Personas are fictional, generalized characters that encompass the various needs, goals, and observed behavior patterns among our customers and potential customers. We use these composite characters to confirm our knowledge of the people we’re trying to turn into customers. Developing personas is one of the important first steps in fully understanding and using an effective inbound (or content) marketing program.
In our case, we’ve boiled down the main customers and influencers as follows: Superintendent Bill, PIO Patty, Treasurer Ted. These individuals and their respective core disciplines comprise the majority of the personas involved in selected a website hosting or CMS provider. While there are certainly others in a K-12 or private school environment who participate (business managers, board members, superintendents, et al), these three form our foundational targets for all messaging and content developed in Campus Suite marketing.
Superintendent Bill
Mid-50s, wears many hats. foremost of which is the iconic leader of the school district. He has teen children: one wrapping up high school and the other in college. He prefers big dogs, his wife, who is very supportive of his high-profile position in the community. Bill is a heavily and tightly scheduled individual who prides herself on his leadership skills and communications skills, which are critical to successfully leading the district toward its vision. A great listener with outstanding interpersonal skills, he prides herself on building and maintaining positive relationships with his staff, school board members, parent leaders and local community leaders. He leans heavily on his assistant superintendent for operational, building-level management, and relishes the role of spokesperson, front person for the district.
AVERAGE DAY:
Principals’ conferences
Meetings with operations, communications, curriculum leads
Board meetings/updates
Parent conferences
Staff conferences
Reports for state DOE
Community meetings
Extracurricular activity attendance
GOALS:
Project a positive image of the school district
Clearly communicate the vision for the district
Be accessible to all school stakeholders
Be responsive to the school board
Improve communication to parents and students
Communicating effectively with all stakeholders
Provide the staff, teachers, students and parents of this school district with the technology tools, knowledge and support
Being a good supervisor
Nurture professional development of her staff
CHALLENGES:
Budget constraints and looming uncertainties
School board politics and communication
Support resources not available to keep up with new technology
Training non-technical faculty and staff members and getting them to buy into something new
Communication with parents and teachers
TRIGGERS:
Complaints from parents, staff, other stakeholders
Website and other digital communications do not reflect the brand of the school
Website is becoming very dated and limiting the school from maximizing their greatest touchpoint
Competition from neighboring school districts or schools’ new website
Parent complaints on Social Media
ONGOING RESPONSIBILITIES:
Bond referendum/levy success/budget support
Communicating changes such as curriculum,
attendance boundaries, accountability
Marketing/communications
Crisis communications
Student performance/achievement
Communicating strategic plan
Media relations
HOW WE HELP:
Be a valuable communications partner – one less thing to worry about
Help the district articulate its mission, vision, brand
Provide a modern strategies that’s a good value to the district
Public relations Pat
Late-40s. A former journalist, Pat is the main communicator and official spokesperson for the district. Her reach spans all areas and divisions – PTO, parent engagement, superintendent’s office, alumni association, etc. She manages all the content across all media: web content, social media, crisis communications, events, email newsletters, etc. In addition, she is school board liaison and serves on the school levy committee. She is committed to the district, embraces the educational goals of the district, and recognizes the importance of communications. Married with two sons in college, Pat manages her college’s alumni Facebook page and writes a blog on scrapbooking.
AVERAGE DAY:
Staff meetings with administration
Coordinating parent programs
Administering surveys
Taking photos in schools
Writing press releases
Writing reports and correspondence for district superintendent
Sending email blasts internally and to community
Social media publishing
Attending/covering after-school-hours events
GOALS:
Improve the image of the district
Improve understanding and application of job-related skills
Streamline communication such as newsletters, press releases and social media
Streamline training users and provide intuitive tools
Free up more time by implementing efficiencies
Improve communication to parents and students
Modern technology that fits with the school’s technology program
Communicating effectively with all stakeholders
Develop community interest in the district and invite participation of parents and community members
CHALLENGES:
Finding capable writers to contribute to the school’s content machine
School Board politics and communication
Parents and teachers pushing for modern communication models – i.e. social media, text notification, email
Training non-technical faculty and staff members and getting them to buy into something new
Learning something new and migrating old website into new platform
HOW WE HELP:
Design choices, including free themes, for any budget
Experience and expertise in streamlining the build process for achieving communications goals
Social media support
Written articles and designed images for the district
Writing and Logistics support
TRIGGERS
Complaints from teachers and staff about how difficult the site is to use
Wanting to improve how the school district communicates – newsletters, mobile, social media, etc.
Website not mobile friendly and support users internally and externally on tablets and phones
Website is becoming very dated and limiting the school from maximizing their greatest touchpoint
New leaderships wanting to improve the schools image
Neighboring school districts gaining traction from new website
Poor customer support and outages
Parents vocal on their disappointment with the website and asking for better ways to communicate
Treasure Ted
Mid-50s and wears many hats, but ultimately is the “Master of Coin” for the district . He never seems to be able to get ahead because he’s moving from one ‘fire’ to the next. In addition to addressing the immediate needs of the district, he also needs to focus on the next levy request and preparing the five year forcast for the district. Married with two teenage children, Ted has a B.S. in business. He likes to relax by going on bike rides with his wife and golf his buddies.
AVERAGE DAY:
Meetings
Technology planning
Staff technical support
Training faculty and staff
Reports
Staff supervision
GOALS:
Improve the district’s website and advance the school district’s technology based on district strategy planning
Unify systems and minimize the managing various vendors
Streamline training users and provide intuitive tools
Free up more time by implementing efficiencies
Improve communication to parents and students
Technology that is compatible with today’s lifestyle such as mobile and tablets in the classroom
Communicating effectively with all stakeholders
Provide the staff, teachers, students and parents of this school district with the technology tools, knowledge and support
Being a good supervisor
Professional development
CHALLENGES:
Needing additional staffing and limited budget
School board politics and communication
Support resources not available to keep up with new technology
Training non-technical faculty and staff members and getting them to buy into something new
Communication with parents and teachers
HOW WE HELP:
Be a reliable vendor the director will view as a valuable partner – one less thing to worry about
Provide a modern turnkey solution that fits into the district technology planning
A website that makes all of the stakeholders (PTO, faculty, PR, et al) happy by addressing their needs
Dedicated resources and services for training for the rollout
Professional development for latest school technology trends through – webinars, newsletters, blog
Excellent customer service - personalized live support and help desk
Make teachers and staff happy with intuitive, easy-to-use tools
Extend their reach for communication and mobile compatibility
TRIGGERS:
Complaints from teachers and staff about how difficult the site is to use
Website is not mobile friendly (lack of support for tablets and phone users)
New technology planning and needing to upgrade website
Website is becoming very dated and limiting the school from maximizing their greatest touchpoint
New leadership wanting to improve the school’s image
Competition from neighboring school districts or schools’ new website
Poor customer support and outages
Parent complaints about website
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Personas
