AACS is proud to announce the winner of the Marketing Innovation Golden School Award, Avenue Five Institute.
Avenue Five Institute enjoys exploring new ways to connect with their customers. To authentically tell the story of their brand, Avenue Five Institute is constantly developing captivating content that they hope their target audiences can relate to. Even amidst the global pandemic, they were able to achieve meaningful growth across nearly every outcome category that is tracked. These outcomes were made possible through strategic execution of an ongoing marketing efforts focused on five clear objectives:
- Engage with current and new customers.
- Generate high quality leads that convert to good student outcomes.
- Increase web traffic and website engagement.
- Increase global brand awareness.
- Grow their social media community authentically.
Video remains one of the fastest growing and most effective forms of marketing for Avenue Five Institute. According to YouTube, mobile video consumption grows by 100% every year. For that reason, they regularly invite their audience to interact via video. In doing so, Avenue Five Institute developed a series of video tutorials where students showcased their knowledge of hair and make-up, teaching hundreds of aspiring professionals online some of what they’ve learned in beauty school. These efforts help students gain confidence while practicing and creating content for their social media platforms and portfolios.
Acknowledging the power of social media to attract and engage with customers, Avenue Five Institute constantly updates their social media ad campaigns as part of their digital marketing strategy. This ongoing effort has improved the amount of leads and website visits they receive. Through ongoing split-testing and audience refinement, the conversion rates have remained strong throughout the pandemic.
Search engine optimization is incredibly important for their brand awareness, that’s why Avenue Five Institute employs a skilled copywriter to help us optimize all their web pages, including the blog. After all, search engines love fresh content. Their blog focuses on three main objectives: SEO, industry expertise/teaching, and new audience reach through social sharing. Avenue Five Institute maintains a content calendar and a regular publishing schedule. They always rely on targeted keywords, but more importantly, they make sure to write about topics of interest to the different audiences.
Avenue Five Institute pays close attention to their online reputation, because they recognize online reviews have a powerful effect on consumer behaviors. This is important not only for the salon and spa customers, but to students as well. That’s why Avenue Five Institute enjoys sharing positive reviews from their customers on their social media channels. They believe this motivates students to give their best, while teaching them good marketing practices for their future businesses. Once a month, they let students know what customers shared online and present them with a 5 star Google+ review certificate that students can use for their resume and portfolio.
Just like the beauty industry at large, Avenue Five Institute is constantly evolving and innovating. Prior to COVID, they decided some tweaks were necessary to better represent the school. Graphic lines and new colors were included to the 2020 branding. They try to maintain colors that represent the personalities of each of the different programs.
- Calming and healing blue tones for esthetics.
- Purple tones represent creativity and independence for cosmetology.
- Green tones represent balance and harmony for massage therapy.
- Orange tones represent joy and success for make-up artistry.
It is extremely important to have a nice looking, easy-to-use, and responsive website that reflects the latest marketing strategy. Starting in 2019 and continuing through 2020, Avenue Five Institute’s website was updated to reflect and accommodate our new photography style, message, and branding aesthetics. The goal is to attract customer attention and peak curiosity in aim of increasing conversion rates.
Avenue Five Institute achieved an all-time high enrollment in 2020, even when faced with the global pandemic. The hard work they put into innovative marketing continues to pay off. Their mission is to continue evolving marketing techniques that drive more business, while also benefiting our students, staff, and clientele.