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BACKGROUND

Our goal is to optimize the Awareness phase of the customer journey by:

Taking a pulse-check on our audience, their mindsets, motivations, needs, desires and behaviors
Segment our audience into distinct groups with common motivators/objections based on market research and demographic details
Grabbing the attention of our audience with targeted messaging and avoiding “landmines” and messaging that could potentially turn them off
Make our audience members aware that our programs offers the benefits that suit their specific needs

Meet our future students �where they are right now. �

We set out to learn how we should segment our audience �in the awareness stage of the customer journey to target them� with the most compelling and attention-grabbing messages.

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BACKGROUND

Mapping out the entire customer journey

Data to analyze and/or acquire for every step in the journey

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CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Types of Customer Awareness

Problem

Awareness

No awareness of their problem

No Problem Awareness

Solution

Awareness

Product

Awareness

Brand

Awareness

Have they identified their problem yet?

Do they know education/tech career is the solution?

Do they know bootcamps exist?

Do they know OUR programs exist?

Help them become aware of their problem: They are unsatisfied with their life or career.

Focus messaging on the problem and their desire for a better life. Motivate them to go after what they want.

Focus messaging on the solution to their problem: Education, a tech career, or both.

Focus messaging on bootcamps and education

Focus messaging on why our programs are the best solution their specific problems

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BACKGROUND

Executive Summary

Long- and short-term trends in education and the workforce changed the way people work, study, and live—causing a shift in our audience’s motivations and desires

The short-term trends were spurred by the pandemic, while the long-term trends have been ongoing since before the pandemic.

These trends provide us with new ways to segment our audience and improve our existing personas

By not speaking directly to these potential segments’ needs with our messaging, we may be limiting our ability to reach them.
We can target with messaging that is tailored to their individual needs, problems, and experiences.

New motivators and objections identified for our audience

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CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Insights Summary

Trends	Target Segments	Motivation	Message Themes	Business Opportunity
Drop in college enrollment - Men account for 70% of the decline	RECENT HS GRADS Non-college educated young men Male recent high school graduates	Need an alternative to traditional college that meets their needs.	Higher salaries, skill-based learning, lower overall costs, quick entry into the workforce, and career growth opportunities.	1.6 million male high school graduates in 2020. 1.5 million fewer students enrolled in college than 5 yrs ago, men accounted for 70%+ of the decline.
Lower college enrollment rates among high school graduates. (This trend is more pronounced in male and low-income high school graduates.)	HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS High school seniors in final semester, summer after graduation or in the fall semester after graduation High school seniors’ parents	Many many high school graduates choose to skip college and join the workforce because they see college as too expensive or not worth it. They want to start making money right out of school.	Payment plan, quick entry into the workforce, “anyone can do it”, career growth opportunities, flexible schedule, learn-from-home, learn while you work, higher salaries, skill-based learning, lower overall costs. Timing: Target the soon-to-graduate and recent high school and their parents as they get ready to graduate high school (during the summer before Fall Semester, and during the Fall Semester, as they see their high school friends starting college).	3,209,510 high school graduates in 2020. 1.5 million fewer students enrolled in college than 5 yrs ago, men accounted for 70%+ of the decline.

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CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Insights Summary

Trends	Target Segments	Motivation	Message Themes	Business Opportunity
Lower socioeconomic college students go for 2-year degrees more than 4-year degrees “The Great Resignation” of low-wage, front-line and ‘essential’ workers	“Working class” and “lower middle class” individuals who recently graduated high school or about to graduate high school. Anyone who has shown interest in vocational school for professions such as: Massage therapy, plumbing, heating and A/C, paralegal, pharmacy tech, ultrasound tech, mechanic/auto repair	Needs to help support family financially and work while going to school; sees college as unaffordable. Believes that ‘education is the way out of poverty’ but is leaning towards vocational education so they can get straight to work with minimal debt. Does not have financial help from family.	Education is the path out of poverty/to a better life Payment plan “Anyone can do it” Flexible schedule Learn-from-home Learn while you work High salaries	The “working class” is 30% of population and earns $19,000 to $45,000 per year. That’s 98.85 million people The “lower-middle class” is 26% of population and earns $46,000 to $75,000 per year. That’s 85 million people

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CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Insights Summary

Trends	Target Segments	Motivation	Message Themes	Business Opportunity
Businesses who want to retain their best employees may consider paying for their workers’ upskilling/education.	Medium and large enterprises that have budget to provide upskilling benefits to their employees. Employers who has shown interest in professional development for their staff: Tech companies Startups Large enterprise	Wants to retain their best talent. Wants to invest in their employees professional growth. Needs to increase company’s talent security awareness or tech skills.	Upskill existing workforce Retain existing talent Invest in company’s security Invest in company’s tech talent Flexible schedule Customizable curriculum to meet business needs	4.3 million workers quit their jobs in Dec ‘21 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in Nov ‘21

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CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Insights Summary (Cont.)

Trend	Target Segments	Motivation	Message Themes	Business Opportunity
Many mothers left the workforce to become caregivers during pandemic closures	Women with children who left the workforce Age 18+	Might not want to return to work full-time nor in-person. Needs flexible schedule that allows for child rearing.	Work/life/family balance benefits (such as maternity leave, WFH, flexibility, part-time) of working in a tech career. Avoid messaging about high salaries, full-time, “rigorous” curriculum. Stability, work/life balance.	About 3.5 million mothers with school-age children either lost jobs, took leaves of absence or left the labor market altogether due to the pandemic.
Women out earning their husbands — but still feeling negatively about it.	Married or coupled women	To contribute to the family household income but not become the main breadwinner. Some do not want to out-earn their husbands, or feel guilty and embarrassed if they do earn more.	Part-time, flexible, learn from home, work from home, remote employment opportunities. A high-paying, part-time job would likely not out-earn their partner. Stability, work/life balance.	We already include women in our audience—this is an opportunity to target them with messaging that appeals to them, and to avoid landmines that might make them feel uncomfortable—whether it’s a conscious discomfort or not.

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CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Insights Summary

Trends	Target Segments	Motivation	Message Themes	Business Opportunity
Remote work is becoming the norm The pandemic sent millions of workers permanently out of city centers “The Great Resignation”	People who want a remote career: City-dwelling, front-line and “essential” workers	To have the freedom to live and work from wherever they want regardless of their employer. To be able to move away from of the city center	For city-dwellers - Paint the picture of living outside the city and working from home: living near nature, in a quiet place, friendlier neighbors, chirping birds, etc. Appealing benefits - “Anyone can do it”, flexible schedule, learn-from-home, work from home.	It is estimated that 83% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas 30 million US workers were employed and deemed ‘essential’ in the frontlines of the pandemic response.
Remote work is becoming the norm The pandemic sent millions of workers permanently out of city centers	People who want a remote career: Who live in rural areas, want to stay there, and work in local industries	To have the freedom to live and work in any field they want, regardless of their location. To be able to stay in rural or suburban area	For rural - Focused messaging on appreciating and loving where they live, and being able to join the tech revolution while enjoying small-town living. Appealing benefits - “Anyone can do it”, flexible schedule, learn-from-home, work from home.	In 2020, there were approximately 57.23 million people living in rural areas in the US, compared to about 272.91 million people living in urban areas.

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PRODUCT MARKETING INSIGHTS

LONG-TERM MARKET TRENDS

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LONG-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Long-term trends: College enrollment rate dropping

College enrollments have been decreasing for more than a decade, mostly among men. The pandemic made it even worse.

Overall, enrollment in undergraduate and graduate programs has been trending downward since around 2012, but the pandemic turbocharged the declines at the undergrad level.
Enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities is on track to fall by another nearly 500,000 undergraduate students in the Fall 2021 semester, continuing the historic drops that began with the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Among adults who do not have a bachelor’s degree and are not currently enrolled in school, roughly four-in-ten (42%) say a major reason they have not received a four-year college degree is that they couldn’t afford college.
Some 36% say needing to work to help support their family was a major reason they didn’t get their degree.
Many institutions of higher education that disproportionately serve students of color and students from low-income backgrounds have seen declines in enrollment since the pandemic began.

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LONG-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Long-term trends: Higher Education trends by socioeconomic status

Differences in college enrollment and plans often vary based on socioeconomic status

Most of the students who belong to the lowest quintile (25%) pursue an associate’s degree than a bachelor’s degree.

There is an opportunity to target people who have shown interest in 2-year program professions such as nursing, massage therapy, plumbing, heating and A/C, paralegal, pharmacy tech, ultrasound tech, mechanic/auto repair.
Focused messaging on a flexible schedule, learn-from-home, and payment plans could speak to their needs, or messaging similar to vocational training marketing content could potentially speak to this audience, as they would be comparing the bootcamp to a 2-year degree

On the other hand, students from the wealthiest quintile were much more likely to first strive for a four-year degree (78%) than a two-year degree (13% percent).

Higher socioeconomic status individuals tend to go for 4-year degrees, which could make a bootcamp a less prestigious path to take.
For these individuals, marketing the bootcamp as a supplementary education to their degrees, as opposed to the main dish, could speak more directly to their outlook on education and their needs

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LONG-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Long-term trends: Gender roles and differences

Education disparities between men and women

Fewer men enrolling in colleges, this trend is across all races and ethnicities.

American colleges and universities now enroll roughly six women for every four men. This is the largest female-male gender gap in the history of higher education, and it’s getting wider.
44.5% of postsecondary and postgraduate students are men; 55.5% of undergraduate and graduate students are women. Women earn 57% of bachelor’s degrees.
66.9% of male college students are recent high school graduates aged 16 to 24 years; 71.3% of female students are recent high school graduates aged 16 to 24 years.

Even before college, girls outperform boys in K-12 classrooms.

Long before female students outnumber men on university campuses, they outperform boys in high school.
Girls in elementary school spend more time studying than boys, are less likely to misbehave than boys, and get better grades than boys across all major subjects.

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LONG-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Education disparities between men and women

Sociologist Kathryn Edin has written:

Men without college degrees in deindustrialized America have been adrift for decades.

They face the simultaneous shocks of lost jobs, disintegrating nuclear families, and rising deaths of despair in their communities.

“The college gender gap cuts across race, geography and economic background.” -Thomas Mortenson, Sr. Scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education

“It’s a national crisis,” said Luis Ponjuan, an associate professor of higher education administration at Texas A&M University.

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LONG-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Long-term trends: Earning a high salary and gender norms clash for women

Many women do not want to out-earn their husbands, or feel guilty and embarrassed if they do earn more.

When couples with women breadwinners were asked how they felt about the woman earning more, women breadwinners were far more likely than men to describe themselves as secure, proud, independent and in control – although they were also more likely to say they felt guilty and embarrassed.
In a paper from the Census Bureau, in opposite-sex marriages in which women earned more, those women, on average, reported that they earned less than they actually did.

Their husbands reported that they earned more than they did, signaling to an insecurity about the pay gap in the marriage.

We see an increase in female resignation rates year over year for the past three years likely due to the staggering amount of women who left the workforce as the pandemic took form.

The cancellation of school and daycare services forced parents (especially women) to become full-time, at-home caretakers.
The opposite pattern took place for men.

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LONG-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Earning a high salary and gender norms clash for women

A recent study found that men felt the most anxious when they were the sole breadwinner in the family, and the least stressed when their women partners were contributing 40% to the household income. But as women made more money past that point, men become “increasingly uncomfortable” and stressed.

A 2013 study of 4,000 married American couples by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business found that divorce rates increased when women started out-earning their husbands.

While it’s increasingly common for wives to make more than their husbands — about 38% of wives earned more than their husbands in 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — it’s also common for that to make people uncomfortable.

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PRODUCT MARKETING INSIGHTS

SHORT-TERM MARKET TRENDS

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SHORT-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Short-term trends: Remote work becoming the norm

Working from home is predicted to become the norm, a trend has benefited white-collar workers almost exclusively.

Two-thirds of employees in white-collar jobs (67%) reported working from home

These figures are unchanged from remote working rates in July and August, signaling that U.S. companies' return-to-office plans remain on hold.
45% of all full-time employees working partly or fully remotely in September 2021

Working remotely is far less prevalent among blue-collar, or “essential” workers, such as in education (48%) and healthcare (35%)

These are folks in front-line jobs in retail, manufacturing, healthcare and services. Their positions in many cases are lower-paid and don’t require college degrees.

Front-line workers have entirely missed the working-from-home affair, and often report feeling angry and upset about this.

After spending a pandemic working in unpleasant conditions and risking their health, they are missing the post-pandemic work-from-home bonus.

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SHORT-TERM MARKET TRENDS

The pandemic highlighted how “essential” workers miss out on certain privileges.

What also became clear during the pandemic is the fundamental class divide between those who could work from home and those who could not.

Sheltering at home is a luxury reserved primarily for those with secure incomes and white collar jobs.

For the society to continue, many workers had to go to work in order to feed and protect the rest of us.

71.3% of blue-collar workers reported considering changing jobs during the pandemic, versus 53% of white-collar workers.

“The majority of blue-collar jobs must be performed in person,” says Joblist CEO Kevin Harrington.

“As the pandemic interrupted in-person business operations, workers in these jobs became more vulnerable to layoffs while many white-collar workers were able to shift to remote work with little to no change to their daily work online.”

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SHORT-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Short-term trends: Remote work becoming the norm

Do employees want to work from home?

The short answer is yes.

91% of workers in the U.S. working at least some of their hours remotely are hoping their ability to work at home persists after the pandemic. Top cited reasons were:

Not having to commute
Having fewer distractions
Needing flexibility to balance work and personal obligations
Improved wellbeing (which likely results from having more time)

Employers are at risk of losing talent if they do not allow remote work.

30% of employees working remotely say they are extremely likely to seek another job if their company eliminates remote work.

That stretches to 49% when factoring in those rating their chance of leaving a "4" on the five-point likelihood scale.

76% of remote workers say their employer will allow people to work remotely going forward, at least partially.

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SHORT-TERM MARKET TRENDS

Short-term trends: Effects of remote work on communities

The work-from-home trend is changing the make-up and economics of communities.

The pandemic sent millions of workers permanently out of city centers, and may end up being the economic savior of rural America—and political uniter.

Fully remote workers can relocate radically, far out into rural areas, to other states, or even abroad, bringing money and jobs with them as they buy and shop locally.
This effect could even help to reduce polarization, by more evenly mixing red and blue voters, urban and rural residents, graduates and non-graduates.

Hybrid workers do not need to live in city centers, but do need to live in the suburbs for their commutes two days per week.

This is leading to a doughnut effect, where the centers of large cities like New York and San Francisco are emptying out as employees move out to the suburbs.
Overall about 15% of residents have left the centers of major U.S. cities to live out in the suburbs.

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PRODUCT MARKETING INSIGHTS

CURRENT

MARKET TRENDS

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CURRENT MARKET TRENDS

Current trends: High school graduates looking for alternatives to traditional college route

Due to the pandemic’s effects on the economy, more high school graduates chose to skip college and go straight into the workforce

U.S. colleges and universities saw a drop of nearly 500,000 undergraduate students in the fall of 2021, continuing a historic decline that began the previous fall.
The nation's community colleges are continuing to feel the bulk of the decline, with a 13% enrollment drop over the course of the pandemic.

"The phenomenon of students sitting out of college seems to be more widespread. It's not just the community colleges anymore."

"That could be the beginning of a whole generation of students rethinking the value of college itself… If that were the case, this is much more serious than just a temporary pandemic-related disruption."

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CURRENT MARKET TRENDS

Current trends: The Great Resignation

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that a record number of Americans quit their jobs in recent months.

In April 2021, a record 4 million Americans quit their jobs.
In September, 4.4 million—or about 3% of the entire workforce—quit their jobs.
In November 2021, a new record of 4.5 million workers left their jobs.

“It’s not just about getting another job, or leaving the workforce, it’s about taking control of your work and personal life, and making a big decision – resigning – to accomplish that.

This is a moment of empowerment for workers, one that will continue well into the new year.”

-Anthony Klotz, organizational psychologist and professor at Texas A&M University who coined the term ‘The Great Resignation’

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CURRENT MARKET TRENDS

Current trends: The great resignation

Who is resigning—and why?

Female resignation rates:

We see an increase in female resignation rates year-over-year for the past three years likely because the Covid-19 restrictions forced parents—especially women—to become full-time, at-home caretakers due to the cancellation of school and daycare services.

The opposite effect happened with men.

Mid-career, middle management employees in tech:

With higher salary offers and working benefits offered in other companies, mid-career employees quit their jobs to find employment that fit their new lifestyle goals and needs.

The front-line and essential industries:

These front-line employees left due to inadequate pandemic protections, high employer demands, and fatigue from dealing with stressed customers.

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CURRENT MARKET TRENDS

Current trends: The Great Resignation

Why employees quit:	What employees want and need:
- Low salary - Limited career opportunities - Not being valued by manager - Relationship with colleagues - Inadequate pandemic measures - Poor benefits - Wanting to change industry completely - Negative interactions with customers - Being forced to return to work on-site after working remotely	- Flexible working conditions The freedom to work from anywhere has become the most sought-after benefit during the pandemic -Better salaries Higher, more stable pay (i.e. salary instead of hourly pay) - Better benefits - Prospect of career growth - More meaningful work

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PRODUCT MARKETING INSIGHTS

NEW WAYS TO SEGMENT OUR AUDIENCE

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RECOMMENDATIONS

When it comes to work and education, men and women have different problems, needs, motivators, and desires.

New Segment	Problems	Turn-Off/Objections	Motivations
- Stay-at-home moms who left the workforce - Married or coupled women - Age 18+	- Many women left the workforce to become caregivers during pandemic closures - Might not want to return to work full-time nor in-person - Many women do not want to out-earn their husbands, or feel guilty and embarrassed if they do earn more.	- Potentially earning more than their partner -Rigid schedule that gets in the way of child rearing - Avoid messaging about high salaries, full-time, “rigorous” curriculum.	- There is an opportunity to target women with messages about part-time/flexible employment opportunities. - A high-paying, part-time job would likely not out-earn their partner - Messaging about work/life balance benefits (such as maternity leave and working from home) of working in a tech career

Recommendations:

There is an opportunity to target women with messages about part-time/flexible employment opportunities.
A high-paying, part-time job would likely not out-earn their partner
Messaging about work/life balance benefits (such as maternity leave, WFH, flexibility, part-time) of working in a tech career
Avoid messaging about high salaries, full-time, “rigorous” curriculum.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Men are seeking alternatives to 4-year college degrees.

New Segment	Problems	Turn-Off/Objections
Non-college educated men	Non-college educated men are desperate for an alternative education source for a solid career path. They want something other than traditional college/university.	- High cost of college/debt - Having to spend time/money on core classes that don’t teach job skills - Taking up too much time or money
- High school seniors in final semester, summer after graduation, or in the fall semester after graduation - High school seniors’ parents	Many many male high school graduates choose to skip college and join the workforce because they see college as too expensive or not worth it	- High cost of college/debt - Not being able to work while going to school - Having to wait 4 years to get into the workforce

Recommendations:

We recommend to target them with specific messaging about what appeals to their needs, such as higher salaries, skill-based learning, lower overall costs, quick entry into the workforce and career growth opportunities.
Timing: Ideally, target the soon-to-graduate and recent high school graduate population as they get ready to graduate high school, during the summer before Fall Semester, and during the Fall Semester, as they see their high school friends starting college.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Lower socioeconomic status individuals have unique problems, needs, motivators, and desires.

New Segment	Problems	Turn-Off/Objections	Motivations and Recommendations
Lower socioeconomic individuals	- Needs to help support family financially - Can’t move away for college/schooling - Needs to work while going to school - Doesn’t think college is affordable for them - May not have reliable transportation	- High cost of college/debt - Not being able to work while going to school - Taking up too much time or money	- Lower socioeconomic status individuals are more likely to attend 2-year colleges or vocational schools, which should be considered direct competitors to the bootcamp programs.

Recommendations:

Messaging similar to vocational training marketing content could potentially speak to this audience, as they are comparing a 2-year degree (i.e. dental hygienist or A/C repair) at a community/vocational college to a bootcamp
Focused messaging on a flexible schedule, learn-from-home, and payment plans could speak to this segment’s needs.
There is an opportunity to target people who have shown interest in vocational program professions such as massage therapy, plumbing, heating and A/C, paralegal, pharmacy tech, ultrasound tech, mechanic/auto repair.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Rural vs. urban dwellers

New Segment	Problems (Similar to low socioeconomic)	Turn-Off/Objections	Motivations and Recommendations
Adults who live in: - Remote areas - City centers	- Rural audiences who love where they live but always thought they’d have to move to the city to work in tech - Urban-dwelling workers who work in-person and want a work-from-home position that would make them less dependent on living in the city - Living in the city is getting too expensive for them but they have to live close to their jobs	- Having to commute - Uncertainty they’ll be able to find a job or be successful in tech - Not feeling smart enough for tech	Whether rural or city-dwelling, the motivation is to be able to get away from the city and to have the freedom to live wherever they want, regardless of their employer.

Recommendations:

Targeting city-dwellers with the dreams of living outside the city and working from home: living near nature, in a quiet place, friendlier neighbors, chirping birds, etc.
Focused messaging to rural audiences on appreciating and loving where they live, and being able to join the tech revolution while enjoying their small-town living
Highlighting “anyone can do it”, flexible schedule, and learn-from-home could speak to this segment needs.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

“Essential” workers

New Segment	Problems (Similar to low socioeconomic)	Turn-Off/Objections	Motivations and Recommendations
Adults who work in: - Retail - Hospitality - Low-education healthcare jobs - Other “essential” low-wage jobs	- Missing out on the benefits of remote work feel negatively about it - Needs to help support family financially - Needs to work while going to school - Doesn’t think college is affordable for them - May not have reliable transportation - Not feeling smart enough for tech	- High cost of college/debt - Not being able to work while going to school - Taking up too much time or money - Not feeling smart enough for tech	- Lower socioeconomic status individuals are more likely to attend 2-year colleges or vocational schools, which should be considered direct competitors to the bootcamp programs.

Recommendations:

Focused messaging on payment plan, “anyone can do it”, flexible schedule, and learn-from-home could speak to this segment needs.
There is an opportunity to target people who have shown interest in 2-year program professions such as nursing, massage therapy, plumbing, heating and A/C, paralegal, pharmacy tech, ultrasound tech, mechanic/auto repair.

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PRODUCT MARKETING INSIGHTS

RESEARCH AND RESOURCES

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BACKGROUND

Our research process

To inform our strategy, we sought to understand general, macro market trends – both long- and short-term – and could support all current and near-future programs.

We used open-source research to locate statistics, articles, studies, and other facts to inform how we can optimize the experience for our audiences and we conducted focus group sessions with Front-end and National Admissions advisors.

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