Q: App for Parents, Students, and Teachers
/I’m an experienced marketer within the private sector and have just moved to a role within a secondary setting. Lots to learn and your podcasts are so helpful — despite us being a U.K. state Catholic school there are lots of synergies.
My Q for today …An app has been developed (prior to me starting) and it’s been handed to me to get to market. So I’m looking for expertise and insight re how to launch it to parents, students and teachers. It doesn’t need to be an all singing all dancing launch campaign — after all we aren’t selling anything in the traditional sense and we have our audience at the ready — and the app is free.
It hasn’t been beta tested yet so that’s my first hurdle in terms of influencing SLT! I understand the need to ensure all comms focus on the pain point solutions provided by the app, a walk-through demo, clearly explain what it will cover, and what they will need to get via other websites/apps.
But in terms of actual launch ideas have any podcasts or articles covered this? Or has anyone any insight to share? Are there other things to be aware of? To ensure the app does or doesn’t do?
The apps news feed can be linked to social feeds which, as a social marketer, I don’t agree with as social needs its own strategy and feeds all need relevant and appropriate content. But in the meantime, until I can see the need for a strategy and a person to manage it, it might have to suffice. All thoughts welcome, it would be hugely helpful. ANONYMOUS
A: CAYLOR
This is a great question. Here are some suggestions from our experience working with Digistorm to launch some apps for our schools (be sure to reach out to Jamie Giblett (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiegiblett/) for more info):
Create a list of all the benefits that the parents will receive from downloading the app:
Push notifications
Easy access to the most relevant info (calendar)
Ability to customize their notifications based on the activity their child is involved in
Ease of use for tuition payments
Etc.
Recruit your PTA or parent's council to understand and promote
Create materials around the benefits:
PDF - both digital and flyers to print and send home with kids
Signage & Banners for school and for pick up line for cars
Email
Social Media Posts
Podcast
Digital Ride-along ads for other emails (bill reminders, announcements, etc.)
Consider incentives. Perhaps swag, or even some kind of digital asset that you could share.
Encourage reviews (request a core group to review on app stores).
I hope that helps.
A: CAIN
I don’t have any experience with school apps.
But I’m curious to know what are the goals of the app and is there a way of measuring success with it.
I’d start there.
A: MAJOR
Launching a mobile app is an exciting time for a school, considering that most parents spend over 80% of their time on mobile devices in apps. This is a great way to reach families. To promote the mobile app, we recommend the following
Hand out "business cards" with a QR code to download the app. You can keep these business cards at the front office, and bring them to campus events (if they're in-person).
Promote it in your newsletter — and not just one time. Keep a static panel at the bottom of every email that promotes your mobile app, the same way you promote your social media.
Use a website page pop to promote the app upon launch for 30 days.
Use push notifications to keep parents engaged with the app content and prove its importance — especially within the first 30 days.
If your school uses password-protected portals or secure social media groups, promote it there as well. We don't recommend promoting your app on public social media channels, as the app may contain private information about your community.
The best way to get buy-in and use from your community is to, in fact, make your mobile app useful. Keep it up to date, use push notifications, and ensure it is delivering personalized content to your community members. Like anything, if you don't use it right, or use it at all, it's a waste to you and your community.
Here are a couple of additional blogs you may find helpful:
https://www.finalsite.com/blog/p/~board/b/post/mobile-app-improves-engagement-retention
https://www.finalsite.com/blog/p/~board/b/post/mobile-app-for-schools-guide
