SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT
Birmingham Public Schools
As one of Michigan's strongest public school districts, Birmingham Public Schools has a lot to celebrate. One of the many highlights of the district is its tuition-based admissions process, which makes it possible for students outside the area to join the BPS community through its “Beyond Boundaries” program.
However, coming out of the 2021-2022 academic year, the district encountered a budgetary shortfall of $14 million and recognized the necessity to both recover and enhance its student enrollment.
Situated in Metro Detroit, Birmingham competes with nearly 30 private schools, that drawing away hundreds of affluent families with high expectations. Birmingham needed to take more substantial measures to demonstrate the value of a public school education, and re-engage families through a stronger online presence.
At a Glance
Birmingham Public Schools is a top performing public school district in Metro Detroit, providing educational resources to more than 7,500 students at 15 different schools.
Overshadowed by the Competition
“We were discussing the pillars for our community as part of our strategic plan,” shared Cortez Strickland, Birmingham Public Schools’ marketing and communications manager. “We were thinking about what families need and what the district can offer them.”
One of the key issues was Birmingham’s not having a competitive website, which struggled to make a strong first impression on prospective families, especially in a community where parents have the resources and motivation to shop around for the best educational options.
The enrollment landing page wasn’t engaging either and didn’t effectively communicate the district's strengths, such as small class sizes, diverse programs, and high academic excellence. There was also a need to attract high-achieving teachers, but the website failed to display information on professional development opportunities properly.
“We wanted the first impression of our website to be up to standard, but we were reviewing the site, and we knew it was just not competitive,” Strickland said. “It wasn’t very engaging at all, and we wanted the website to focus on being the first customer service component of our enrollment funnel.”
"We wanted to make sure that we were boldly marketing our district more and better than we have ever before."CORTEZ STRICKLAND
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
The district knew it needed to adapt, but it didn't have the people in place to support its efforts or vision at the time. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive solution, Birmingham Public Schools partnered with Finalsite Advantage, a strategic school marketing and communications consultancy.
“The main objective was to impact enrollment as much as possible because we were losing students during the pandemic to private schools, homeschooling, or other options,” Strickland said. ”We wanted to make sure that we were boldly marketing our district more and better than we have ever before.”
A Collaborative Redesign
The partnership with Advantage wasn’t just about creating a new website but developing a strategic approach to improving enrollment and enhancing the district’s online presence.
“We wanted to dispel what potential families thought didn't happen in our district,” Strickland added. “We wanted them to know we offer small classes compared to our private school competitors, that we do have diverse programs, and that we offer very high academic excellence. We‘ve had the same number of students going to prestigious universities, and we wanted families to know we offer many of the same things as private schools.”
Finalsite Advantage played a crucial role in guiding the district through the project, which began with extensive planning and collaboration across various departments, an inclusive approach that made sure the redesign addressed the stakeholders’ needs.
“One of the advantages of working with external consultants is that it's very easy to place that person as a buffer between you and decisions,” Strickland laughed, adding that a big piece was ensuring they involved everyone in the project.
“I think sometimes, when we had a website project, we had just kept to the marketing and communications department. But we needed IT and special education, we needed the admissions team, and we needed superintendents involved. We had to make sure that we were having in-depth conversations, and having everyone in the room really helped us with that decision-making process.”
Since the launch with Finalsite
1st
Enrollment Increase
in a decade
80+
Increase
in students
Silver
Distinction
at the Summit Marketing Effectiveness Awards
The Advantage team provided strategic advice, focusing on the content and design, branding, developing site maps, and ensuring that the website’s structure was consistent across all school levels—elementary, middle, and high school.
“In an independent school setting, storytelling is number one,” Strickland added. ”We looked at our approach through a very district-focused lens, but many of the independent schools’ strategies are really valuable here.”
“Once I understood how to build out a page and design it, I could say to the team, ‘What do you think about this?’ Does this make sense? Or should we move this page here?’ It was great having the Advantage team to help out with that process.”
“This service is not a ‘they're going to everything for us’ experience, but rather, ‘we're going to partner with the Advantage team,’ who are all specifically school marketing communication professionals.”
Designing for Enrollment
The redesign involved careful consideration of the enrollment process and how it was presented online, looking for ways Birmingham could make the experience as seamless as possible for families. They began asking critical questions like, "Is this really needed?" "Why do we ask for this form?" “‘Is there something we can do that can actually make a difference?”
Strickland noted that while area families searched for schools, Birmingham’s open enrollment didn't begin until April 1st, but private schools accepted deposits as early as January 1st. So, the decision was made to open the district’s enrollment date to early December, aligning it more closely with private schools and making it easier for families to consider Birmingham as an option.
The district also highlighted its early access points, like its early childhood and junior kindergarten programs, making sure when those families were interested in coming to the district, they had a great representation of what was offered.
The First Enrollment Increase in a Decade
When the site launched, not only did the website improve the district’s image, but it also had a direct impact on enrollment. For the first time in a decade, Birmingham Public Schools saw increased interest from families, fewer calls about navigating the site, and a clear representation of the district’s goals.
“We were able to grow our enrollment by 81 students, and that was the first time that we saw an enrollment increase in 10 years,” Strickland said.
Today, the website has received several awards, including one of the best website designs of 2023 from Finalsite and even international recognition.
Birmingham’s homepage now greets visitors with the inspirational text, “Be Ready for More,” coaxing users to open their minds to a world of opportunities. “You Can at Birmingham,” the site reads. “Be Part of Birmingham.” The site’s content is clearer, more accessible, and better organized, making it easier for new families to navigate the enrollment process.
“We got rave reviews from our website on launch. We had school districts as far as New York, Texas, California, and Minnesota, and they were just like, ‘How did you guys come up with this?’”
The project’s success wasn’t just in the design but in Birmingham’s strategic approach. By involving all stakeholders, aligning the website with the district's strategic plan, and focusing on the needs of the community, the district was able to create a website that truly represented its strengths and attracted new families.
“We wanted to make sure that we had a barrier-free experience for our families,” said Strickland. Today, Birmingham is proudly opening its doors to welcome more and more families, and it’s certainly ready for more.
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