How does a community evolve its culture toward stronger education system support and align a rural community with state and local leaders, businesses and students with the goal of workforce and college readiness,springboarding a lasting economic impact? In Maury County, Tenn., this effort was brokered through a partnership between the Maury County Chamber and Economic Alliance, Maury County Schools and Mary Beth West Communications, LLC, resulting in the award-winning #GrowMaury campaign.

1. Changing Local Community Culture
in Support of Education for a Tennessee Town:
“The Grass is Greener Where You Water It”
#GrowMaury

2. Introduction
• Overview of Mary Beth West Communications, LLC
• Overview of Maury County / Education Advocacy Situation
• How the Campaign Evolved
• Research
• Creative Development
• Community Outreach
• Results Achieved to Date

3. MBWC Agency Overview
• Founded 13 years ago as a
public relations consultancy,
focused on strategic
communications
• Based in Greater Knoxville,
Tenn.

4. Partial Snapshot of MBWC Clients

5. About Maury County
Population: 85,000
County seat: Columbia
Other primary municipalities: Spring Hill, Mt. Pleasant
Median household income: $46,565
One county-based school system: 12,263 students; 799 teachers
Ave. ACT Score: 18.6 (19.4 state ave.)
Graduation Rate: 90.8% (87.8% state ave.)

6. About the Maury Alliance
• Maury County’s Chamber of
Commerce and the primary
organizational driver of
economic development for the
county
• Includes an Education Task
Force, which issued an RFP for
agency services to advance
Maury County Schools’
reputation in Q4 2014

7. Maury County’s Next-Door Neighbor / “Competitor”:
Williamson County
Population: 205,226
County seat: Franklin
Other primary municipalities: Brentwood
Median household income: $91,743 (highest per-capita income county in Tennessee)
Two School Systems: Franklin (city), Williamson County
Williamson: 35,378 students; 2,183 teachers
Ave. ACT Score: 23.8 (19.4 state ave.)
Graduation Rate: 95.5% (87.8% state ave.)

8. Key Challenges
• Existing reputation for under-performing schools seemed to be
firmly rooted in the community (but success stories – many of
them untold – persisted, despite challenging test scores)
• A need to tell the success stories without whitewashing the need for
school system improvement
• Leadership transition taking place right as our campaign was
seeking to take shape
• Limited budget; no budget available for advertising component
– would need to rely solely on PR / social media / community
outreach to gather visibility
• Deadline of July 29, 2015 to have all kick-off elements in place
(teacher in-service day for start-up of new academic year)

9. Our Focus
Measurably establish a solid, positive foundation for
a long-term education advocacy campaign supporting
the advancement of Maury County Public Schools’
reputation locally, regionally / statewide and among
key stakeholder audiences – thereby supporting
Maury County’s larger economic development
strategy

10. Timeline of Our Work in 2015
• January 2015 – Awarded contract via RFP
• March 2015 – 1 ½ day site visit to Maury County by MBWC to
speak with stakeholder groups and gather key directional
information for campaign strategy
• April-July 2015 – Market research conducted, creative/visual
campaign developed, PR and social media plans developed
• July 29, 2015 – Campaign unveiled at teacher in-service
• August-November 2015 – Campaign in progress via social
media, media coverage, community events, signage

11. Key Work Scopes
• Market research to help develop baseline metrics
• Creation and approval of “The Grass is Greener Where you Water It”
concept
• Creative and visual development (graphics, signage, fliers, social
media visuals, etc.)
• Assistance with kick-off event
• Media relations campaign (monthly editorial focus / content areas)
• Social media campaign; promotion of #GrowMaury hashtag
(including Oct. Twitter chat)
• Third-party outreach / relationship-building
• Campaign strategy and ongoing development

12. Initial Objectives
 To implement a successful internal roll-out within MCPS to enlist full
administrator, educator and staff support, participation and word-of-
mouth for the forthcoming campaign
 To generate positive content that achieves millions of audience
impressions in earned media and online audience engagement
 To develop a branded messaging campaign in collaboration with the
Maury Alliance Task Force and the new incoming MCPS director that
launches in tandem with the start-up of the 2015-16 school year
 To shift realtor community perceptions of MCPS’ education-quality
reputation

13. Developing a Core Campaign Message
Criteria: The campaign message needed to….
• Place students and their needs / their futures front-and-center
• Connect students’ educational outcomes with economic success
for the entire community
• Have a very positive, upbeat and future-forward tone
• Avoid a “we’re better than Williamson County” or any type of
competitive “sour grapes” mentality
• Encourage the full community to embrace the positive things
already happening in the schools (which our team learned about
anecdotally during our March discovery site visit)
• Incorporate strong potential for longevity (a multi-year campaign)

14. Key Ideas / Terms / Imagery
Growth
Brightness / Vitality
Green
Education imagery
Welcoming / Engaging

15. “The Grass is Greener Where
You Water It.”
Watch us flourish on this side of the fence!

16. Subtext: It’s what we nurture over time through consistent
love, care and investment that grows into something we
embrace and take pride in, both now and in the future.

19. Objective 1: To implement an internal roll-out within MCPS to
enlist full administrator, educator and staff support, participation
and word-of-mouth for the forthcoming campaign
Outcomes to date:
• Full campaign visuals were in place with supporting materials for
the launch date of July 29
• Widespread social media engagement was achieved as well as
targeted media coverage in the first week of the campaign
• Ongoing social media, media coverage and e-newslettering to
school system employees as well as parents have continued
monthly since the campaign launch

20. #GrowMaury @MaryBethWest

21. #GrowMaury @MaryBethWest

22. Objective 2: To generate positive content that achieves millions
of audience impressions in earned media and online audience
engagement
Outcomes within only four months of campaign start-up:
• 14 positive stories and mentions generated in 3 ½ months
• Nearly 2.7 million in earned media (i.e. news/editorial) audience
impressions achieved through print and online coverage
• Overall decrease registered in negative coverage about the
schools during this timeframe, compared year-over-year
• Twitter impressions increased by 500 percent in October 2015
alone, thanks to the Twitter chat hosted by #GrowMaury / Dr.
Marczak

23. #GrowMaury @MaryBethWest

24. Objective 3: To develop a branded messaging campaign in
collaboration with the Maury Alliance Task Force and the new
incoming MCPS director that launches in tandem with the start-
up of the 2015-16 school year
Outcomes to date:
• Quickly-adopted creative tagline and visual campaign approved
by the Maury Alliance Education Task Force
• “The Grass is Greener Where You Water It”
• Highly successful and visible launch spearheaded in late July and
sustained for four months… with solid plans for continuation of
the momentum into 2016
• Tennessee Promise – 100% participation achieved

25. Dr. Chris Marczak
(@cjmarczak)
New MCPS
Director of Schools
Hired in Aug. 2015

30. Social Media Graphics Spotlighted Student Success Stories
(organic reach in the thousands)

32. FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid: the first step
toward getting federal aid for college, career school, or graduate
school… Maury among top 8 counties for completion as of 2/16/16.

33. Objective 4: To shift realtor community perceptions of
MCPS’s education-quality reputation
Outcomes to date:
NOTE: Realtor market research indicated after this objective was
initially set forth that realtors are actually not purposefully steering
homebuyers away from Maury County properties… that instead,
realtors generally take direction as dictated by property buyers’
own stated desires and research as to which community and what
types of housing stock meet the buyers’ criteria.
• Resources originally earmarked for targeted outreach to realtors for purposes
of opinion change were therefore redirected to more broad communications
efforts already in place for the campaign.

34. 2016 Campaign Continuation
Core elements:
• Maintain the goal / objectives originally set forth in 2015, with the
exception of the fourth goal (realtors)
• Transition the campaign to a fully public-facing campaign with higher
levels of actual engagement / interaction
• Build on base of earned media and social media traffic generated to date
• More events for diverse stakeholders to participate in, in-person and online
• Enhance content to drive ideas, tips and call-to-action by establishing 4
quarterly themes:
• Q1: Getting Workforce-Ready / Industry Opportunities
• Q2: Job Prep and Competitiveness / Soft Skills
• Q3: Parental and Business Community Involvement
• Q4: Tennessee Promise and Mentor Enrollment

35. 2016 Campaign Thematic Timeline
• Q1: Getting Workforce-Ready / Industry Opportunities
• Heavy content on Maury-based business and industry opportunities and
commensurate job skills; connecting employers to the school system in
visible ways
• Q2: Job Prep and Competitiveness / Soft Skills
• Summer jobs and interviewing preparedness
• Q3: Parental and Business Community Involvement
• *Start of new academic year: key kick-off timeframe to get students,
parents and entire community in right mindset to support MCPS
• Q4: Tennessee Promise and Mentor Enrollment
• Meet / exceed goals for TN Promise AND mentor enrollment

36. Continued Elements
Keeping the Momentum Going
• Media relations and story opportunities
• Keep the pace in The Daily Herald
• Broaden reach to Nashville media
• Integrate content with Dr. Marczak’s own leadership
messaging
• Social media / online events
• More Twitter chats (make these a more routine part of the
campaign that people can expect)

37. New Elements
Spur More Face-to-Face Contact and Engagement
• Maury-based photography and video
• Video is perfect for :30-:45 second short-form testimonials and
sharable content to promote the campaign’s messages
• Speakers bureau (taking the campaign’s message out on a
mini-speakers circuit in Maury and beyond)
• In-person education forums / roundtables with heavy public
participation both on-site and in social media
• Pre-event promotions (social and news coverage)
• On-site Tweeting and hashtag use with live displays of hashtag
conversations during the forums; Periscope to broadcast on social
media for free

39. April 26, 2016 #GrowMaury Community Roundtable
Event Attended by Hundreds, Spurring Hundreds of
Thousands in Social Media Reach

41. Panel event headlined by state education and local workforce / industry leaders

42. Spring 2016:
New social
media graphics
are spotlighting
local employers
in Maury
County who are
products of
Maury County
Public Schools
and have
advice for
career success
to new grads.

43. Multi-award-winning
campaign, as judged through
peer review via the
Public Relations Society of
America
Award of Excellence –
Market Research Category
Nashville Chapter
Award of Excellence –
Integrated Campaigns Category
Knoxville Chapter

44. Closing Comments
• Role and importance of public relations strategy in
economic development-driven campaigns
• How communities – even more rural communities and
those that might typically be on the more cynical side –
can become vested in a strategically driven campaign
• Lessons learned: a PR campaign alone isn’t enough
• Community leadership at the grassroots must be committed
and visually present / involved

45. mb@marybethwest.com
@marybethwest
@MBWComm