness of Bickerstaffe CE Primary School.
The challenge
The primary school needed promotion to fill the remaining places it had for its September 2021 intake. Whilst the school enjoys a beautiful rural location in West Lancashire and is also close to Knowsley, Skelmersdale, Rainford and St Helens, it is not positioned on a main route for passing traffic, so not everyone eligible to come to the school, knows about it.
This meant that the campaign needed an understanding of the problem, the local environment, and the communities the school serves, coupled with a professional approach including attention-grabbing marketing as well as media handling and expertise. Demonstrating what Bickerstaffe had to offer to the right audience, at the right time was crucial
Bickerstaffe headteacher, Kirstin O’Kane highlighted the challenge the school faced and how CPMM Media were able to guide the school through the process.
She said: “As a small school our intake each year is crucial to the future of our school. Due to the pandemic, numbers for our reception class were at just over half our capacity for September 2021.”
“We contacted CPMM and Ellie became our designated contact. Ellie guided and supported us through our marketing journey and delivered her expertise in a timely manner!”
The plan
Early collaboration and communication with the school was key in order to ensure an effective campaign.
From these early meetings with Bickerstaffe, CPMM Media was to garner crucial information about the school, its identity and what made the them stand out.
It was clear that Bickerstaffe’s scenic, natural environment was a feature that needed to be at the forefront as well as, of course, the children enjoying it. These two key components, therefore, were to be front and centre of the campaign.
Implementation
To begin, CPMM Media arranged for a photoshoot at the school. This was a carefully thought out decision in order to showcase the school’s USP.
Being in a rural, open space, it was important for the photographs to display what Bickerstaffe offered that others could not. The images displayed clearly what the school prides itself on: a unique bucolic setting that the children evidently enjoy together.
Another advantage of the photoshoot was that the school now had a suite of professional marketing images to utilise going forward.
Next, the PR and marketing experts designed and printed the bespoke, unique inserts.
Using expert knowledge and expertise, CPMM Media then liaised with various media outlets: the West Lancs edition of The Champion newspaper as well as The Challenge which covers the school’s borough, Knowsley.
The agency also ensured that the attention-grabbing leaflets were delivered to the outlets on time and ready for the appropriate edition. This was a vital step as, under the advice of the PR experts, Bickerstaffe’s headteacher had submitted a news story to run alongside the marketing material.
Further to this, CPMM targeted local nurseries within a 10 mile radius to the school. CPMM distributed leaflets and a letter from the headteacher, introducing the school and making them aware of the limited places that were still available.
Headteacher Kirstin was impressed with the professionalism and prompt expertise CPMM showed.
She said: “We had a very short time frame and within a matter of days a professional photo shoot was organised.”
“These images were crucial to the whole campaign and captured the true essence of our school! The leaflets were a huge success and with CPMM’s proficiency we reached a number of outlets from newspapers to private and school nurseries to inform them about our wonderful school!”
Result
After a full 360 degree service and expertly executed campaign, the school was able to fill the majority of the remaining spaces and many of the nurseries, that were unfamiliar with the school, have contacted Kirstin and asked to visit the school so that they can recommend it to their families.
Of course, with Bickerstaffe’s profile now raised they will be sure to reap the benefits going into 2022 and admissions for next year.
The final word to Kirstin on the affect CPMM had:
“The impact has been fantastic. We filled a number of our spaces for our reception intake in 2021 however it has also had an impact on our intake going forward. We have already been approached by a number of new families for reception 2022.”
“Thank you so much to all the team!”
