Know-How Exchange : Branding

Can you tell us a little more about what your software does?

How does it help the schools?
What problem does it solve?
What type of schools? elementary, middle, high school, college, technical, all of the above?
Is your main client the schools, the district?
Who is the person responsible for desiring this? Teachers, Admins, Clerical, etc.

Answers to these will hep us give the most suitable ideas?

Mike

The software works around automating and consolidating their work processes in the areas of facility management, business operations and IT management. Our clients are al types of schools, public, private, and higher education. The main client in the pubic K-12 sector is the district. Depending on the product, the end users are administrators, facility directors, technology directors, and various staff who may perform maintenance, clerical, transportation, event planning or other functions.

The advantages of SaaS for schools is that the investment is much lower than purchasing, implementing and supporting some sort of in-house solution -- yet the benefits can be almost immediate,

As a former school-board member I've attended many of these tradeshows.

In most cases I'm looking for savings..THIS year. I want to show that we didn't raise taxes again and there's a reason we didn't

My fiscal year started 10/1 and my budget is set. What can you replace for me?

I'm going to pink-slip 10% of my teachers every May. Can you help me with that?

Is your price over 10K? If so I have to open the meeting up for public discussion.

Sorry, probably not what you were looking for.

Michael

By offering a SaaS solution, I see you have cut the cost of the software down.

A good place to start a sales pitch would probably be having a business discussion and consultation with the school district's CFO. Communicate the operational value of the software versus cost to the district.

Prove that the software is a necessity to addresss administrator MY pain points. It's a utility akin to electric, heat.

In your description of the software benefits, I still do not clearly see what pain points you will address for me. The value in your product is addressing pain points; saving me money; easy, headache-free and downtime-free implementation; economical implementation.

How will you support and guarantee the implementation?

How can you make this software fit into my budget midstream?

What is the conversion process? Time frame to convert? $$ to convert? Time frame to train? Testing?

Those are some of the questions I would want answered up front.

Marketing-Riot

Folks,

all of these are great questions and points to consider. Believe me, we've considered all of that. I'm not looking for sales strategy here. What I asked for was a creative concept -- words, phrases -- that help me make the point of offering them hope. The specifics, the pain points, the quantifiable data will follow.

I posted this under branding. So far tinker is the only one that has offered me any ideas. anyone else want to contribute before I close this?

Totally Smart. Totally Affordable.

Achieve Results. Achieve Budget.

Bright Solutions for Brighter Schools

Better Solutions for Brighter Futures

Bright Futures with PRODUCT

Look Forward to a Bright New Future in Administration

Bright Ideas. Bright Solutions.

Marketing-Riot

i think that the message that you have to give is around this song - Greatest love of all

"I believe that children ARE our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be"

im trying to create a concept about and around the future and the possibilities that your softw can give.
In a quick thought....

"Educate our children, rely on us everything else"

Saying "OUR" it gives me the sense that you are making your product also for your childrens...so would you make a bad product for them ?...NO
..kind of implicit message of trust.
I think theres no need to say in the message that "everything else" is facility management, business operations and IT management.
Sorry for my english , im from Argentina ;)

I like this concept:

Don't let shrinking budgets be the bully of your school.

Let our Software counsel you to real savings NOW!

I think you can have real fun with the imagery and graphics. The whole bully idea will work well in the K-12 universe.

SOFTWARE NAME
Education is Looking Brighter

SOFTWARE NAME
A Bright New Future for Education

Marketing-Riot

The Smart Efficient Way to Manage Resources
The Cost Effective Way to Manage School Resources
Cost Effective Technology for Managing School Resources.
Tough Times Require Efficient Solutions
We Provide the Tools to Manage Your Resources Efficiently
Efficiency Saves Money - We Provide the Tools to Become Efficient

Mike

Thanks for all the input!

doubleb

There's some lovely phrases up there but I would tailor your savings messages for each of the schools by listening carefully to the way they describe their pain. But you do need to have mapped out all the key decision makers and the people that influence them. Talk and listen to them carefully, ask who else might be consulted and what they think of your products and your competitors and plan accordingly.

Match their key words and phrases as they're closer to the organisation's culture than you. That way, you will seem like the most appropriate choice - all other things being equal.

If you need a generic approach, start by mapping a school in each area and then applying the language they use. It's a bit like finding local key search terms, except it's offline!

If there's broad agreement, update your website and other literature accordingly.

The ABC's of Saving $$$ start with

______________(name of product)



Reading, Writing, and Budgets in 2009 =
Dollars, Savings and _________Software