Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy

Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy
Melbourne, FL

When Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy first contacted Rick Newberry at Enrollment Catalyst, the school was facing a decline in enrollment due to several factors, beginning with the recession of 2008. A beloved head of school retired in 2013 after 25 years and the school went through two new heads in four years. During the tenure of one of the intermediate heads of school, a well-liked coach was let go, resulting in the loss of dozens of families.

Michelle Salyer, Director of Marketing and Communications at Holy Trinity, was happy to have Rick join their team. “Rick provided a thorough presentation about what we were doing and what was working well,” she says. “He provided an impartial opinion in terms of staffing, structure, tools, platforms, etc., and advice and best practices.”

“Holy Trinity is now experiencing its highest enrollment since the recession of 2008,” reports Salyer. “We have had a new, long-term head of school in place for the past two years, which has lent an air of stability and calm to the school; however, our increased marketing efforts have also played a large role in this success. We have implemented virtually all of Rick’s suggestions and created a new air of optimism and excitement for the school that is contagious.”

As a result of our partnership and the focused work of the HTEA team, the enrollment has now grown by nearly 6% from 829 in 2016 to its post-recession high of 876 this year.

Implementing new marketing strategy is not always easy. “Our admissions team was hesitant to adopt Rick’s lead generation system and repeat email newsletters for contacting parents, because they felt that more than one or two touches might be off-putting to prospective parents,” Salyer remembers. “We have found that by using Mail Chimp to send one or two simple, touch-base emails and/or videos per month, our engagement with prospective parents and therefore, our enrollment, has increased.”

Not sure if your school can afford the Enrollment Catalyst program? “Although the investment in Rick’s services may seem daunting to a school with a low marketing budget, it is well worth it in the long run,” says Salyer. “Rick was instrumental in convincing leadership and the Board of Trustees to increase the marketing budget to reasonable levels, and his marketing ideas continue to serve us several years after our contract has ended.”

Having marketing buy-in from leadership and boards is instrumental in helping a school grow. “Our level of spending prior to hiring Rick was just a small fraction of one percent,” remembers Salyer. “Now, our marketing budget is closer to 1%, and this has made a huge impact in our marketing efforts.”

Now that Holy Trinity is considered an alumna of Enrollment Catalyst, Salyer says her school is continuing to gain help and insights for their marketing strategy. “His Enrollment Catalyst Facebook group allows past and current clients to talk with each other to ask for advice, what was not working well, and ideas and examples for improvement,” Salyer says. “He continues to provide input, advice and feedback to former clients.”

“Working with Rick is a pleasure! I highly recommend his services!”

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