Secure Schools
Secure Schools was a relatively new brand with ambitious growth targets. They planned to publish the findings of a first-of-its-kind national survey on cybersecurity risks in schools. The team brought us in to support the launch, position them as thought leaders in education cybersecurity, and drive downloads of the report.
“The Influence Crowd’s campaign paid back ten-fold in terms of generating new leads and longer-term brand awareness. The results exceeded our expectations by some way and delivered some very positive coverage around the report."Josh Spoelstra
Data is a powerful way to capture press attention, but timing is critical. Anticipating strong interest in the risks and protection of children’s data, we crafted a tailored communications plan to reach key national and education journalists ahead of the report going public. This built early awareness of the findings and seeded the key themes we knew would resonate.
An embargoed press release, issued 10 days ahead of launch, gave journalists time to develop their stories. We also briefed interviewees from Secure Schools, and IT professionals working in schools, so they were fully prepared to speak directly to journalists about the findings to generate more coverage.
Pitching early with an embargoed press release secured coverage well before the report went live. Media outlets quickly picked up on the story, including LBC who requested an article ahead of the data release. News and opinion pieces also appeared across key education titles such as the TES and Schools Week.
The campaign kept the topic of cybersecurity in the headlines and positioned Secure Schools as a leading voice in cyber security for the education sector, helping to build long-term brand recognition with schools and academies. The report was downloaded more than 550 times within the first 24 hours, smashing our target, and the client also saw a significant uplift in downloads of other resources on their website.
Scroll down for the full results and impact of this campaign 👇
740 report downloads
12 pieces of coverage secured, including with LBC and in the TES, Schools Week, the Institute of Government & Public Policy, BETT Buzz, SecEd, Teach Secondary, School Business Manager, Rise Magazine and The Educator, plus a guest slot on The Edtech Podcast.
43.4K views of online coverage secured. 125 people also signed up for Secure Schools’ follow up webinar on school cybersecurity.
14.3K views and shares of coverage on social and 9.6K views on dark social (shares on What’s App, Messenger etc)
In just 4 weeks, we achieved 955 downloads of the guide and a conversion rate of 25%, with significant social media engagement.
Visits to the secondary PSHE page increased from 3,200 visits at the start of the campaign to an incredible 20,000 visits in the final week.
