Hipperholme Grammar School

Hipperholme Grammar School is an independent grammar school located in West Yorkshire who provide education for children between the ages of 3 and 18.

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Increase in school admissions

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Increase in social media engagement

Combined total reach

The Brief

We were appointed by Hipperholme Grammar School Foundation, an independent, fee-paying, coeducational school the heart of West Yorkshire to deliver an integrated PR and social media campaign within a single academic year, with a focus on increasing school admissions. The objective of the campaign was to raise awareness of the school, to ensure that it was in the ‘consideration set’ among its core target audience which would lead to increased admissions enquiries and conversions in the form of school admissions.

     

    Approach

    We utilised an external market researcher to identify the communication channels that would be most suitable to focus our activity on. From there, it was important to establish a clear set of corporate guidelines for the whole school, supported by separate messaging and positioning for both the junior and senior school communications.

    We then developed a multi-channel, strategic communications plan for increasing school admissions. A new brand bible was developed that would ensure consistent messaging for all marketing collateral and reviewed print advertising spend, reduced it to local publications and reassigned the remaining budget to social media advertising. The school’s social media accounts were overhauled; we replaced the collective Twitter account and Facebook account with individual accounts on both platforms for the junior and senior school.

    We also developed a schedule of regular, proactive press releases communicating positive news about the school and worked hard to build a close relationship with the local media outlets to enhance the school’s USPs to their target audience as well as increase overall brand awareness. Alongside the ongoing media relations, we implemented a weekly blog schedule and created a glossy new professional newsletter (also available digitally) that is distributed on a termly basis.

     

     

    Results

    On the back of our campaign activity, HGS reported their highest intake of new pupils in ten years, thus cementing its reputation as one of the leading grammar schools in Calderdale and the wider region. During the campaign period itself, admission enquiries, open day attendances and number of school admissions increased by at least 20% compared to the previous year. Overall, the campaign delivered on all objectives, the social media engagement increased by over 110% on each channel/platform and the PR coverage reached a total of more than 12.5million people.