Get the most out of working with a school marketing agency
Nobody likes surprises, especially when it comes to finances and the finished product. Here’s a preview of what to expect when you work with us.
The owner’s manual for working with a professional digital marketing agency
Think of this page as an owner’s manual. It explains how we communicate, who owns what, how website projects run and how we approach budgets and pricing, so you know what to expect before we start.
Still choosing a partner? Read our guide to choosing the right digital marketing agency for your school.
Communication
Poor communication can sabotage even the best strategy. These policies keep information flowing both ways.
Open door policy
Questions and feedback are always welcome. If you expect a call to run longer than about 10 minutes, please email first so we can set aside the time. We don’t bill by the hour, but we do allocate our time by the hour.
Communication systems
We manage project conversations in Basecamp. Notifications arrive by email, and you can reply to them directly from your inbox.
Meeting punctuality
Virtual meetings only work when both sides dial in on time. Please put meetings on your calendar and let us know as early as possible if you need to run late or reschedule.
What’s new?
Tell us about upcoming events and changes in direction early. Lead times and strategy depend on them, so the more notice you give us, the better.
Courtesy acknowledgements
Please confirm you’ve received our messages, even if you can’t act on them yet. A quick reply keeps work from stalling over a missed email.
Clarity of communication
Include some background and context with each request. We can’t assume what we don’t know, and a short overview saves a round of follow-up questions.
Who owns what?
Our general philosophy: once your financial obligations are met, you own your work, or at least hold the rights to use it.
Social media
Technically, neither of us owns accounts on platforms like Facebook; the platforms do. You’ll always have administrative rights to your school’s accounts.
Website
You have permanent rights to your website content and can take it with you. Some “hosted solution” setups limit how portable the site itself is.
Marketing funnels and creative work
We keep the intellectual property in our library of tested marketing funnels, and you get a permanent license to use the materials we create for you.
Images we provide
Stock photos are licensed, and that license extends to you for the original project only.
Images you provide
Images you give us remain yours. We won’t reuse them without your permission.
Website development
Website projects go faster, and turn out better, with a little planning up front.
See what the result looks like in our school website portfolio.
- Avoid design by trial and error
- Agree on creative direction before design starts. Send us examples of websites you like and don’t like. We use them to build a creative brief, not to copy those designs.
- Logo
- Provide the highest-resolution logo you have, ideally in PSD, AI or TIFF format, with versions for light and dark backgrounds if possible.
- Avoid trickling changes
- Our goal is a solid design within three rounds of revisions. Batch your feedback into rounds instead of sending changes a few at a time.
- Image selection
- Real, high-resolution photos of your school always beat stock images, and we can’t improve on a poor-quality source photo. Stock photos from Shutterstock can serve as placeholders or permanent images, and you’re welcome to browse the library and suggest your own picks.
- Organizing content
- Put the text and images for each page in its own folder in your Basecamp project. Organized content speeds up production.
- Response time
- Quick feedback keeps your project on schedule. A few days’ delay on each round can add up to weeks.
Budgets, expectations and pricing
Paid advertising budgets
Underfunding a campaign to “test” it first tends to produce misleading results. We analyze your budget and make recommendations, and you’re always free to accept or reject them.
Expectations
We hope every project is worthy of a case study, so we ask you to share your results with us, at your discretion. Keep in mind that some strategies, such as social and display ads, also build brand awareness that can affect other channels indirectly, including after a campaign is paused.
Our pricing philosophy
We work on retainers, not hourly billing, although we budget our resources by the hour and adjust priorities to fit your budget. We don’t charge extra for services we can perform ourselves. Third-party advertising and services are paid separately.
Summing it up…
This page is an owner’s manual, not a contract. It’s here so we can work together smoothly and get the best results for your school.
Huzzah! You made it all the way through…
If this sounds like the kind of partnership your school is looking for, let’s talk.
Jordan always responds so quickly and hits my vision with anything that is related to our website. I am always kept in the loop on our Ad performance with monthly reports and recommendations made based on performance.
