Skip to main content

Launch Plan

A four-phase plan for rolling out your Banzai Direct & Schools program—starting with your own team, extending outward to community partners and the schools you sponsor, activating your teacher and business relationships, and finally amplifying the program to your account holders and the broader community. Each phase builds on the last. Work through them in order for the smoothest launch.

Before You Launch​

We recommend taking the following steps to ensure a smooth launch of the Banzai product:

  1. Outline a full communication plan, including a timeline for each phase.
  2. Identify the appropriate "messenger" for each strategy.
  3. Brainstorm resources needed (e.g. materials, departments, colleagues).

To execute:

  • Collect necessary material.
  • Connect with organizations, schools, and partners as needed.
  • Draft your communication materials.

Phase One: Internal (Employee Launch)​

Start by getting your own team familiar with the program. Employees who understand Banzai will be your strongest internal advocates—both for community outreach and for supporting the schools you sponsor.

For Direct/Community:

  1. Meet with your Banzai Representative to plan the launch and include any team members who will help manage the program.
  2. Send an internal newsletter announcing the new financial wellness resources and directing employees to their dedicated employee microsite, created with support from your Banzai Representative.
  3. Encourage participation by offering an incentive to employees who complete a Reward.

Optional: Host a short training to help employees confidently introduce and discuss the Banzai program with customers.

For Schools:

  1. Identify who will oversee the education side of your program. This includes managing relationships with local schools, teachers, and districts, as well as coordinating who will handle presentation requests. This could be a branch manager, education director, or another designated team member.
  2. Ask your Banzai Representative to enable presentation notifications for this individual so they can stay up to date on incoming requests.
  3. Review your existing school relationships. Consider any personal or professional connections employees may already have with sponsored schools, or send an internal memo asking staff to share and help strengthen those relationships.

Phase Two: Partner & School Outreach​

Once your internal team is aligned, extend outward—to community partners on the Direct side and to the schools you sponsor on the Schools side.

For Direct/Community: Non-Profit Partnership Launch

Extend your reach by partnering with non-profits in your community. Non-profits already have established audiences and community trust, meaning your Banzai partnership provides both you and your partners an additional resource to offer.

  1. Create a custom microsite with existing non-profit partners.
  2. Meet with non-partnered non-profits and offer the program using the marketing page found in the "Partners & Brands" section of the Banzai Manager titled "Non-Profits," and templated email campaigns.
  3. Schedule at least two opportunities to educate non-profit participants (either in person or virtually) using the pre-built presentations located in the Banzai Manager.
  4. Use the custom-built email campaigns from the launch packet to reach out to existing and new non-profit partnerships.

For Schools: School Outreach

  1. Meet with principals at your sponsored schools to begin building or strengthening relationships.
  2. Research and connect with curriculum directors—their support can help drive school-wide adoption if they recommend the program to teachers.
  3. When possible, attend professional development days to network, introduce the program, and form positive relationships with educators.

Phase Three: Business Partner & Teacher Activation​

With partners and school leadership on board, activate the relationships that drive real day-to-day engagement—business partners for Direct and teachers for Schools.

For Direct/Community: Business Partner Launch

Local businesses are natural Banzai partners. They care about employee financial wellness and community impact, and your co-branded microsite gives them a turnkey resource.

  1. Create co-branded microsite(s) for chosen existing business partners with the help of your Banzai Representative.
  2. Reach out to new potential business partners using the marketing page in the "Partners & Brands" section of the Banzai Manager titled "Businesses," plus templated email campaigns.
  3. Share a link to their co-branded microsite.
  4. Offer to discuss ways they could use the Banzai platform with their own employees and customers.

For Schools: Teacher Activation

With school leadership on board, activate the teacher-level relationships that drive real classroom engagement.

  1. Use the email templates in the Banzai Manager (found in the School Reports and Teachers sections) to begin communicating with teachers. By clicking on a teacher's name, you can send prebuilt emails—introductions, workbook order or reorder invitations, and presentation outreach.
  2. If possible, visit schools in person to introduce yourself and the program. Take photos during these visits to use in later outreach and social posts.

See the Contacting Teachers walkthrough for the exact steps in the Manager.

Phase Four: Customer / Community Launch​

Now that your internal team, community partners, business partners, schools, and teachers are set up, launch publicly to your customer and account holder base and amplify to the wider community.

For Direct/Community:

  1. Send out newsletters to existing customers regarding your new financial education program.
  2. Share a link to the program page on social media or on web banners throughout your own institution's site to call attention to it.
  3. Place the program information within your customers' account portals.
  4. Post a blog announcing the new partnership.

For Schools:

  1. Let your community know you're investing in local education by sharing social posts about providing Banzai to nearby schools.
  2. Offer course completion certificates to motivate student participation and engagement.
  3. Host a parent night to introduce families to the platform and encourage at-home use.
  4. Share an introductory social post highlighting the full range of Banzai resources and clearly direct your audience to where they can access them.

After Launch​

Once your launch is underway, the work shifts to ongoing optimization and engagement. For the Direct side, that means tracking engagement, refreshing collections, adding new CTAs and Offers, and rolling out Rewards campaigns—covered under Wellness Center Configuration. For the Schools side, that means responding to presentation requests, restocking workbook orders, tracking usage, and sharing feedback stories—see Reporting & Impact 101 for measurement guidance and the Contacting Teachers + Tracking Workbook Orders pages for the operational workflows.

Wellness Center Configuration

Customize your Wellness Center with branding, collections, featured content, CTAs, offers, and rewards.