CASE STUDY
Twin Tiers Christian Academy
100% surge in inquiries within 7 months
Twin Tiers Christian Academy's enrollment of 126 was down from its ideal capacity of 160 students.
Their website, which was focused on internal communication, felt “homemade.” Beyond that, the school’s brand was used inconsistently and was confusing for families outside the school community.
Yet the school knew it had something no other school in Breesport, NY offered. Families enrolled at Twin Tiers knew it too, based on survey results that showed high parent satisfaction and strong Word of Mouth.
CAMPAIGN RESULTS
100%
increase in lead gnereation
246%
increase in organic search traffic
233%
increase in top 10 keyword rankings
Challenges & Opportunities
- Brand and website were “old and tired”
- Empty seats in 5th and 6th grades
- Located in an area where tuition was a barrier
The Board understood the value of the work needed to increase enrollment and improve brand awareness. In 2023, at the recommendation of Dr. Rick Newberry, Enrollment Catalyst, they approved a website redesign and branding project with North Star Marketing.
Creating a lead-generating school website
Twin Tiers knew it needed to increase enrollment, particularly in 5th and 6th grades, where there were empty seats. As a school serving grades 5-12, these lower grades were a key entry point for new families to enroll.
But despite strong word of mouth, families outside the Twin Tiers school community didn’t really understand what the school had to offer. The school’s existing website was outdated and used for internal communication and communicating sports events to enrolled families, rather than attracting prospective families.
“We knew Twin Tiers needed to grow and increase the number of inquiries they had coming in,” shared Micah Fox, solutions advisor at North Star Marketing. “But they did not have a lead generation funnel set up on their existing site, or a way to guide families through the admissions process.”
As part of the website redesign, content was developed to communicate the strengths and distinctives unique to each Age-and-Stage®, with an academics page dedicated solely to middle school and another exclusive to high school. Clear inquiry, tour, and application CTAs were also designed to more easily drive users through the family journey stages of awareness, consideration, and decision.
“It was important to me that we had a website I was proud for prospective families to visit,” shared Deborah de Oliveira, Director of Development. “I knew that was needed to reflect the value of Twin Tiers and show the caliber of education we offer.”
RESULTS
100%
INCREASE in lead-generation
246%
increase in organic search traffic
233%
increase in top 10 keyword rankings, enhancing visibility and expanding reach for TTCA
Celebrating a focused school brand
Twin Tiers had never standardized its branding before, but knew it was necessary to build awareness in the community.
“They referred to themselves as ‘TTCA’ but it left the question — What is TCCA?” shared Micah. “They needed to restructure their brand to show who they were to the greater community that didn’t know what the acronym TTCA meant.”
A new academic brand was developed, followed by athletic branding and a Brand Standards Guide to help the school know how to use the brand.
BEFORE
AFTER - Academic Brand Design
“I started the project hopeful and finished the project completely satisfied and excited … I was totally impressed with the end result, the products, [and] excited to see what that is going to mean in terms of future growth for the school.”
Dr. Cary Shaw, Head of School
“It was really rewarding to share the new brand and website with our community — especially when the teachers saw it and there were gasps, and ‘wow!’ and comments about how professional it looked,” shared Deborah. “It was a really great feeling to see the work that went into creating the end product.”
Communicating the value of a Christian education
Before their work with North Star, Twin Tiers relied on Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing to build awareness in their community. They gained some visibility from their worship team playing at local churches, and many knew the Head of School from speaking engagements.
Still, prior to North Star’s work, many families did not consider Twin Tiers as an option because of the price barrier tuition posed. The school was located in an under-resourced area, with a significant percentage of students having the potential to be first-generation college-bound. North Star knew that communicating the value of a Christian education through the brand and website redesign would be critical.
“North Star understood the private school market better than a general agency would,” shared Deborah. “From the questions they asked us to the steps they guided us through, it was obvious they were experienced and understood the private school industry.”
“North Star also understood our needs as a Christian school,” added Dr. Cary Shaw, Head of School. “They understood our mission.”