Saga Education:
Creating a Higher Impact
 

CHALLENGE: How does a nonprofit overcome the negative online learning stigma and differentiate itself from the noise of bandwagon competitors?

As the creator of high-impact tutoring, Saga faced little competition until all learning went online during the pandemic. Saga faced two challenges: studies showed students fell further behind because of the pandemic and organizations hijacked the popular term “high-impact tutoring”, muddying the landscape for educators and further marginalizing students.

SOLUTION: Leverage compelling RCT data and Saga’s position as the category pioneer to build the brand as “the nation’s time-tested leader in high-impact tutoring”.

Externally, elevated Saga’s brand affinity with key audiences (districts, tutors, funders, and policymakers):

• Amplified co-founders as trusted thought leaders through social content, media, interviews, and the Saga video/podcast series “EdHeads”
• Positioned Saga as an employer of choice
• Launched the award-winning Saga brand campaign “Change the Equation” informed by competitive brand research
• Established the brand foundation of brand promise, brand pillars, and brand archetype
• Marketed to key audiences with accessible collateral, product demos, video, whitepapers, e-newsletters, and case studies
• Developed a brand strategy that informed our go-to-market strategy and protected our IP through a trademark strategy

Internally, rallied our 100% remote organization around the Saga brand while creating all brand tools, assets, and guidance:

• Brand standards with a library of templates, icons, photos, and more
• Brand training modules in our LMS for all teammates and new hires
• Live training sessions
• Internal newsletter “Saga Sync”
• Tenth anniversary gala “ENLIGHTEN” for staff and industry guests to celebrate Saga’s history, lessons learned, and the vision to transform the future of public education
• Brand ambassador programs and engagement

RESULTS: Saga increased brand awareness with all audiences, raising its search ranking from 78 to 9 for “high-impact tutoring” and doubling the number of LinkedIn followers in under 2 years. Internally, employees embraced the essence of the brand (nearly 60% joined the internal Workvivo Brand Community – among the highest of all internal communities).

Saga helped pass new legislation for high-impact tutoring funding and amplified its impact for students by bringing high-impact tutoring to more districts nationwide. Download my portfolio and videos PDFs to check out my Saga samples.

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