The document provides a market analysis for Harmon-Hodge STEM School, a private K-8 STEM school in Tampa, Florida. It analyzes the school's strengths such as its clear mission and values. It also examines weaknesses like the school's small size and lack of information online. Opportunities for expansion, such as adding high school grades, are discussed. Competition from other local schools is identified as a threat. The analysis concludes with recommendations to diversify the student body and appeal to donors through restructuring the website and promoting STEM education.

1. Amanda Dragomer
Prof. Whelihan
Principles of Ad
Market Analysis Harmon-Hodge Stem School
About:
Harmon Hodge STEM school is a non-profit science, technology, engineering, mathematics
school in East Tampa of Hillsborough County. It is a private kindergarten through 8th grade
school that is 4 years old. Iesha Hackman who is also a teacher founded the school. She
would like to expand the school’s student body. The school slogan is “Engineering Change
Through Education” and the campaign is “Our Values Make Scholars Dig DEEP, Others
Touch the Surface but We Dig DEEPer.” DEEP is an acronym for Diligence, excellence,
esteem, and patience. The school colors are Blue and Green.
City Facts:
 Hillsborough County
o 1,291,578 people
 under 18 years old: 302,229
o 75.6% white
o 17.4 % black
o 3.9% Asian
o 26% Hispanic
o 86.4% high school graduate or higher
o 29% bachelors or higher
o median income: $49,450
 Tampa
o 352,957 people
 79,768 under 18
o 62.9% white
o 26.2% black
o 23.1% Hispanic
o 3.4% Asian
o median income: $43,514
o 21.1% below poverty line
o per capita income: $28,779
Analysis of the City Stats:
The city of Tampa has a diverse population. The Harmon STEM School should work
to match the diversity of the school with its student body diversity to resemble the
statistics of the school for proper representation. The city also has a lower per capita
income, which must be taken into consideration. Because Harmon is a private school with

2. an annual tuition, it is important to appeal to families who can afford to attend the school.
Location within the county is a key factor.
Strengths:
The school has a logo, displayed on the first page. It also has slogan: Engineering
Change Through Education. The slogan is appealing; it keeps in mind the world outside of
the school and promotes the future. The campaign is apparent, “Our values make scholars
dig DEEP, Others touch the surface but we dig DEEPer. The campaign is then explained as
DEEP represents the values of the school to be diligence, excellence, esteem, and patience.
The website is also interactive as it has links to share the website, contact the school, and
shows ways to get involved. The website keeps the future in mind as it has a page dedicated
to their tips to success and how the school ensures these steps. It also mentions college
prep, which is a good goal to have as only 29% of Hillsborough County residents have a
bachelors or higher.
Weaknesses:
According to a company finder website with basic information about the school, the
company only staffs 5 people. If this is true there is no room for expansion without
employing more people. If this is not true, there is false accessible information on the
Internet. There is no annual cost of attendance available through the Web. The website has
few pictures making the image of the school and those in it very small. The website is
decently user friendly, but information is scarce. Descriptions of the mission and vision are
not complete and use contractions and font can be seen as informal. There also seems to be
an assumption that people already know about certain aspects of the school. I.E. there is a
tab that says HSH2 but I do not know what that means. Formality of the website as a whole
can seem somewhat unprofessional. While the website has ways to get involved, it isn’t
apparent how to apply. The website also does not address what programs it offers in
extracurricular activities.
Opportunities:

3. Within 5 miles of the school, there are limited schools in the similar private school
sector that offer high school along with k-8 than there are schools that only offer up to
middle school. Expansion into a high school would increase commitment of the families for
long term purposes and make the school a part of smaller community of schools that offer
up to 12th grade.
Threats:
The school is located within 5 miles of 58 other schools that offer k-8 and 63 schools
that offer k-12. The schools provide competition. Tampa also has a low per capita income
and 21% of the population is below the poverty line, which could provide problems of
students who are able to attend since the school is private and tuition is assumed. The city
of Tampa is not very ethnically diverse.
Features and Benefits:
Compared to competition schools, H2S2 has the largest amount of students of color.
The school also has the smallest numbers in enrollment  specialized personal attention
and care towards each of its students.
The Private School Industry
The industry is driven by inadequacies in the public school arena as well as a desire
for a specific curriculum. The success of a school depends largely on its reputation for
quality; small schools can be credited with success by customizing to a specific field. There
are no major companies that dominate the private school industry throughout the country.
65% of these schools only provide secondary education with about 31,000 primary and
secondary schools in the US with a total enrollment of about 4.5 million students. The
private school education system proves to be a key factor in career success. According to
the Guardian, out of 500 of the most influential people working in politics, the media,
medicine, law, and business, more than half of them attended private schools.

4. http://www.gallup.com/poll/156974/private-schools-top-marks-educating-children.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/156974/private-schools-top-marks-educating-children.aspx
The charts here represent the current status of attitudes toward primary and secondary
education in the US.

5. http://www.gallup.com/poll/156974/private-schools-top-marks-educating-children.aspx
The chart here shows the current and projected attendance of private and public schools of
students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade nationwide. The percent of students in
private schools is declining.
Keys to Success:
In order for private schools to success, according to the Department of Education,
the key attributes must be publicized. These attributes are the close-knit communities,
individualized attention for students, supportive learning environments, high-quality and
committed teachers, hands-on learning, educational experiences beyond the classroom,
and engaged parents. There should be a strong emphasis on small school and class size.
There must be an evident partnership between school, parent, and child.
Mission:
Our mission is to develop a campaign to advertise the school in a way that attracts
prospective donors and families. The campaign should include restructuring of the website
and promoting the concept of STEM schools as a whole. The campaign should aim at
broadening the diversity of the school but may focus on personalization and individual
attention towards each student. Using a limited budget, it is important to appeal to
prospective donors for financial advancement of the school. By broadening the budget of

6. the school through means of reaching out to benefactors, the campaign would then be able
to reach out to a wider range of families to diversify the school and build the student body
population. The campaign should focus on what sets apart Harmon STEM from other
private schools in the area, using its slogan of digging DEEPer to represent the school’s
ideology.
** Attached is a spreadsheet of local competition for Harmon Hodge STEM School.
Sources:
www.greatschools.org
www.stemschools.org
www.harmonhodge.org
www.companies.findthebest.com
www.visulate.com
www.yellowpages.com
www.yellowbook.com
www.quickfacts.census.gov
www.hillsboroughcounty.org
www.maps.google.com
www.tampaprep.org
www.keiser-education.com
www.esri.com
http://www.hoovers.com/industry-facts.private-schools-k-12.1957.html
http://www.firstresearch.com/Industry-Research/Private-Schools-K-12.html
http://privateschool.about.com/od/choosingaschool/qt/whyprivateschl.htm
http://www.gallup.com/poll/156974/private-schools-top-marks-educating-children.aspx
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/jun/28/schools.uk