Pre-Campaign Planning

Timeline recommendation: 3 months prior to Challenge start date

This period allows for strategic planning to consider the performance of the previous Wavumbuzi Challenge, investigate ways to improve operational efficiency, improve communications, develop new creative concepts and work towards building on the momentum and experience of previous challenges. Examples of tactical marketing actions during Pre-Campaign Phase include:

Develop an Updated Marketing Channel Strategy

• • Investigate the marketing channels used before (for example - did we use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and did all 3 of these channels deliver value) and consider where to focus future resources. Sometimes, fewer channels, but a more intentional focus on particular channels are more valuable than attempting to deliver on all channels.

  • How did Google advertising support our strategy to increase visibility and website visitors to our website? Did people search for Wavumbuzi?

Resource: Channel Strategy

Develop a Marketing Content Plan

• • Consider the content buckets and set up a new Asana Communications Roadmap with key dates and milestones.

Resource: Content Production Process

Confirm Marketing Budget

• • Allocate advertising budget to marketing channels and line items. These include the following

    • Social Media budget per channel (i.e Facebook vs. Twitter vs. Instagram)

    • Public Relations budget (Advertising & Management fee

    • Google Ads Budget (i.e Search vs. Display vs. Video campaign

    • Videography i.e Any new videos that need to be developed?

    • SMS and Email

  • It is suggested to split the budget according to the marketing channel AND marketing phase. For example, the social budget during the Awareness phase is $300 and during the Recruitment phase, it is $1000. This ensures not to overspend during the early phases of the Challenge, but focuses resources on phases that drive recruitment and sustained engagement later during the challenge phases.

Resource: Marketing Budget Management

Plan a New Public Relations Strategy

• • What value did the PR strategy provide? Did we receive additional exposure on marketing channels that were included in our internal advertising campaign (i.e - did we get exposure on TV, Radio or Print?)

  • Make a list of actions from the PR campaign that worked / didn’t work from the previous challenge and develop a new PR brief that outlines the following

    • What worked?

    • What didn’t work?

    • Which channels were the most popular (TV, Social Media, Radio)?

    • What opportunities did we miss out on?

    • What are the 3 - 4 main objectives of the PR campaign for the next challenge?

  • While thinking about the performance of the PR campaign, it’s important to consider whether the PR implementation company used is the right fit for Wavumbuzi.

    • Do they share the same vision, or have their communications been misaligned to the purpose and target audiences of Wavumbuzi.

    • Are they passionate and engaged with Wavumbuzi’s success?

    • Are they adaptable, cost-effective and effective with project planning, delivering PR initiatives on time?

Resource: Public Relations Strategy

Deep-Dive into Marketing Visuals

• • Prior to any new Challenge, we consider the success of the visual elements from the previous campaign. If we know that teachers and learners responded well to the graphics from before, and they are relatively fresh i.e updated within the last 3 - 6 months, no redesign is required.

  • Update all creative design elements with new Challenge dates - social media cover images, WhatsApp graphics and Google banners.

Resource: Collateral Production Process

Resource: Library of Collateral Assets

Order New Wavumbuzi Merchandise Items

• • These items are not updated for each challenge, since the branding is standard. However, it’s helpful to finalize the merchandise quantities and procure suppliers for merchandise items during this phase.

  • Place orders with suppliers to ensure merchandise will be delivered in-time for the challenge and ready for school visits or Network Partner/DDE/DEO workshops.

Resource: Library of Collateral Assets (Including Merchandise)

Update the Wavumbuzi Website

• • Content, visuals, links and Challenge dates on the website need to be updated for every iteration as soon as possible prior to the Challenge.

  • The website is the first and most important destination new teachers and learners will visit when introduced to Wavumbuzi - it’s critical to ensure that the information is accurate, updated and ready once registration opens.

Resource: Website Details

Teacher Portal Ready

• • Update the Teacher Portal with all the relevant information for the new Challenge.

    1. This information includes:

       1. Updating any old/outdated graphics

       2. Making sure all links and text are still relevant/correct

       3. Adding any additional links/resources/text

       4. Updating the Key Dates section

       5. Hiding any section that is not yet relevant

  • Any new navigational developments need to be implemented and tested.

  • The Teacher Portal should be updated before any communication regarding "Teachers logging in to the Teacher Portal."

Resource: Teacher Portal & Teacher Role

Resource: Teacher Portal Setup

Develop a Network Partner Strategy

• • Due to the importance and value of Network Partners, it is fundamental to have a strategic roadmap of how to engage and onboard Network Partners to obtain their support and access to their school networks. Strategy should include communication tactics to Network Partners (workshops, info sessions etc); tactics to use Network Partners to communicate to schools (Recruitment messages & Teacher Training) as well as long-term motivation and encouragement of partners to teachers during Challenge phases.

Resource: Stakeholder Management Strategy

Review Ambassador Strategy

• • Ambassadors play a critical role in our ability to recruit and support teachers during the Wavumbuzi Challenge.

  • New ambassadors need to be recruited, trained and fully onboarded of Wavumbuzi as soon as possible once a new Challenge has been confirmed. Getting ambassadors to fully understand the depths, functions, vision and operations of Wavumbuzi takes time and training. Contracts and expectations for ambassadors should be clear and well understood as soon as possible. This allows them sufficient time to become familiar and comfortable with the challenge, software and process.

Resource: Ambassador Strategy

Resource: Ambassador Training

Key Questions To Consider During Pre-Planning Phase:

• What were our most successful tactics from previous challenges that delivered the highest engagement of our Teacher network?

• How effective were our relationships with Network Partners that eased access to their school databases and how can we improve these to

  • 1) make Network Partners feel more inclusive and valued;

  • 2) leverage these relationships to expand our penetration into schools and

  • 3) how can we ensure that Network Partners are onboarded and ready for the Challenge in a timely fashion to ensure that we can alleviate time pressures closer to the Challenge start date.

• Did our target audiences respond to our marketing messages - did they relate, respond and engage with us throughout the challenge, or did we experience a drop-off at a specific time that we can improve?

• What are our success metrics for the next Challenge? Should we recruit more schools or more teachers within a particular school? Thinking about the winning strategy allows a shift of resources where it matters most.

• Should we revise our Teacher Onboarding Strategy? Should we develop more online training materials, include more webinars, or do physical training in schools?

• What insights can we gather from our on-the-ground ambassadors? How can we make better use of our ambassadors to recruit and support teachers before, during and after the challenge? Should we amend or change our ambassador strategy?

• Should we consider new or other marketing channels or opportunities that we missed out on from the previous challenge? Are the marketing implementation partners we have satisfactory or should we consider alternatives?