Problem
Founded in 1971, Landmark School is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of language-based learning disabilities. The Landmark School Outreach Program (a division of Landmark School) offers consulting, graduate courses, seminars, and online courses to help educators enhance their instruction of students with language-based learning disabilities (LBLD). While Landmark has tremendous brand equity and awareness with respect to its core offering of a destination school for those with LBLD, it was unsatisfied with its ability to attract customers for its online programs.
Based on GHS’ track record of results-driven strategies in the digital realm for institutions such as Brown University, Landmark engaged GHS to perform an audit of Landmark’s strategy, content, and marketing for its online presence, and present an execution plan that Landmark’s staff could implement.
The GHS Models At Work
Mirror of Desire
In order to determine the aspirational value Landmark’s offering unlocked in their desired customers, GHS first had to help Landmark see that they were off the mark with respect to what drove these desired customers. As we discovered, the messaging over-emphasized “features” of the program — such as certificates — and de-emphasized the actual reason why these educators would turn to Landmark in the first place: A felt need to help at-risk students.
Customer As Teacher
Once this value was defined, GHS illustrated how Landmark’s current assets – whether video or whitepapers – could be repurposed in a manner that allowed for those teachers who had benefited from Landmark’s pedagogy to tell their stories of success… That is, to explain how Landmark’s offering enabled them to do what they got into teaching to do in the first place: help those in need.
Architecture of Participation
Once this Mirror of Desire had been identified, and the burden of describing the benefits of Landmark’s offering shifted from Landmark to its customers, GHS developed an approach for Landmark to scale their offering via a digital media strategy, as well as a more efficient and measured CRM and email tactics.
RESULT
Via our proprietary models, GHS was able to clearly identify the reason for gaps between the powerful Brand Equity of Landmark’s on-site presence and its online aspirations. Once identified, we were able to provide tactics and strategies that better articulated the value proposition via a repurposing of Landmark’s assets and a more efficient awareness-building approach. Significantly, our tactical recommendations introduced a much more robust system of quantitative analysis in order to take the “guesswork” out of Landmark’s communication efforts.
Landmark implemented the tactics and strategies that GHS developed and immediately began seeing a demonstrable and measurable impact. Landmark now has clarity with respect to their values — as Bob Broudo, Landmark’s Head of School says, “A mission with a school, rather than the school being the mission” — and a clear path and plan to grow not only their online presence but to confront the various changing technologies.