10 tips for getting the most out of Honor My Grad

Posted

Here are some best practices to help you get the most out of your Honor My Grad 2020 platform from Creative Circle.

  1. Partner with your schools. During our focus groups, several school administrators said they would help promote a product like this in their communities. "I would send a note to all the parents urging them to participate to make the listings as complete as possible," one of them told us. Multiple other school officials agreed.

    Send the flyer we provided to all of your schools and urge them to spread the word parents. And don't forget other educational groups in the community, like parent organizations.

    You can take it a step further and offer to donate some percentage of your take to the class gift or PTA, which might help, too.

    Note that your graduation widgets can run on any site – including the school's web site. Offer to give them a widget filled with news about all their grads to use on their site (it can also allow parents to post and pay you for upgrades) if they would like.
  2. This isn't just for high schools. The list of schools can include any kind of school. Absolutely include local colleges but also include a generic "College" category for kids from your area who went to schools around the country.

    Many sites are also using Honor My Grad for elementary schools, kindergarden and pre-schools.
  3. Start a Grad 2020 newsletter! We strongly recommend that you set up regular e-blasts or newsletters with the parents that are posting to Grad 2020. The database of parents who post through the app is accessible to you and downloadable as a spreadsheet for other marketing purposes. This is a great way to share resources or fun tidbits from the postings or share news stories about what schools and kids are doing.

    Remember that this list can be used to reach out to parents about gifts for grads and to connect your sponsors and advertisers directly to these parents.

    Later, when these kids are gearing up to go off to college, these same parents will be looking for furniture, refrigerators, cars and more to equip their grad for dorm life.

    Keep up the momentum with tips and helpful content about dropping kids off at college, dealing with separation, staying in touch and more. Each phase of this journey has potential sponsor and marketing opportunities. 

    Any why not follow your local kids to college. What's happening at college? How did it feel to drop your kid off and worry about coronavirus issues? Or is college delayed or virtual in the fall? Can they put you in touch with their kids for features and stories?

    This group of parents can become a great editorial resource for years to come.
  4. Push Grad 2020 in print. While the app is a digital product, it's important to make sure your print audience is aware of it, too. Remember that we have created print ads and flyers for you as well in both PDF and InDesign form here.
  5. Partner with your sponsor or other businesses or groups. Your sponsor or any of your graduation related advertisers can have widgets to run material from the app on their sites. Would the local bank or car dealer like to have a widget featuring local kids on their site? Are there other groups or organizations – from the PTA to Chambers of Commerce to a local education advocacy group that would like to showcase graduates? How about the town site? Those widgets, like those on your site, would also be soliciting parents to honor their grads. This can help make honoring grads a truly community event!
  6. Build graduation content and other advertisers into pages where the app is deployed. While the app is a self-contained module, it can be deployed on any page. You can drop the widgets on to any page with graduation coverage. Packaging all this stuff together will benefit both and get more parents to see the option of honoring their grad!
  7. Partner with other media. We would also allow you to share your What's Open app with other local media, like a radio station or TV station. Just let us know in advance. The app you share can have your branding. To have a version with their branding that shares content with yours may require some kind of extra fee, but we're open to anything that will help you make Honor My Grads successful for you!
  8. Use that third, "wild card" upgrade! One new twist we added to the 2020 grads platform was an open-ended additional upsell. Use this to sell yard signs honoring grads or maybe an extra copy of your keepsake print edition on graduation where you will print all these listings. (Note: Our revenue share is part of anything you sell through the app so price accordingly!)
  9. Sell some subscriptions! This group of parents is a great target for a subscription offer! They are likely longer term residents and might have other kids at home. Use the list generated by the app to sell them subscriptions. And remember to get the grad a subscription, too, so he or she can keep up with news from home.
  10. We're looking for new and different ideas! While we don't have time to consider customizations or upgrades this year, we do want to hear your ideas. We're going to offer Honor My Grad every year moving forward so we're looking for upgrade and expansion opportunities for 2021.

    We're also rolling out one of these apps every month through the coronavirus epidemic. We have plans for Father's Day, pet, heros and other options. We're looking or other ideas that have never been done before!

How are you using Honor My Grad? We're interested in hearing how you've succeeded and what suggestions you have for us or others using the app. Please write to Bill with your ideas and suggestions.

What's Open