Offerings
At Prime Education, we believe that research is the best investment you can make whether you are re-branding, marketing, advocating, or trying to survive a crisis. And the key to good research (and you don’t want the other kind) is, very simply, asking the right people (sample) the right questions (content) in the right way (methodology). Having conducted literally thousands of qualitative and quantitative research projects over the last thirty years, we know how to help you identify what you need to know, how to find it out and, most importantly, how to put the information to work once you have your answers.
Education is a top tier area of interest and concern for the American public and therefore for policy makers. With the acceleration of the standards movement in the 1980s and 90s, and the accountability measures associated with No Child Left Behind in the first years of this decade, to the massive infusion of new federal dollars under President Obama, all eyes are focused on our nations public schools. Turning that attention and that focus into desired policy objectives 2001, to improvement in laws, regulations and practice don’t happen automatically. At Prime Education we know—from years of experience how to make things happen—at City Hall, the State House, on Capitol Hill and in the White House.
The concept of “brand” is often misunderstood and therefore unfairly maligned. At Prime Education, we use the term not to describe an organization’s “identity” — its name, logo and tagline (Nike… Swoosh…Just Do It) but its very essence – its mission, attributes, and uniqueness. We help clients create effective brands by focusing on the “Three Rs” – Recognition (who you are and what you do), Relevance (why you matter), and Relationship (commitment and support). Why does a strong brand matter to an education organization? Because it makes you better at everything you do – whether that’s educating students, advocating for public policies, selling products and services, raising funds, or defending yourself in a crisis.
The principals at Prime Education have worked in the education sector long enough, and with a sufficiently varied set of clients, to know that conventional business terms like “branding” and “marketing” – not to mention “customers” – sometimes offend people who see education – teaching and learning – in loftier ways. It also our view, however, that if the rest of the universe employs a particular way of communicating to convey basic realities, resisting it doesn’t make a lot of sense. So, we talk openly about marketing; and, we help educators “market” ideas, points of view, products and services. It seems logical to us, and it fits in with our own skill set and experiences.
No person, no organization, no institution is immune from crises. From cheating on tests, to allegations of personnel or financial mismanagement, to athletic recruiting scandals to, unfortunately, incidents of tragic violence, schools, universities and others in the world of education are painfully aware of this reality. At Prime Education, we know that best way to handle a crisis is to be prepared for it—to have in place necessary protocols and to have trained people for the inevitable. We know, too, that all the planning in the world doesn’t mean a thing if the execution of a crisis management protocol isn’t swift, efficient and thorough. We know, because we’ve been there, that rapid and accurate communications are central to successful crisis management.
