OnCourse Systems for Education is a company that exists to make the lives of some of the most hardworking Americans easier, more efficient, and more fulfilling: K-12 educators! As some of the hardest working (yet often underappreciated) professionals in the country, educators are responsible for developing and shaping the minds of America’s youth. Using award-winning, cloud-based systems for instruction, evaluation, assessment and student management, OnCourse equips educational staff with new and better tools to streamline daily tasks while optimizing productivity and student outcomes.
A truly future-thinking company with an innate dedication to serving education professionals, OnCourse Systems sought Stratus’ help in 2015 to define its brand, enhance its messaging and create a marketing plan focused on capturing marketing share in its geographical targets. After analyzing OnCourse’s existing digital presence and brand assets, Stratus proposed recommendations for an integrated marketing strategy and redesigned website. With the goal of crystallizing their brand and value proposition in the marketplace, while also creating a pipeline of new, qualified leads for their sales team to nurture and close, Stratus kicked off the OnCourse engagement at full speed.
The journey began with Stratus taking a deep dive into OnCourse’s audience to develop richly detailed buyer persona profiles for three key audience segments. These personas, comprised of both decision makers as well as key influencers, drove the strategy for design, messaging, layout and conversion points of the website, built on HubSpot’s Content Optimization System (COS). COS gives web designers a broad spectrum of development advantages, but three stood out for OnCourse:
- Because the pains, needs and challenges for each persona are highly differentiated, the Smart Content functionality of HubSpot’s website platform is an ideal complement for OnCourse’s marketing strategy.
- Additionally, HubSpot’s easily customizable templates with drag and drop functionality enable rapid updates which is critical for a company who is constantly enhancing its existing products and launching new ones.
- Calls to Action (CTAs) are easily created and more easily measured, a critically important activity when determining next moves for marketing campaigns and tactics.
A successful website solution for OnCourse was created by capitalizing on these features as well as a few others that differentiate it both aesthetically and functionally:
A “Mad Libs” style Get Started form on the homepage
Navigation mega menu with consistent brand icons
Animated graphic
Personalized, above-the-fold, self-identification drop down
Prominent Schedule a Demo CTA and angular CTA button design
Utilizing HubSpot to design and develop their website, we built OnCourse a future-proofed digital asset that serves as the foundation of their integrated inbound marketing plan. The website’s goal is simple: to help school district decision-makers and influencers make informed buying decisions about educational technology solutions. By choosing to build on a platform created to deliver exceptional user experiences and produce optimal conversion activity, OnCourse received a website that’s driving incredible (and measurable!) results. Since launching in August, the site has generated 773 leads and converted 118 as new customers. At a 15.3% conversion rate, the bar for future results has been set high. Fortunately for OnCourse and for us as their marketing partner, the HubSpot tools and website platform empower a growth strategy that can evolve, adapt and succeed as this awesome client continues to focus on helping extraordinary educators create powerfully positive student outcomes.
View the entire OnCourse Systems for Education website here.
