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October 2018

Covering the strategic waterfront

Among marketing and advertising folks, there is a well-known case study of a product launch in the mid-1960s that failed spectacularly.

The product was a new brand of dog food, and the reason the launch became famous was the extreme lengths the company went to research the prelaunch of the product. Everything was tested – the shape and design of the packaging, the color of the lettering, the background graphics, and the habits of dog owners as they strolled through the store.

Nothing was left to chance. Everything was vetted via shopper intercepts, focus groups, interviews, etc. And yet, the product bombed.

Care to guess why?

Nobody asked the dogs. Turns out initial sales were great, until pet owners discovered their dogs didn’t like the taste and refused to eat it. The product sank like a rock.

We’ve witnessed similar instances in K12 with strategic planning that failed to cover all the bases. Time after time, we see school districts spend months working with a strategic planning committee to identify upgrades, changes and new policies to only have those fail once implemented in the community.

When Patron Insight works with school districts on strategic planning, we ramp up the data collection phase to insure two things:

Everyone in the district has a say in the process.
Everyone is informed about potential changes in the district well in advance of any changes.

Our methodology includes a statistically-accurate patron telephone survey, online surveys for parents, students, staff and the public, and interviews with key opinion leaders. We encourage our school district clients to seek the input of all patrons in the process and publish results of the surveys as they happen.

Using this approach, our clients find once it’s time to implement their strategic planning initiatives, everything falls in place without a hitch.

As Dr. Tim Hadfield, superintendent of the Camdenton School District (Mo.), said, “We’ve never had a strategic plan go this smoothly.”

Is your district about to get started on a strategic planning process? Let Patron Insight help. Contact Rick Nobles at rick@patroninsight.com or (913) 484-0920.

Cloudy, with a chance of disaster?

There has been a lot of news lately about the low wages, scant benefits and stressful working conditions at several Fortune 500 companies. Corporate CEOs are increasingly under fire for the disparity between their millions in compensation versus their average worker having to rely on food stamps.

In general, we’re hearing more and more about companies with “toxic cultures” that threaten not only the company’s brand but the very viability of the business. Strikes, boycotts and social media harassment are some of the more common forms of rebellion against a toxic culture.

Climate Studies are among the most common methodology used to uncover, identify and begin to correct working conditions that are not conducive to productive outcomes. Typically, Climate Studies take the form of online surveys.

For K12, a Climate Study is completed at the building level and should include everyone who enters the building – administration, staff, students, parents and visitors. Topics covered may include safety and security, a welcoming environment, acceptance of diversity, quality of teachers, etc.

We recommend school districts conduct Climate Studies every three to five years to lessen their chances for a disaster by learning what’s really going on inside their district.

Learn more about our climate study process.

A new way to look at the
concept of value

In this ever-changing economy, your patrons are constantly monitoring how your district is spending money and whether they are getting good value for the tax dollars spent.

But how do patrons decide whether or not they are getting good value? What they are telling us, via our research, is their value equation has three parts to it:

What I see: Do the buildings look cared for? Do the students who are being educated appear to be solid citizens in the community? (Good luck with having that be viewed as universally the case.) Do the teachers, principals, administrators and Board of Education members seem to be pulling in the same, positive direction?

What I hear: Not so much from the district – although news from the Central Office and the individual schools does play a part – but more from what the neighbors are telling me. What the teachers are saying. What my kids are saying about what happens in school.

What I believe: Do I start with the general view that the school district is effective and efficiently run, or do I have nagging questions? What’s happening that’s impacting that view?

Easy? Hardly.

But understanding that value is not something that the majority of your patrons associate with a numerical equation will help guide your brand-building communications toward messages that demonstrate value on the patrons’ terms.

Welcome to our new clients:

~ Chequamegon School District (Wis.)

~ Paola USD 368 (Kan.)

Welcome back to these clients:

~ Dallas County R-I School District (Mo.)

~ Hancock Place School District (Mo.)

~ Kearney School District (Mo.)

~ Lawrence Public Schools (Kan.)

Patron Insight, Inc
19733 Birch StreetStilwell, KS 66085 www.patroninsight.com
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October 2018

Covering the strategic waterfront

Cloudy, with a chance of disaster?

A new way to look at the concept of value

A new way to look at the
concept of value