Recruitment Phase Marketing Actions

Recruitment Phase

Timeline recommendation: 4 - 6 weeks prior to Challenge start date

This phase is where the highest focus should be allocated to the registration of new and previous teachers. It’s the most important phase, as success throughout the rest of the Challenge depends on our ability to recruit schools, students and teachers, as well as build relationships and encourage their participation.

Examples of tactical marketing actions during Recruitment Phase

• Challenge Announcement Mailers

  • We are fortunate to have many teachers register annually for the Wavumbuzi Challenge, encouraging more students to participate. This allows us to build relationships with teachers over multiple years. As such, many teachers eagerly await the announcement of the next Wavumbuzi challenge and need less encouragement to participate again due to their favourable experience of Wavumbuzi before.

  • As we continue to grow our database of teachers, we’ve started to send a first-touch (re-engagement) announcement email to these teachers, who will quickly register online without much hassle. These mailers are short, distinct to announce the new date (and registration link, if available) and any new features or things to look forward to.

  • As a simple recruitment tactic to re-engage previous teachers, these mailers serve as a cost-effective tactic to recruit teachers with whom we have an ongoing relationship, alleviating the need to include them in our calling campaign for new teachers or a more hands-on approach from Ambassadors.

• Calling Campaign starts

  • This is a strong focus on new teachers with the following objectives:

    • Introduce Wavumbuzi

    • Provide a bit more information and context about its vision

    • Invite them to Teacher Training

    • Encourage them to register to participate

  • The Calling Campaign includes a selection of phone calls, emails and follow-up messages to teachers who

    • 1) have never participated in Wavumbuzi before or

    • 2) need a bit more convincing to get involved.

  • Ambassadors play a critical role in this tactic as the first point of introduction to the Challenge. They’re responsible for consistent and regular follow-up communications and any concerns or questions that teachers might have before committing to engage.

• School Visits

  • Regional ambassadors start with school visits in order to meet and build relationships with Principals, Teachers and students. These school visits often lead to Wavumbuzi introductions during a school assembly, with the opportunity for the ambassador to share the excitement and vision of Wavumbuzi with the students and teachers.

• Social Media Content Creation, Monitoring & Engagement Kicks off

  • Continuation of sharing social media posts on the different channels as part of the build-up to the launch of the Challenge starting.

  • Continuously engaging with all followers by responding to comments and any messages that come through.

  • Continuously monitor all the social media channels so that no messages/comments/tweets or stories go unnoticed.

• Social Media Ads & Social Media Boosting

• Continuous monitoring, updating and launching of new social media ads to keep content fresh and exciting (i.e. we do not want one social ad to run for the entire duration of the recruitment phase, we want to have a variation of at least 5-8 different ads).

• Public Relations Management

  • Manage the Public Relations Agency relationship by:

    • Ensuring that all media articles/radio interviews/ influencer posts etc. that were scheduled to be released go out

    • Ensure that the PR agency keeps track of all coverage and shares any necessary resources with (for eg. links to articles/radio interviews etc.)

    • Make sure that the PR Agency is following through with their content plan

    • Provide any input/ideas