About St. Marian's
St. Marian's is a co-educational centre in Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. It has been running since 2016 and today teaches around 110 students from roughly 100 families. The centre focuses on core subjects like maths, science and English, with supplementary subjects such as project-based history and geography, as well as additional languages like Malay and Mandarin.
St. Marian's is built specifically for families who want a structured, tailored alternative to a mainstream public or international school, with music, STEM, coding and sport alongside the academics. The team is now preparing to open a full international school next year.
Ashley Pheny, one of the centre's directors, leads the work of getting St. Marian's in front of prospective families.
The challenge
Like any institution its size, visibility and standing out from the crowd are very important to St. Marian's. That is not easy in Kuala Lumpur, where new international schools keep opening and competition for parents' attention grows every year.
Most of that competition runs through the same handful of channels, Google Ads, Instagram and Facebook, which get schools eyeballs but don't always reach parents when they're most receptive: right when they're shortlisting options.
St. Marian's is also smaller and more specialised than many schools offering international education in Malaysia, so being found by the right families is particularly important.
Why St. Marian's chose doris
Ashley wanted to test new channels beyond "traditional" paid search and social to put St. Marian's on the radar of the right families from very early on. What stood out about doris was that it gives parents one neutral place to research and compare schools, which means the families landing on a St. Marian's profile are already deep in search mode and fully engaged.
What interested me about doris was that it centralises a space where parents come specifically looking for schools. There aren't many out there.
Ashley PhenyDirector, St. Marian'sEarly results: visibility first
Six months in, St. Marian's profile is the 4th most viewed on doris for all of Malaysia, a remarkable result in a crowded market. It has been seen by over 1,600 families, and shortlisted and compared by over 600.
Over 140 parents have taken additional actions, like sharing the school with their spouse through private messaging or starting a phone call.
- Visibility1,656profile views
- Consideration687shortlists
- Conversion142next steps
- Enquiries2direct enquiries in a month
That visibility has started to turn into contact. Two expat families researching schools in Kuala Lumpur have recently enquired with St Marian's through doris to continue their application journey.
Our visibility right now is really high, and so are the interactions with our profile, which is great for an institution like ours.
Ashley PhenyDirector, St. Marian's
