In 2020, Gary Hipple, Head of School Support Services for Wandsworth Council, got in touch. Gary was keen to explore how we could help improve the sales performance of his department.
Several council departments across the country are increasingly looking at how to improve revenue generation of traded services. This requires a refinement of the proposition and much more focused marketing that actually resonates with the target audience.
In addition to borough based marketing, Gary was keen to see how the services could reach a wider audience where there were gaps in provision.
School Headteachers and Business Managers are a niche audience. While West Creative already had some experience in this market via work on SLS UK, we still wanted to gain additional insights. A series of depth interviews were held with Headteachers across existing accounts, lapsed accounts and schools who hadn't engaged with the service. This allowed us to find valuable insights to inform the marketing and sales strategy.
PASSION BRAND
At the heart of what motivates the teams within Wandsworth Traded Services is the development of children's education. However, this passion was all too often lost by over explaining the features and characteristics of each service.
By placing passion at the core of the proposition we were able to demonstrate how the service meets the priorities that school leaders are most concerned about.
Smart School Services
Recognising that the offer is Wandsworth Based, with a London wide provision, we developed an identity that is not location specific. A focus on expertise and passion creates immediate relevance for the target audience and joins the dots between the services and education in the classroom.
"We wanted to bring these disparate services together to improve our support for schools and knew we needed to develop a brand to help us do so. Without marketing expertise in-house we were unsure how best to proceed, but by working with West Creative we were given a clear path to realise this. From listening to our initial requirements James brought fresh, challenging thinking to workshops and was able to support a ladder of activities that helped us achieve our aims."
Gary Hipple, Wandsworth Council
COMMISSION DELIVERABLES INCLUDED:
RESEARCH & STRATEGY
A series of depth interviews held with Headteachers and School Business Managers provide unique and tangible insight to inform the marketing and sales strategy. This was held alongside two workshops with the team, involving everyone in the process of change.
DIGITAL MARKETING
After creating a series of recommendations, West Creative led on creating a passion-led brand identity and an online brochure style overview of their combined offer.
EXPERTISE
The expertise of every staff member and how they interact with schools to advance their own performance is central to the offer. West Creative developed a capacity building programme to support staff across the department to increase their profile as experts through a series of thought leadership initiatives.
RECOMENDATIONS & SUPPORT
Changing perceptions is a long term journey. To support the department, West Creative created a series of short, medium and long term recomendatiomns to map out a journey of change. This, in turn, has created partnership that continues as the department implements different stages based on data and insight.
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