Client Overview

Maria College, a mission-driven institution in New York, sought to elevate its online RN-to-BSN program to better serve working nurses—especially those balancing professional demands, personal responsibilities, and aspirations for career advancement. Known for its compassionate care ethos and high-touch student support, Maria College needed a value proposition that could cut through the noise of a crowded, increasingly commoditized market.

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The Challenge

In the face of regional nursing shortages and shifting expectations around BSN credentials, Maria College recognized a need to:

• Clearly articulate what sets its online BSN program apart
• Align internal stakeholders around a focused value proposition
• Lay the groundwork for student-centered messaging and enrollment strategy
• Build a scalable, data-informed plan for market expansion

But like many institutions, they were grappling with internal uncertainties:

💬 After the Discovery Call

“We were able to learn what your key questions were and understand that the value proposition was still a little unclear and needed to be solidified…”
— Patti Brownsord, Grounded With Data

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Our Approach: Insight + Imagination

Partnering with Grounded With Data and Integral Marketing & Advertising, Maria College embarked on a collaborative journey to understand, define, and differentiate.

Grounded With Data led with analytical rigor—uncovering market dynamics, workforce demand, and competitive benchmarks through a detailed research study covering:

• Student motivators, barriers, and demographics
• Competitor positioning, tuition models, and delivery formats
• Regional indicators for future expansion
• Data modeling for future MSA/DMA prioritization

Integral brought those findings to life, guiding a value proposition workshop that blended empathy, storytelling, and brand strategy. The result: a clear, resonant positioning statement that aligned the team around a shared “north star.”

💬 After the Missing Piece Value Proposition Workshop

“I know at times it probably felt like we were going down some weird rabbit holes… but when you see the deliverable, it will all make sense. We’re really excited to show you the map and framework that came out of today’s full discussion.”
— Yeliza Centeio, Integral

The strategy didn’t stop with messaging. The team recommended beginning with internal clarity first—tightening operations and institutional storytelling so future marketing efforts would reflect the true student experience.

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Clarifying the Audience: From Guesswork to Strategic Personas

To support authentic, resonant outreach, we created three comprehensive student personas—each rooted in lifestyle realities, emotional drivers, and academic goals.

These included:

• A community-focused caregiver balancing family, work, and school
• A mid-career professional pursuing leadership and personal growth
• A determined adult learner returning after a long academic gap

“It’s the first time we’ve actually seen the personas flushed out… now [we] have a document to start subsetting all of these personas with specific messaging that pertains to them personally.”
— Rob DeLuke, Tilt36T^o

These profiles replaced assumptions with clarity and are now being used to guide platform choices, copy tone, and campaign development.

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Market Insights That Informed Expansion

Rather than immediately scaling outward, we recommended Maria begin by refining outreach in near-markets—geographies where brand familiarity, operational capacity, and student support systems are strongest.

A data-informed market model (currently in development) will follow, designed to prioritize geographic focus based on workforce demand, competitive presence, and alignment with institutional strengths.

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Results

Maria College’s advertising partner, Tilt36T^o, who originally brought in GWD and IMA, led the next phase: marketing execution. Their creative team activated the strategic insights and messaging framework, ensuring outreach reflects the real students Maria is built to serve.

GWD delivered a region-ranking model to further refine targeting and media efficiency—giving Tilt36T^o the tools to match message, market, and momentum.

As a result, after only one month of the campaign running, Maria saw a 20% increase in program enrollments. 

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Why It Matters

This project wasn’t about adding noise to the market—it was about removing the static internally. With clarity around who they serve, why it matters, and how to communicate it, Maria College is poised to show up with integrity and intention in a crowded space.

And while the language of the value proposition is theirs to unveil, what’s clear is this:

When a college reclaims its story, it doesn’t just speak louder—it speaks more truly.

As I elevate my business to the next level, my ‘Power Hours’ with Patti from Grounded with Data have become invaluable. Our time is infused with energy and a fresh perspective on emerging business trends that ignite my creativity. Together, we’re refining my business systems while unlocking the power of AI. The results have truly made this investment worthwhile.”

Alicia Culp, CPC – Certified Leadership & Team Development Coach

Participating in Grounded with Data’s AI Mastermind has been nothing short of transformative for my business, Integral. Through this mastermind, Patti and Jack have equipped me with invaluable tools and insights to harness the power of AI, particularly ChatGPT, in ways that have elevated every aspect of my operations.

From streamlining client interactions to enhancing project workflows, the strategies I’ve learned have not only improved efficiency but have also unlocked new levels of creativity and precision in my work. Patti and Jack’s deep expertise in AI shone through as they shared practical tips and tricks that have saved me significant time while ensuring that the quality of my output remains top-notch.

What sets this mastermind apart is the emphasis on using AI to amplify human genius, rather than as a replacement for it. The approach they advocate—where AI serves as a powerful tool to enhance our capabilities rather than diminish the role of human expertise—resonated deeply with me. This perspective has empowered me to integrate AI into my business in a way that complements and elevates the talents of my team, rather than overshadowing them.

Thanks to Grounded with Data, I now feel confident in leveraging AI not just as a technological asset, but as a strategic partner in driving my business forward. This mastermind has truly been a game-changer, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to any professional or business owner looking to take their practice to the next level.

— Yeliza Centeio, Founder and CEO of Integral

Patti: What was one of your biggest aha moments?

Yeliza: Ah, the Gene Keys. I couldn’t believe how true that was to my persona, how true it was to how I handle decision-making processes, how I take some of the negative, and how I reward myself when I do feel good about things. That was incredibly eye-opening and just what I needed.

Patti: What was one of the things that made you laugh the most?

Yeliza: Everything. That’s where Grounded With Data truly delivers an experience. I mean, this entire experience was light. It was not heavy at any point.  You know, despite it hitting your core, it was all good. It was all positive. I laughed the entire time, even when we were talking about numbers and revenue, and X&Y axes.

Patti: And what do you think you’ll do? What’s the next thing you’ll do that will help you improve your business based on the Genius Afternoon?

Yeliza: Keep working on that ROMP. It’s been defined for me in a very nice mural board. I know exactly what it is that I need to work on. I have true, tangible action plans. I can now take that block of time that I’ve reserved on my calendar to work on my business, and instead of sitting there and being like, OK, what should I do today? What is it that I need to work on immediately thinking marketing, which is my default. Now I can reference that mural board, look at that ROMP that has been set up for me, and all of the different elements within it. I have an exact roadmap of what I need to do next in order to achieve my goals.

Patti: If you could sum up the Genius Afternoon in one word or phrase, what would you say?

Yeliza: Enlightening.

…Coming into a project like this, data is so important, and working with Grounded With Data, you guys are the professionals. You know how to guide us exactly where we needed to go. And it’s really been honestly a blast. I really enjoyed the focus group [Alignment Session]. So seeing where our original questions come into play and having the input of the people involved and how you all were able to spin that into this very robust survey has been incredible.

Deana Montella, MSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, True Health

I thought the session was amazing for helping me understand AI. Before, I thought it was over my head and would not be as easily grasped. As you know, Patti’s been able to help me, so it’s been great. I’m excited about it. This is definitely going to make my marketing team’s life more efficient and effective. It helps our brand, and I’ve really enjoyed this session.

Michelle Long, Director of Marketing, KMI International

The strategy and AI session you facilitated for me last week provided the “micro bites” I needed to begin to take steps forward with my business.

Alicia Culp, Owner, Alicia Culp Coaching

GWD is a firm that specializes in coaching businesses and nonprofits on how to organize, read, and leverage their own data and obtain the missing pieces to take a pixelated marketing approach and make it crystal clear for all parties involved. 

GWD’s first step is a 30-minute intro call where the first 15 minutes will be focused on GWD’s capabilities, and the remaining 15 minutes will be focused on identifying your needs, goals, budget, and timing. Following the intro call will be a Genius Afternoon where they dive deep into what you have, what you don’t have, and what you need before you commit to a hefty research or data analysis approach (which will also cost way less than a media buy with the likes of any major ad network). 

I just spent about 45 minutes on a call with Patti, co-owner of GWD, to discuss a client’s challenge and see if she could help. In those 45 minutes, I got super excited and truly believe that her company is what all my clients currently need so that we can both use the final data to build the right targeting approach and deliver on their goals as efficiently and effectively as possible. 

I now recommend GWD to as many clients as possible to set us up for success.

Yeliza Centeio, Owner, Integral Marketing

Grounded with Data makes creating surveys a breeze and data analysis exciting. The team is friendly, down to earth, and darn good at what they do. For our project, Jack took the time to develop a survey around the many perspectives around a complicated challenge. He sought to use data to create the whole picture and he achieved just that. The resulting data was provided in a way that was clear to understand and helped our team create an action plan for the work we would need to do next.

-Kaileigh Anne Tayek
Director, CFCArts School of Arts & Health

“The GWD team was able to turn all our data troubles into an action plan designed to lead our organization to a single source of truth with data. Without GWD we would not have been able to do such a detailed analysis of our current systems and plan a roadmap towards success with data.”

-Anne Flomenhaft, Manager of Political Programs at New American Leaders

It’s very helpful. I mean, it’s an overwhelming amount of data. But it’s exactly what we needed to make the right decisions about what’s best for the residents. And who, who, what do they really like? Where will they go? Is it already there? Does it need to be built? We definitely have enough data to start working on those next steps.

Janet Ziomek, Creative Aging Project Manager, Foundation for a Healthier West Orange

“The analysis, guidance, and actions recommended by Danielle, Jack, and Patti were the value of this engagement.”

Pam Gould, Executive Director, Shepherd’s Hope

We ran the events survey for them for their 25th Annual Famous Faces Masquerade Ball.

WPHF wanted to evaluate its Coordinated Youth Initiative. The program deserved an enhancement, and a connection with new and existing resources, to provide needed services to the community and ways these services could be measured for success. In addition, it was important to learn from others and get confirmation from subject matter experts to help fortify the program’s direction. So the American School Health Association was also engaged.

Thank you to Patti, Jack, and the Grounded with Data team for your comprehensive assessment and recommendations for the Winter Park Health Foundation’s Children and Youth Initiative. Your thorough and timely work provided us with eye opening data that will play a central role in the future of the Foundation’s youth focused philanthropic work.

Melodie Griffin, Program Officer, Winter Park Health Foundation

It’s beneficial for Dr. Jack and Patti to start working with a nonprofit as early as possible when change is in the air. We have this uncanny ability to change perspectives on the possible use cases of data in any scenario. I was having an annual planning strategy meeting with one of our WPHF clients, Lindsay Kist, and she said, “you know, I never think about some of these things until we get into a conversation, and then my mind shifts. It’s fantastic.”

I recently spent a fascinating two hours exploring the client rapid-growth-skills applied by Patti and Jack to their customer’s products. After spending 50 years as CEO/Creative Strategist of my own ad agency…these two knocked my socks off! Of the 50 years of growth that I invested, 30 were spent developing the nation’s leading software-industry-focused ad agency (www.kbates.com) which depended totally on the unique heaving thinking skills offered regularly by Grounded With Data. These folks are thinkers to a degree that I have never encountered before. And as we all know, successful sales and marketing are heavily dependent on data driven creative solutions, such as those offered by Patti and Jack’s unique 3 step Gap Analysis!

Keith Bates, CEO/Creative Strategist, Keith Bates & Associates, Inc. 1970

Your amazing reports are making our team feel creatively ‘super-charged!’

Carolyn Capern, Partner CTS Agency, Marketing Agency of Record for Central Florida Substance Abuse Coalition

We certainly benefited from all our meetings, the comb through, the deep scrubbing on our process, and fully made us aware of the steps we’d need to take to ease the burden of report building on the Content Managers. Reporting to clients is a significant deliverable that shows clients the hard work we’re doing for them and how we are meeting their goals, so this will continue to be an ongoing evolution in how we operate. Thank you, Grounded With Data, for your help thus far!”

Kelly Trace, owner of REACH

Grounded With Data gave us the strong foundation that we needed to launch a new project based on research. They bought detailed information to the table and their own ideas, as well. It was a great experience.

Dr. Lisa Beaury, DOM, Healing Alternatives/Vibrant You

The data analysis and presentation [Patti and Jack] put together was exactly what we needed. Your team really does fabulous work with data!

Melodie Griffin, Program Officer, Winter Park Health Foundation

While planning for the opening of the Center for Health & Wellbeing, we knew it was critical to establish protocols and systems for collecting data to plan and evaluate the services provided to the community. The research gurus and data nerds… [led by Patti and Jack]…have not only helped us get the data, their analysis has provided valuable insights for program planning and service delivery.

Deb Watson, Executive Vice President, Winter Park Health Foundation

Here at the Adult Literacy League, we train volunteers to serve as one-to-one tutors to teach Central Florida’s adults to read, write and speak English. Our friends at Grounded With Data provided us with tremendous service. They spoke with the people who matter the most. They spoke with our volunteers. They spoke with all of our constituents, our board, our donors, even our staff and found out things we were doing right and things we might have been missing the mark on with the data that they gathered. As a result, in conducting surveys for the Adult Literacy League, we could pivot and adjust the way we were communicating with our constituents to make it more comfortable for them and more profitable for us. We are so grateful to Grounded With Data.

Gina Solomon, Executive Director, Adult Literacy League

Our experience was outstanding; our time commitment from soup to nuts was minimal and very worthwhile… The employee survey really helped us to understand where our employees are, and GWD’s analysis included suggestions for how we might improve… The biggest aha moment for me really came from our donors. We understood exactly who our donors are and how to better improve our approach to bringing other donors under the tent… I just can’t say enough about how worthwhile it is to go through this process and get the information that every organization really needs to be looking at so you can take that information and incorporate it into your strategic goals.

Lui Damiani, Executive Director, Victim Service Center

It was apparent from the start that… you are dedicated, cohesive, and focused on assisting non-profits to understand their key stakeholders… The energy in which you have approached the work is refreshing and contagious. Personally, I will use the insights obtained in encounters with staff to ensure they are heard and more importantly felt listened to.

Joellen Revell, Program Director, Victim Service Center

[Grounded With Data] has been wonderful to work with from beginning to end. The information gained from our staff provided us with valuable insight into their needs and concerns. With this knowledge, we were able to make the changes in our benefits to improve our staff satisfaction

Wendy Blair, Executive Director, Arbor School of Central Florida