Changing Local Community Culture

in Support of Education for a Tennessee Town: “The Grass is Greener Where You Water It”

#GrowMaury

Introduction

• Overview of Mary Beth West Communications, LLC

• Overview of Maury County / Education Advocacy Situation

• How the Campaign Evolved

• Research

• Creative Development

• Community Outreach

• Results Achieved to Date

MBWC Agency Overview

• Founded 13 years ago as a public relations consultancy, focused on strategic communications

• Based in Greater Knoxville, Tenn.

Partial Snapshot of MBWC Clients

About Maury County

Population: 85,000

County seat: Columbia

Other primary municipalities: Spring Hill, Mt. Pleasant

Median household income: $46,565

One county-based school system: 12,263 students; 799 teachers

Ave. ACT Score: 18.6 (19.4 state ave.)

Graduation Rate: 90.8% (87.8% state ave.)

About the Maury Alliance

• Maury County’s Chamber of Commerce and the primary organizational driver of economic development for the county

• Includes an Education Task Force, which issued an RFP for agency services to advance Maury County Schools’ reputation in Q4 2014

Maury County’s Next-Door Neighbor / “Competitor”: Williamson County

Population: 205,226 County seat: Franklin

Other primary municipalities: Brentwood Median household income: $91,743 (highest per-capita income county in Tennessee)

Two School Systems: Franklin (city), Williamson County Williamson: 35,378 students; 2,183 teachers

Ave. ACT Score: 23.8 (19.4 state ave.) Graduation Rate: 95.5% (87.8% state ave.)

Key Challenges

• Existing reputation for under-performing schools seemed to be firmly rooted in the community (but success stories – many of them untold – persisted, despite challenging test scores) • A need to tell the success stories without whitewashing the need for

school system improvement

• Leadership transition taking place right as our campaign was seeking to take shape

• Limited budget; no budget available for advertising component – would need to rely solely on PR / social media / community outreach to gather visibility

• Deadline of July 29, 2015 to have all kick-off elements in place (teacher in-service day for start-up of new academic year)

Our Focus

Measurably establish a solid, positive foundation for a long-term education advocacy campaign supporting the advancement of Maury County Public Schools’ reputation locally, regionally / statewide and among key stakeholder audiences – thereby supporting Maury County’s larger economic development strategy

Timeline of Our Work in 2015

• January 2015 – Awarded contract via RFP

• March 2015 – 1 ½ day site visit to Maury County by MBWC to speak with stakeholder groups and gather key directional information for campaign strategy

• April-July 2015 – Market research conducted, creative/visual campaign developed, PR and social media plans developed

• July 29, 2015 – Campaign unveiled at teacher in-service

• August-November 2015 – Campaign in progress via social media, media coverage, community events, signage

Key Work Scopes

• Market research to help develop baseline metrics

• Creation and approval of “The Grass is Greener Where you Water It” concept

• Creative and visual development (graphics, signage, fliers, social media visuals, etc.)

• Assistance with kick-off event

• Media relations campaign (monthly editorial focus / content areas)

• Social media campaign; promotion of #GrowMaury hashtag (including Oct. Twitter chat)

• Third-party outreach / relationship-building

• Campaign strategy and ongoing development

Initial Objectives

To implement a successful internal roll-out within MCPS to enlist full administrator, educator and staff support, participation and word-of-mouth for the forthcoming campaign

To generate positive content that achieves millions of audience impressions in earned media and online audience engagement

To develop a branded messaging campaign in collaboration with the Maury Alliance Task Force and the new incoming MCPS director that launches in tandem with the start-up of the 2015-16 school year

To shift realtor community perceptions of MCPS’ education-quality reputation

Developing a Core Campaign Message

Criteria: The campaign message needed to….

• Place students and their needs / their futures front-and-center

• Connect students’ educational outcomes with economic success for the entire community

• Have a very positive, upbeat and future-forward tone

• Avoid a “we’re better than Williamson County” or any type of competitive “sour grapes” mentality

• Encourage the full community to embrace the positive things already happening in the schools (which our team learned about anecdotally during our March discovery site visit)

• Incorporate strong potential for longevity (a multi-year campaign)

Key Ideas / Terms / Imagery

Growth

Brightness / Vitality

Green

Education imagery

Welcoming / Engaging

“The Grass is Greener Where

You Water It.”

Watch us flourish on this side of the fence!

Subtext: It’s what we nurture over time through consistent

love, care and investment that grows into something we

embrace and take pride in, both now and in the future.

Objective 1: To implement an internal roll-out within MCPS to enlist full administrator, educator and staff support, participation

and word-of-mouth for the forthcoming campaign Outcomes to date:

• Full campaign visuals were in place with supporting materials for the launch date of July 29

• Widespread social media engagement was achieved as well as targeted media coverage in the first week of the campaign

• Ongoing social media, media coverage and e-newslettering to school system employees as well as parents have continued monthly since the campaign launch

#GrowMaury @MaryBethWest

#GrowMaury @MaryBethWest

Objective 2: To generate positive content that achieves millions of audience impressions in earned media and online audience

engagement Outcomes within only four months of campaign start-up:

• 14 positive stories and mentions generated in 3 ½ months

• Nearly 2.7 million in earned media (i.e. news/editorial) audience impressions achieved through print and online coverage

• Overall decrease registered in negative coverage about the schools during this timeframe, compared year-over-year

• Twitter impressions increased by 500 percent in October 2015 alone, thanks to the Twitter chat hosted by #GrowMaury / Dr. Marczak

#GrowMaury @MaryBethWest

Objective 3: To develop a branded messaging campaign in collaboration with the Maury Alliance Task Force and the new

incoming MCPS director that launches in tandem with the start-up of the 2015-16 school year

Outcomes to date:

• Quickly-adopted creative tagline and visual campaign approved by the Maury Alliance Education Task Force • “The Grass is Greener Where You Water It”

• Highly successful and visible launch spearheaded in late July and sustained for four months… with solid plans for continuation of the momentum into 2016

• Tennessee Promise – 100% participation achieved

Dr. Chris Marczak (@cjmarczak)

New MCPS

Director of Schools

Hired in Aug. 2015

Social Media Graphics Spotlighted Student Success Stories

(organic reach in the thousands)

FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid: the first step

toward getting federal aid for college, career school, or graduate

school… Maury among top 8 counties for completion as of 2/16/16.

Objective 4: To shift realtor community perceptions of MCPS’s education-quality reputation

Outcomes to date:

NOTE: Realtor market research indicated after this objective was initially set forth that realtors are actually not purposefully steering homebuyers away from Maury County properties… that instead, realtors generally take direction as dictated by property buyers’ own stated desires and research as to which community and what types of housing stock meet the buyers’ criteria. • Resources originally earmarked for targeted outreach to realtors for purposes

of opinion change were therefore redirected to more broad communications efforts already in place for the campaign.

2016 Campaign Continuation

Core elements:

• Maintain the goal / objectives originally set forth in 2015, with the exception of the fourth goal (realtors)

• Transition the campaign to a fully public-facing campaign with higher levels of actual engagement / interaction • Build on base of earned media and social media traffic generated to date

• More events for diverse stakeholders to participate in, in-person and online

• Enhance content to drive ideas, tips and call-to-action by establishing 4 quarterly themes: • Q1: Getting Workforce-Ready / Industry Opportunities

• Q2: Job Prep and Competitiveness / Soft Skills

• Q3: Parental and Business Community Involvement

• Q4: Tennessee Promise and Mentor Enrollment

2016 Campaign Thematic Timeline

• Q1: Getting Workforce-Ready / Industry Opportunities • Heavy content on Maury-based business and industry opportunities and

commensurate job skills; connecting employers to the school system in visible ways

• Q2: Job Prep and Competitiveness / Soft Skills • Summer jobs and interviewing preparedness

• Q3: Parental and Business Community Involvement • *Start of new academic year: key kick-off timeframe to get students,

parents and entire community in right mindset to support MCPS

• Q4: Tennessee Promise and Mentor Enrollment • Meet / exceed goals for TN Promise AND mentor enrollment

Continued Elements Keeping the Momentum Going

• Media relations and story opportunities

• Keep the pace in The Daily Herald

• Broaden reach to Nashville media

• Integrate content with Dr. Marczak’s own leadership messaging

• Social media / online events

• More Twitter chats (make these a more routine part of the campaign that people can expect)

New Elements Spur More Face-to-Face Contact and Engagement

• Maury-based photography and video • Video is perfect for :30-:45 second short-form testimonials and

sharable content to promote the campaign’s messages

• Speakers bureau (taking the campaign’s message out on a mini-speakers circuit in Maury and beyond)

• In-person education forums / roundtables with heavy public participation both on-site and in social media • Pre-event promotions (social and news coverage)

• On-site Tweeting and hashtag use with live displays of hashtag conversations during the forums; Periscope to broadcast on social media for free

April 26, 2016 #GrowMaury Community Roundtable Event Attended by Hundreds, Spurring Hundreds of

Thousands in Social Media Reach

Panel event headlined by state education and local workforce / industry leaders

Spring 2016:

New social

media graphics

are spotlighting

local employers

in Maury

County who are

products of

Maury County

Public Schools

and have

advice for

career success

to new grads.

Multi-award-winning

campaign, as judged through

peer review via the

Public Relations Society of

America

Award of Excellence –

Market Research Category

Nashville Chapter

Award of Excellence –

Integrated Campaigns Category

Knoxville Chapter

Closing Comments

• Role and importance of public relations strategy in economic development-driven campaigns

• How communities – even more rural communities and those that might typically be on the more cynical side – can become vested in a strategically driven campaign

• Lessons learned: a PR campaign alone isn’t enough

• Community leadership at the grassroots must be committed and visually present / involved

mb@marybethwest.com @marybethwest @MBWComm