I overhauled marketing to the MIT10 (graduates of the last decade) with the charge of stemming the trend of declining participation (20% in the year prior to my assignment). I partnered with the MIT10 program director to develop and implement integrated marketing campaigns across multiple channels to grow and maintain participation results, achieving a program-high of 32% in the first year.
I then followed through with constant attention to shifting trends in audience response, and in the following ten years maintained an average of 28.5% participation.
Our Opportunity:
It is widely understood that shared ownership of a property is more complicated and time consuming than being the sole decision-maker for a property you own alone. Still, shared property has become increasingly popular, as real estate prices skyrocket, presenting an attractive entry for first-time home buyers. Boston, famous for its triple-decker buildings, has a large market of small (2–12 unit) condo associations throughout the metropolitan area. These small owner groups share a particular set of problems that the team here at Can-Do Condo is committed to resolving.
Our Success KPI’s:
We will know success when we see: 1) an 85% satisfaction score from user surveys, 2) more demand for membership.
Our Users’ Problem:
Unit owners are legally required to gain consensus in decision-making, when it comes to maintaining shared property, including large structural aspects of the building. What is special about small condo associations are that they don’t have the luxury of organizing a board of owner-trustees to run their associations. In fact, every unit owner needs to participate, or the group is not able to meet the necessary quorum to take action. Therefore, small condos need a shared system to track building maintenance projects in process, to refer back to past projects, and to forecast projects, all in such a way as to plan use of association resources.
Without a good system, unit owners are floundering to take care of one of their most valuable financial assets. Furthermore, there is a sensitive aspect to consider: the asset is also each person’s home, and the association is a live-in community. So, keeping communications light, and enjoying a peaceful home are among building resident’s top goals.
“I want to enjoy bumping into my neighbors and not be bogged down with condo business every time.” — Helen Williams, Jamaica Plain
Our Solution:
We believe that by developing a website that allows condo-unit owners to initiate and to track each step toward resolving shared maintenance issues, we will make group-management of condo business easier and more satisfying.
Our Potential Stakeholders:
Local banks will be very interested in investing in this product as they are well aware of the large ($20-120,000) maintenance projects that require either individual owners or associations to take out home equity loans, or to come up with assessment funds.
Our Competitors:
Are simply NOT meeting users needs!
This is where my theatre background adds to my marketing and design expertise, I’m a natural story teller, full of feeling and a keen eye on sight-lines. Video is a tool that when applied well to a well-planned multi-channel marketing campaign can add a dose of emotional power, wonder or even humor. It’s important both to have an iron-clad plan of attack, and to be open to capturing the unexpected nuggets that can make the whole piece sing.
MIT 24-Hour Challenge, showcase video
MIT says thank you
MIT Super Pi Day Trailer
Marketing Plan
Objective: Get Vermonters out of the house for a bike ride
Primary KPI: Increase the # of test rides by 1% by July 31st — goal achieved!
Secondary KPI: Increase traffic to a landing page by 5 users in the month of April — goal achieved!
Secondary Metrics: 1) CTR: (clicked on the AD) -- find a baseline, 2) Conversion rate: on contact page (UTM code)
Next Steps
1) A dedicated landing page for this specific promotion is a must do.
Edit persona to skew male, will effect "thinking, feeling and pain vs gain"
2) Using Google Ads, refine keywords for better fit to maximize budget
3) Create a Facebook Ad using most successful messaging and target to lookalike audiences
4) Google Ads or Facebook: focus geographic area appropriate to the offer
5) Email marketing, re-target customers with an example of a "no sweat" dream bike route of the most scenic areas of Vermont, designed for e-bike.
In my career I have developed a strong facility working with data sets of donor behavior (or affiliation) history. Working with complex (often overlapping) data sets, I’ve developed brand and message hierarchy to address an identified business need of the day, as well as reordered the hierarchy to meet the next business need.
The poster here is a diagram of one complex direct mail example which included 39 specific donor-centric variable messages to appear on 24 different print shells (often reflecting sub-brands of the parent brand), and also worked across all lots with a set of 6 giving capacity categories that generated appropriate variable gift arrays.
This event represents one of several MIT’s Student Philanthropy program initiatives. Nearly 400 students participated in the MIT Philanthropy Phest, a fact-finding game about the impact of annual giving.
In addition to this poster event, my team developed promotion and solicitation materials for the MIT Senior Gift Campaign and the MIT Undergraduate Giving Campaign. I led the team in developing tailored design and messaging to support the work of an active volunteer solicitor base.
These programs as a set have both near and long-term success metrics. Boasting in 2018 that upon graduation, 18% of graduating class were loyal 4-year donors, and that 90% of the same class had given at least one time over the course of their undergraduate experience. See here charts that show the sustained boost even years down the line after these programs were initiated and perfected.
One of 12 posters featuring impact factoids for students to unearth as part of a quiz requirement in order to enter in a prize drawing.
To complete the quiz, students collected data from posters detailing how donors provided valued resources to programs and areas of student interest.
Specifically designed for the iconic “lobby 10” event space, I helped design earlier prototype in two other materials, and ultimately commissioned these light weight and affordable wooden variety.
I have designed and curated both the traditional perfect bound book format, e-book formats and the more streamlined mobile friendly landing pages complete with click away donor list. Projects ranging from a print budget of $40,000 to working to achieve a stunning impact for $500, I’m no stranger to building content and directing visual branding to capture and hold the attention of your nearest and dearest audience.
I led the project to create the Annual Leadership Giving (ALG) team’s first-ever concise “sales kit” for regional gift officers asking prior year donors to step-up to the leadership society level. Immediately upon being implemented this collateral support of a streamlined business process generated an increase in successfully closed proposals.
The team of five giving officers were able to use this tool (with clear talking points) to increase efficiency and focus––by the end of their first year, the team confirmed 763 gifts and pledges totaling $1,662,894.
This print piece included a custom pocket folder to hold the “case for support” booklet, the personalized proposal insert and a business card. Designed to support one-to-one personal visits.
The thesis of the case booklet and the cover design juxtapose the famous inside joke related to MIT’s gritty intensity “as if drinking from a fire hose” with the erudite idea “a portrait of character.”
