Fully booking and expanding a forest school
Project Overview
A local forest school, located within a botanical gardens opened to the public, offers outdoor stay-and-play sessions for 0 - 5 year olds which allow them to explore and learn in nature.
To make it financially viable, they needed to grow its audience and fill its sessions consistently.
Key Results
100% session bookings: consistently filled all available slots
64% increase in party bookings
New location opened in a nearby arboretum.
Increased engagement: Joint sessions with local partners became very sought-after, attracting new audiences.
The Challenge
A local forest school faced several challenges:
Low session bookings: Despite having a good core audience, many classes were. not fully booked, affecting revenue and growth potential
Limited visibility: The school struggled to reach beyond it’s immediate community and relied a lot on word-of-mouth marketing
Seasonal fluctuations: Interest peaked during certain periods, but maintaining engagement and attendance year-round was a constant challenge
The Solution
We developed a manageable but highly effective content strategy that provided clear, actionable steps to drive awareness, boost bookings and create collaborative partnerships, without requiring too much time input from the manager. Key elements included:
A manageable content strategy based on my PALS framework, providing consistent ideas and posts that move people through the buyers journey and encourage them to book
Partnerships with other local businesses with overlapping audiences, such as tennis lessons and singing groups, to create “special” joint sessions and cross-pollinate audiences
Guidance on how to create quick but high-quality visual content showcasing the excellent setting and activities, which grab the eye and make parents keen to get their children involved
Strategy call-to-actions throughout the content directing followers to book onto sessions, book parties, or join in with specials; supplemented with early bird promotions and limited-time offers to drive urgency.
“We’d worked with a few social media managers before, but we were keen to try something else. A tailored audit session with Katy was ideal - she gave us a good overview of our account, and SO many ideas. It’s paid for itself again and again.”
