Developing a Marketing Strategy

Developing a Marketing Strategy After analyzing your district s or school's needs, gaining key stakeholder support, and putting your breakfast establishment or expansion plan into action, it's time to promote your program! This is where marketing comes into play. Marketing is more than just announcing breakfast is served. An effective marketing strategy promotes school breakfast as a tasty, healthy, convenient, and smart choice, and targets the right audience with each message. This section will help you boost participation rates by raising awareness of the program's availability as a positive opportunity for students at school. For additional tips and resources on marketing and promoting your meal program, check out the research-based strategies from Cornell University s Smarter Lunchrooms Movement: http://smarterlunchrooms.org. STEP 1: Define your Objective You will be most successful in achieving your goal if you tailor your activities to your specific needs. In the Assessing School Breakfast Potential document in this toolkit, you were given information on defining those needs. Are parents unaware of the program? Are children not enticed? Do community members and key stakeholders know about the benefits of breakfast and importance of children starting their day with a healthy meal? Determining the answers to these questions will in turn assist you as you shape your marketing campaign. Refer to the table on the following page for guidance on how to address some of the most common challenges faced by school food service directors when attempting to establish or expand a School Breakfast Program. Page 1 of 9

If you find that try to by People don't know about the breakfast program Increase awareness Sending home informational flyers Hosting a parents breakfast Serving breakfast at lunch Posting menus online Posting promotional materials in the cafeteria, in classrooms, and in hallways at school People don't look favorably on the current breakfast program Improve perception of the breakfast program or change the foods you offer Getting input on what your customers want and applying it Coming up with a new gimmick for your program Having a contest where students get to plan the ultimate breakfast menu People don't think the current program is healthy Improve nutritional quality of meals Analyzing current recipes and menus to ensure they meet the nutrition standards Adding more fruits and vegetables to your meals Advertising more prominently the most healthy menu choices each day You want to increase sales Increase student and teacher participation Promoting menu choices Holding a taste test event to give potential participants a sample of foods offered Offering alternative breakfast delivery methods (Grab N Go, classroom breakfast, etc.) One of the most important ways to increase participation in breakfast is to consider using an alternative service method such as breakfast in the classroom, grab n' go, or breakfast after first period. These methods are discussed in the There s More Than One Way to Serve Breakfast document of this toolkit. The guidance provided in the Involving Key Stakeholders document will help you show key stakeholders the importance of breakfast and convince them to make necessary changes. This section will help you sell your program, no matter how you have it set up, once it is established. Page 2 of 9

STEP 2: Target Your Audience Different audiences may be concerned with different aspects of school breakfast: Students Parents and Guardians Teachers Administrators Communities When targeting your audience, you may wish to consider: Specific Ages and Grade Levels Cultural Identity Language STUDENTS What's Important to Students: Food That Tastes Good. Find out what types of foods your students like to eat, and try to tailor your menu planning to their preferences. Having Fun. Make sure activities that promote school breakfast are age appropriate and varied. Examples might include contests, tasting events, and farm to school programming. Being Healthy. Your students (especially teenagers) are interested in the benefits of eating healthy foods. Show them that participating in school breakfast is a delicious way to help them energize their day and maintain a balanced diet! Marketing Methods: Teacher encouragement School posters Page 3 of 9

Assemblies Peer nutrition educators or a student food council Contests Advertisements on school computer screensavers and during school announcements Surveys about food preferences Articles in school newsletters Farm to school events Hosting taste tests PARENTS and GUARDIANS What's Important to Parents and Guardians: Convenience. Mornings can be hectic and fast paced. School breakfast takes one thing off the morning to do list, and helps parents and children to decompress their routine. Value. Breakfast at school is inexpensive yet provides students with tremendous benefits. Furthermore, many families that already participate in the National School Lunch Program are eligible for free or reduced price breakfast. Nutrition. Parents can be sure their child is eating a healthy breakfast. The updated school breakfast standards require daily offerings of fruit, whole grains, low-fat and fat free milk, plus limitations on saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and calories. Positive Academic Performance. Research shows that students who eat a healthy breakfast are more attentive, have better memory recall, and perform better on standardized tests than those who do not eat a healthy breakfast. Marketing Methods: Flyers Articles in the school newsletter Automated messages on school phone lines (attendance line, on hold messages) Presentations at PTA meetings Page 4 of 9

Parent teacher conferences Public service announcements (PSAs) TEACHERS What's Important to Teachers: Strong Academics. Students who eat a healthy breakfast have been linked to better academic achievement than students who do not eat a healthy breakfast. Healthy Students. School breakfasts provide daily offerings of fruit, whole grains, lowfat and fat free milk, and limitations on saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and calories, helping to guarantee that participating students start their day strong. Instruction time. School breakfast does not have to interrupt the school day. Breakfast in the classroom can be an opportunity for nutrition education or a short, scheduled nutrition break. Student Behavior. Eating breakfast is linked to better student behavior, increased attentiveness, and fewer absences. Marketing Methods: Leadership and support from school administration Research on the academic and behavioral benefits of breakfast A trial run of breakfast in the classroom Provide information about breakfast in the classroom and other alternative serving methods Success stories from teachers at other schools Invite teacher participation on school breakfast decisions ADMINISTRATORS What's Important to Administrators: Page 5 of 9

School Performance. School breakfast can help improve academic performance for those students who otherwise would not eat a healthy morning meal. Behavior. Students are more attentive and better behaved when they have eaten breakfast in the morning. Healthy Students. School breakfasts provide daily offerings of fruit, whole grains, lowfat and fat free milk, and limitations on saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and calories, helping to guarantee that participating students start their day strong. Cost effective strategies. Administrators need to know that school breakfast programs can be cost effective, and may generate additional revenue for the nonprofit food service account. Marketing Methods: PowerPoint presentations (sample included in this toolkit) Letters (samples included in this toolkit) Other administrators' letters of support/success stories Invitations to school breakfast events Research detailing the academic benefits of a healthy breakfast A well thought-out breakfast expansion plan Cost calculations (use calculators included in the toolkit) COMMUNITIES What's Important to the Community: Academic performance. Local residents want strong schools in their communities. A highly accessibly breakfast program can help to increase the integrity of a school s academics, while providing a valuable and convenient service to students and parents/guardians. Healthy Students. Healthy children help to make a healthy community. Eating a healthy breakfast is an important part of a balanced diet. Page 6 of 9

Help During Difficult Economic Times. Families whose children are eligible for free or reduced price lunches are also eligible for free or reduced price breakfast. The School Breakfast Program can help families that are working hard to make ends meet provide a balanced, nutritious meal at a low or no cost. Marketing Methods: PSAs Local news/media coverage Community outreach events Inviting local politicians to share a school breakfast meal with students Inviting local celebrities to participate in a school breakfast. For more information on identifying key stakeholders and addressing their concerns, visit the Identifying Key Stakeholders module. Other things to consider when targeting your audience: Specific Ages and Grade Levels o Marketing to a nine-year-old and marketing to a teenager require very different approaches to messaging. Analyze what your school's students are interested in and try to use it to your advantage. Be aware of their daily concerns, and what is most important from their perspective. Is there a television character that they like? Do teenagers have concerns about nutrition and health, and are they aware of all the benefits offered by breakfast? Do students avoid breakfast because they think it is un-cool? Cultural Identity o If you are targeting a diverse group of students, you might consider foods from a variety of cultural influences for breakfast. In the United States, we typically associate waffles, pancakes, cereal and certain kind of fruits with breakfast. Consider researching breakfast recipes that hail from the cultural/ethnic backgrounds that are present in your student body. Better yet, ask students to share favorite breakfast menu ideas from their families' recipe books and Page 7 of 9

Language incorporate them into the breakfast rotation, if feasible. Serving something new at breakfast can make your program more attractive! o Many students may come from homes where English is not the primary language. Promoting your program in a variety of languages will help you to reach the widest audience. STEP 3: Create Your Image There are several factors to consider when developing a breakfast image. Not only do you have to define your own product and service, you have to look at it in the context of your competition and find ways to emphasize the advantages of School Breakfast. What are you offering? Nutritious food for students in the form of well-balanced meals. A convenient alternative for parents in the morning. A low-cost meal that has a positive impact on children's learning experience. What is your competition? Fast food restaurants, vending machines, student store, convenience stores, a la carte items Compare your Prices and Promotion Methods How does your competition (sources of breakfast other than student homes) market their products? What promotion methods of theirs are most effective, and what are yours? How do your prices compare? How do you differ from them? How do you distribute your meals? What methods have you used before? Page 8 of 9

What has been effective? What other possible methods? How much money do you have? What can you do with your current resources? How are you testing your marketing tools? How are you measuring results? What can you start doing NOW? Then, sell your product with: SIGNS - Create signage that fits the type of service you are providing. Keep the message and design simple to ensure readability. Design and print out simple signs for meal descriptions or for the cafeteria. MENUS - Menus offer vital information regarding types of meals served and enhance the image of the school meal programs. Students are not the only people who see the menus; parents, teachers, principals and community members also see them. Describe how your school meals meet the nutrition standards and Dietary Guidelines recommendations. Include nutrition education messages. Collaborate with teachers to promote themes that align with classroom lessons, such as Breads from Around the World or Harvest of the Month, etc. MAKE MENU CHOICES MORE APPEALING - Imagine yourself in a restaurant. You scan the menu for your appetizer and entrée for the meal. As you look at the words, your decision is solely based upon the words on the piece of paper. So use words that are enticing or exciting, because if they sound good to you, they will probably sound good to the next person. Try using some of these words when describing your meals. Remember to deliver what you promise. For some ideas on appealing food descriptions, consider ENVIRONMENT - The environment where students eat is important. Sometimes cafeterias are used for food service, gym class, sports practice, assemblies and meetings. Create an area that is neutral for those activities and design ways that it could be more relaxing and entertaining to eat there. Play background music or decorate the walls so that it looks more appealing and fun. Review some of your nuts and bolts business practices, like structure of the serving lines, how food is arranged and presented to students, and the location of the registers and trash bins. Solicit ideas of how you can create an environment where students will enjoy eating. Improve customer service by maintaining a positive attitude when serving food. Train food service staff on customer service and problem solving. More information on these strategies is available in the Serving a Healthy Breakfast document in the Implementing Your Program module. Page 9 of 9

Tactics for Successful Marketing Celebrate National School Breakfast Week One of the easiest ways to promote your breakfast program is to celebrate National School Breakfast Week, held annually during the month of March. Events such as a Breakfast Dress-up Day, special nutrition education sessions, or a School Breakfast poster contest can be simple or elaborate. Be creative and choose events that are suitable for your school environment and the age of the students you are serving! Providing free breakfasts or sponsoring demos/taste tests during National School Breakfast Week may further generate awareness of breakfast as a healthy option at school, as well as provide students with the opportunity to sample breakfast menu choices. Remember to estimate costs based on the additional participation that day or week. You may wish to promote this special event by giving out coupons to students for a free breakfast when they get off the bus, or send coupons home with them in a newsletter. This idea can be expanded to include the first day of school or the first week of school to generate awareness. During National School Breakfast Week, enlist the support of homeroom, health, science, and/or physical education teachers and coaches so they will act as positive role models. Encourage teachers to eat breakfast with their students or discuss the importance of breakfast in class. Distribute menus to teachers so they have an opportunity to talk the foods being served in school. Collaborate with health and physical education teachers to highlight the importance of energizing your day with a healthy school breakfast. Offer coaches a decorated table specifically for their teams to eat breakfast together the morning of a big game. Invite Parents to Breakfast Since many parents understand the importance of breakfast and the impact it has on a child's ability to learn, why not invite them for a parents' breakfast? Offer samples of the same breakfast items that are regularly served to students so that parents can taste the food their children enjoy at school. Give a tour of the food service department and provide family-sized recipes for parents to take home (if possible, include nutritional information to show how the meals contribute to their children s daily nutritional needs). Include a coupon for One Free Breakfast as part of your promotion materials that parents may redeem at any time that is convenient for them. Contests Contests can build awareness of your products and services, as well as generate excitement about giveaways or prizes. Consider details such as how you would like students to enter the Page 1 of 6

contests you are sponsoring, how staff will evaluate entries, and the types of prizes available. Will there be prizes for everyone, just a few prizes, or one grand prize? Create entry forms and an eye catching collection box for the completed forms. Advertise with flyers and banners and include messaging about the contest in your newsletters or announcements. After the contest, announce the winners and create publicity by taking pictures. Be sure to check school policies on contests and prizes. Some examples of contests that you might host include: Poster Contest Students enjoy being creative and expressing themselves through various channels other than writing. Create an opportunity for students to design a menu for the month or a poster promoting breakfast at school. Create your own criteria regarding paper size, message, and theme. You could also offer different grades separate prizes so that each class has an opportunity to win. Display the winning posters in the cafeteria. Choose a theme, such as designing a health or academics related message supporting school breakfast. Posters can also be used to create a new image for breakfast at your school. For example, let students design names for certain menu items and apply the winner's idea to the items after the contest. Milk Contest Have students create a milk mustache photo gallery. Give each student the opportunity to have his or her picture taken with a milk moustache and display each grade's results in hallways or the cafeteria. Each grade could vote on its favorite theme or costume. Select judges to choose which grade level's pictures are the silliest, which grade had the most participants, etc. Cereal Box Design Contest Have students create a cereal box for their favorite cereal and have celebrities, teachers, or local high school art students judge the boxes. Similarly, Food Service Staff can offer a new breakfast dish and have students create advertising and promotional materials for the item. Students can have their artwork published in the school newspaper or used in promotional materials to send home to parents. Breakfast Participation Challenge Organize this contest for individual classes, homerooms, or grades. Students are challenged to participate in the School Breakfast Program every day. Designate a period of time, such as a week, month, or semester over which the contest will run, and during that time, track participation for each group of students. At the end of the contest period, the group with the highest overall participation rate (this can be tallied by proportion or # of breakfasts served, whichever works best) is named the winner. You can build excitement for this contest by tracking progress on large posters in the school cafeteria, or by providing regular updates during the morning or afternoon announcements. Page 2 of 6

Celebrity Day Host an event at which local celebrities join your students for breakfast. These local celebrities are role models for students of any age. They can be mascots from sports teams, members from a university (or even professional) sports team, news reporters, a familiar local face, the mayor, or a city councilperson. Seek out people who are familiar to the children and bring about a positive image. Students listen not only to their peers, but to adults that they look up to. Theme Days Theme days spark interest in checking out what's new and provide the opportunity to serve new types of foods. Choose different themes for the cafeteria and serve food that supports that theme. Turn the cafeteria into a tropical paradise with a Hawaiian Day Celebration using cut out palm trees and grass skirts to decorate the serving counter, and have staff wear Hawaiian shirts and leis. Serve Hawaiian bagel pizza (pizza with ham and pineapple) or luau muffins or serve pineapple as the fruit of the day. You can also showcase menus based on a holiday, culture or sports team to make school meals fun. Keep in mind the ethnic or cultural backgrounds that make up your school's population---these can serve as platforms for promoting diversity and inclusion, while contributing exciting new menu items and themes to your breakfast promotion efforts. Serve Breakfast at Lunch Create interest in the breakfast program by occasionally offering popular breakfast choices at lunch! Serve nutritious meals that meet the Dietary Guidelines and nutrition standards for lunch with foods such as whole grain-rich waffles or pancakes, egg sandwiches, breakfast burritos, smoothies, or other student favorites. Menu Ideas Even menus themselves are powerful tools that can help you to market school meal programs. Not only do they provide information for students, parents and faculty, but they also help to entice students to enjoy eating school meals. Plan menus that offer a wide variety of popular, healthy choices and display the information in a creative way. Encourage students to read the menu every day and keep it in a convenient place at home. Reading the menus provides students with the information they need to make better food choices. When students have an opportunity to read an appealing menu, they will follow through with increased interest and participation. Take advantage of online software that includes pre-designed menu calendars to add interest to your menus. Make the menus fun and reinforce that school meals are important for every Page 3 of 6

student's health. Choose descriptive terms that make foods interesting and enticing. Keep the descriptions fresh, new and accurate. Borrow ideas from restaurant menus to describe various foods and how they are prepared. The Smarter Lunchrooms Movement (http://smarterlunchrooms.org/) also offers tips and suggestions for appealing and creative names for foods. Be proud of you menus! Display them in the cafeteria or where meals are served. Advertise your menus in locations throughout the school. Encourage teachers to post menus in class. Furthermore, make sure your menus attract students' attention. Consider using an easel or menu board with large letters to help remind students about the day's choices. Or, merchandise your meals by displaying a sample plate so that students can see what's offered that day. Identify the types of foods students want to eat. Adjust the menu to reflect their suggestions or occasionally serve special meals that contain favorite food items. Publicize that the menu has been altered to accommodate students' preferences whenever you do so. Online Promotion Post menus on your school's website or intranet. Parents and children can check every day to see if they want to participate in school breakfast. If there is an email listserv that the school uses to communicate with households and the community, see if you can use it to advertise menus, contests, and special events. Make sure that you include prices and even nutrition information, if available, when advertising in this fashion. Compare the nutrition information for your meals with popular alternatives which may be less healthy. Promote the benefits of the School Breakfast Program specifically. Flyers You can focus attention on the School Breakfast Program by delivering the message with flyers. Here are some suggestions: Display eye-catching flyers in school hallways. Include flyers in school newsletters or at Parents' Night or Orientation. Use bold lettering that is easy to read from a distance. Describe the convenience and nutritional value of the School Breakfast Program. Include a cost comparison between school breakfast and breakfast at a local fast food restaurant or convenience store. Hours of operation, cost, location and breakfast options should be included in the flyer. Let all students and parents know that they can have both breakfast and lunch at school every day. If it s within your budget, utilize colorful pictures and graphics to accentuate the message. Page 4 of 6

Announcements Promote School Breakfast every day over the school intercom or on the school radio station. Remind students that eating school breakfast every day gives them energy for activities, a chance to socialize, and will help them do better in school. Student Advisory Group What better way to address the needs of students than by asking them? Ask students to volunteer to test new menu items, flyer designs and marketing ideas. Students from the class councils, Student Government Association, Honor Society or other organizations may want to participate, too. Find out what they think of school meals and ask them how school breakfast can be more appealing. What kinds of foods would they like to eat? Have them help you design or create a menu for their age group. Student will provide a quick response and will generate ideas to increase participation. These students can also help develop or choose new items to add to the menus depending upon their own personal tastes. Furthermore, these students will generate interest and help market the program to their peers. Taste Tests When creating new recipes or menu items or deciding which ones to keep, hold a taste test with students before changing the menu. Serve small, sample-sized portions to students during breakfast or lunch and advertise the results of the taste test when offering the new food item on the menu. Breakfast Giveaways and Prizes Provide free breakfast to all school staff on the first day of school to build support for the program. Teachers and staff will set an example for students to start their day off right! Offer breakfasts at a discount for teachers who continue to eat with their students, or a free breakfast for every certain number of times they eat school breakfast. If you are using an alternative serving method that requires teacher cooperation, provide breakfasts to them at no charge every day to thank them for their support. Also consider employing similar tactics for students, such as a small prize for those who eat more frequently during the month, or give them a frequent user card. Provide free breakfast to students who bring a friend to breakfast with them for the first time. Consider placing a sticker on the bottom of a few random trays. The student who receives that tray wins a prize. Public Service Announcements (PSAs) Public service announcements can be an effective way to deliver your message about breakfast or school meals. If you have a successful sports team with a large following that fits your target Page 5 of 6

audience (e.g. parents of students in elementary, middle and high schools), ask the organization to make an announcement as part of its community service. Sample PSAs, both in written and video form, are included in this toolkit. Students can create their own PSAs, too. If a school has a TV production class, this class could create a short commercial about the School Breakfast Program which could then be aired on local and/or school television. Automated Messages Record a message about school breakfast that plays while parents are on hold waiting to speak with school administrative staff. Also, many schools have automated message systems to call parents at home. If a student is absent, and the phone system will call home with a generated message for parents, why not use the same system to call home with a message about the benefits of school breakfast? Press Releases Send press releases to local newspapers, television stations, or community newsletters before the start of the school year to notify parents that the School Breakfast Program is available to all students. Include information about the convenience, cost and nutritional value of school breakfast. Communicate with the media on a regular basis and use it to promote special events. Existing Forums Provide information about school breakfast at Parent Teacher Association meetings, staff meetings, parent-teacher conferences, school and community events, and more. Take advantage of these existing forums to publicize the benefits of school breakfast. Involve Advocates Collaborate with community partners such as anti-hunger advocates who can support and publicize school breakfast initiatives. Many of these organizations even provide additional resources similar to this toolkit to aid you in your efforts to establish, promote, or expand your breakfast program. Take advantage of these partners to help you create a marketing campaign. Ask for Input Are there schools in your area which have implemented and promoted an especially successful breakfast program? Talk with them about their experience and ask them to share any insight on how to raise participation rates for your program. Page 6 of 6