Case Study: How Strategic Planning Drove a 56% Coverage Increase for a National Nonprofit
About Warrior-Scholar Project
Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to ensure that every degree-seeking enlisted veteran succeeds in their pursuit of higher education. Since its founding in 2011, more than 2,000 student veterans have participated in a WSP Academic Boot Camp, its flagship program, and 90% of program alumni have earned or are on track to earn a college degree.
About K.E.Baker Public Relations
Kristen Baker-Geczy uses strategic planning and compelling storytelling to help businesses and nonprofits amplify their reach and inspire stakeholders to take action. Kristen’s nearly 20-year career in communications has taught her that meaningful coverage comes from curated and cumulative efforts. To achieve that, she relies on data-driven outreach strategies supported by high-quality media assets.
Amplifying an Important Cause
Every summer, WSP holds its immersive academic boot camp programs at leading universities nationwide to help enlisted service members prepare for the cultural transition from the military to academia. Initially, WSP's media strategy involved promoting individual boot camp events within each university's local media market to its three primary audiences: future participants, potential donors, and media members.
The initial strategy brought impressive results, earning coverage in 39 media outlets during the summer of 2022. However, as Kristen reviewed past campaign data, she saw trends emerge that she thought could drive even stronger media coverage in 2023.
Implementing a Focused PR Strategy
While WSP's original strategy was successful, yielding high-quality placements in outlets like public radio's The American Homefront, it had one significant drawback: with more than 20 universities hosting boot camps each summer, there were limited resources to dedicate personal attention to each program, leading to detached media relations and an overburdened client.
With three summers' worth of data in hand, Kristen better understood the local media markets. She pursued a new strategy that promoted boot camp events in nine strategic areas selected based on several factors, including media viability and target audience saturation.
Because she decided to focus her efforts on fewer markets, she now had time to collaborate with university partners to create higher-quality content, which included valuable assets like vetted interviews and media call times. WSP also had the bandwidth to work with Kristen to train a point person at each campus who could immediately help coordinate on-the-ground logistics and collect PR collateral for post-event media outreach.
Reaching Target Audiences with Earned Media
Kristen's new strategy generated 61 stories published across print, broadcast and digital media outlets — a 56% increase over 2022. Those stories reached over 333 million unique viewers at an estimated ad value of more than $3 million. Coverage highlights include:
KABC in Southern California produced a story syndicated across its ABC affiliates, generating 7.5 million unique views.
Stars and Stripes picked up a story from The Virginian-Pilot, earning simultaneous coverage within one of the largest military communities in the U.S. and in one of the leading military publications.
WSP was also featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the preeminent publication in the higher education industry, and the client's dream story. Not only did the reporter shadow a full day of academic boot camp activities, she also chronicled the impact WSP has on transitioning military and college campuses nationwide — showcasing the value that both the program and veterans bring to higher education institutions and beyond.
The stories generated by Kristen's new strategy were thoughtful, in-depth features, which was a testament to the infrastructure she and WSP created that made it easy for the media to produce high-quality coverage.
Takeaways for Your Organization
The results achieved during WSP’s 2023 academic boot camp season underscore the power of an optimized PR strategy. By utilizing data to choose markets more effectively, Kristen helped WSP more than double program coverage without doubling the budget. And by dedicating time to create comprehensive packages, she helped the media deliver quality stories to their audiences. The result was an improved return on investment and more impactful storytelling.
*Photo courtesy of Warrior-Scholar Project
