Cornerstone Day School Analysis

By: Nairooz Alshumrani and Ghofran Batterjee

About the School

            “Cornerstone Day School is a private therapeutic school for students in grades 5-12 with major emotional and psychiatric problems. It is also the only school in New Jersey that is academically accredited by the Middle States Association and NIPSA, and clinically licensed by the NJ Division of Mental Health to provide mental health services.” (1)

Cornerstone Day School Marketing Campaign

Since we do not have enough data, such as how the school is doing and how many visitors and clicks they have, to come up with a solid behavioral marketing campaign, we analyzed it with a more general approach and came up with innovative ideas that will improve the school’s performance.

After analyzing Cornerstone Day School’s website, we found out that there are things on the website and the online marketing strategy that needed to be changed or updated. Starting with the website, which had almost all the elements to be perfect but we suggest the following:

1-    The website has the same image in every category at the navigation bar, so we recommend replacing this image with new and genuine pictures that will make consumers, who are the parents of children with special needs, more attached to the school.

2-    The website has the address of the school, which is good, but we suggest that the school adds a map for its location because in Google Maps there are two locations for Cornerstone Day School, and that is confusing!

3-    The school’s Parents Newsletter have not been updated since December 2016, so it needs to be updated more frequently!

4-    Lastly, the school needs to add social media icons such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook on their home page.

The last point actually takes us to the next thing that needs to be changed which is the online marketing strategy. We have noticed that the school is only using emails to be connected with parents and it does not have any other connection through media channels.

With the immense of numerous platforms of digital media, depending on only one source of connection is not enough for any institution or business to be well-known due to the massive number of competitors. Therefore, our major objective of the online marketing strategy for the Cornerstone Day School is to increase awareness and word of mouth so the school can reach as many parents as possible. For that, we suggest that the Cornerstone Day School should use native advertising, affiliate marketing and have more participation in social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Since we are in the era of speed and technology, almost everyone is involved in at least one platform of social media on the internet. Parents of children with special needs, such as eating disorders, will definitely go online and search for specific topics concerning their beloved ones. Therefore, a specialized school such as Cornerstone Day School can use two ways to target those parents.

·      The first way is using native advertising by sponsoring a written article in a famous newspaper or magazine online to achieve click through, so that parents can land on the home page of the school, read and collect more information about the various sections in it.

·       The second way is using affiliate marketing where the school can track customers using the Affiliate tracking software and Affiliates can send targeted traffic (parents who are ready to register their children in the school) to the school’s website.

·      In addition, many people rely on social media channels for news these days, why not benefit from it? The school should have accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and should be active on those platforms by posting updated posts, blogs and photo of delighted children during an indoor (participating in an art class) or an outdoor activity (playing basketball) to reach parent’s emotions.

By modifying Cornerstone Day School’s website and following the above steps of online marketing campaign, the school will definitely increase its revenue and the number of people who are interested in special schools.

What is beauty?

Who can describe beauty? What does it mean? What is the real definition of the word? How can you tell if that woman is beautiful or not? Some might see her as a beauty queen while others may not. In terms of the universal standards of beauty, people argue that there are no metrics for beauty due to the differences among cultures. With media all around, women have found themselves surrounded by photos of thin celebrities with fine skin and free of impurities. Regrettably, those pictures are not real and had been modified to attract as many people as possible. Unfortunately, many people believe in those fake advertisements, especially women, and start comparing themselves with these fabricated photos while putting their bodies and skin under unfair comparison and experiences. 

Dove is a well-known beauty company that was established back in 1930. It sells various choices of products concerning men and women’s beauty by focusing on the consumer’s needs rather than the product. In the past few years, the company realized that by going down the same path as other beauty supply companies, it would benefit neither Dove nor it’s consumers. For that reason, it managed to change the company’s strategy to embrace all types of women in every community no matter what their skin colors is, their age differences, their ethnicity or their body shape and figure. In a study that was conducted by their PR agency, Edelman, the results were unpleasant. It showed that only 2% of 3,000 women in 10 different countries considered themselves beautiful. That’s why one of the most modern and successful marketing campaigns and most talked about is the Dove campaign for real beauty, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-10_n_4575940.html. It revealed how women really think of themselves in a tacky way instead of looking at the bright side and see their natural beauty and what differentiate them from others. This video became one of the most watched videos of all times on YouTube due to its message. In this campaign, Dove’s strategy was to increase consumer awareness by sending a key message to women on how to focus more on their normal beauty.

Dove’s vision is simply about being confident with your look and be positive about it. They are trying to raise women’s self-esteem by showing them that beauty should be a source of confidence, not an anxiety. They have three main campaigns that started back in 2004, one of them is the Dove self-esteem project, another is the education about self-esteem in young people, and finally, partnerships. This demonstrates that the company is concerned with the consumer, not just the products and revenue, which makes a connection between the brand and the consumer. To read more about Dove’s vision, products or even stories, visit https://www.dove.com/us/en/stories/about-dove/our-vision.html.

For every company that has the main objective of selling products and claim the material return, the marketing mix is essential. Starting with the product (1), Dove has accomplished having a large variety of choices including shampoo’s, conditioners, creams, lotions and other beauty products for both genders, male and female. For the price strategy (2), Dove is suitable for almost anybody due to its value based pricing, promotional pricing, and penetration pricing. Place (3), Dove has distribution channels such as supermarkets, pharmacies and hypermarts and indirect marketing channels. (4) for promotion, Dove’s advertising strategy is commercials and advertisement. To conclude, Dove has differentiated itself than other companies in the same field by focusing on several modern strategies with new ideas that match the market. That definitely supported the company to have a huge audience in a very competitive market.

https://www.pinterest.com/gbatterjee/doves-real-beauty-campaign/

 Blog Assignment 2

The Urban Cultivator      

The Urban Cultivator (UC) is the chosen product for this assignment. It is an indoor garden (mini hydroponic system) for the kitchen.

1)    The layout of the website:

·      The layout of the page is simple and it is easy to find information that guides you step by step through the website to find the suitable information needed.

·      Their mascot, which is located in the middle top of the page next to the name, is a green leave inside a building, the leaf usually is a symbol of natural spirits, a source of organic food and maybe energy. Having the leaf inside the building demonstrates growth, fertility, and indoor planting.

·      Their target audience is residents, famous hotels such as the Four Seasons, and large business companies like Google.

·      The headers are straight forward with clear titles to guide the visitor to more important information, and the footer has basic information on how to contact them and what channels on social media they are currently using and active on.  

·      With a simple click, you can travel to other pages and gather beneficial information or proceed to buy some of their products such as seeds, supplies or accessories.

·      White spaces are available on the main page instead of organizing the web page with multiple passages, it makes it easier to read rather than just listing a bunch of information.

·      The section up the fold contains the visual picture of the Urban Cultivator and basic information about it. The general perspective of the page gives you comfort and serenity due to the consistency between colors and space.

·      The message and vision of the UC team are focused and clear on the web page.

·      Keywords such as healthy, organic, natural are repeated on the page to ensure their message.

2)    My point of view:

·      The UC is easy to find through search engines.

·      Because of the direct, friendly and trustworthy tone of voice on the website, they make the picture of having a healthy balanced lifestyle seem simple by implanting indoor, harvesting just seconds before arranging the table.

·      As a Spokesperson, only the founders are appearing to talk about the UC. I believe that if a well-known celebrity like Oprah Winfrey talked about the UC in one of her magazines or hosted the founders on her show, it would be a major change point in the UC sales and awareness.  

·      Facebook and Instagram posts are up to date and YouTube videos are more into details.

·      What I get from their web is that you don’t have to be enthusiastic about gardening to buy their product. Their goal is clearly to make people eat better food that is packed with nutrition and full of flavors with simple easy steps.

·      The website distinguished findability, accessibility, usability, and credibility.

·      The team responds quickly on Facebook, Twitter and the main site to any additional questions.

Conducting a SWOT analysis on the web page:

v Strengths:

o   They are going global and visiting several different countries.

o   The machine comes in two sizes, the residential which is suitable for the family, and the commercial for hotels and restaurants.

o   It comes with a 3-year warranty.

o   They have posts on news websites and magazines.

o   Contacting the team of the UC is easy through the official site, Facebook, and twitter.

v Weaknesses:

o   Shortage of traditional marketing ways such as television. This means only people who are willing to look for the UC will find it rather than being spread widely through traditional marketing ways to attract more audience.

o   The price is high compared to other indoor garden systems.

v Opportunities:

o   Invest in a smartphone application to control the device from distance.

o   Translating the main website into international languages like Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin and Urdu.

o   Start a partnership with a local supply home store such as Home Depot.

v Threats:

o   The indoor garden system is expanding and changing fast. There are several other brands that defy the UC in Europe and New Zeeland.