| People often ask me if brochures are an effective | | | | And bring those brochures. |
| way to market a language or literacy program. My | | | | I told the staff their main job that day was to talk |
| answer is always the same: It depends. | | | | to people. Not to "sell" the program. Most definitely |
| I am a huge fan of technology. I love social media. I | | | | not to be pushy. Talk about the fact that the school |
| teach marketing workshops that show clients how to | | | | was giving away one free course for the next |
| make a Facebook page and how to use Skype for | | | | session. Talk about the courses. Talk about the |
| learning and marketing. | | | | students, giving specific examples of students who |
| But sometimes, brochures still have a place. Here's a | | | | have benefited from their program. Talk about what |
| success story about a client who used a very | | | | a great place it is to be. |
| low-cost, grass-roots marketing approach that | | | | I told my client that the e-mail addresses they |
| included brochures - and built their very first e-mail list. | | | | collected would make up their first e-mail list. I'd |
| My client, an ESL program in a small town in a farming | | | | coach them through that up after the farmers' |
| community in Canada wanted to increase their | | | | market campaign. |
| enrollments. Before we got started I asked them all | | | | They went forward with the idea. |
| the usual questions: | | | | The result? |
| What are you doing now to market your program? | | | | Teachers came by the booth with their families, |
| Answer: Brochures, an outdated website, flyers. | | | | stopping to say hello. This meant the table was not |
| Are you able to track the return on the investment | | | | "empty", with staff standing around looking bored. As |
| you're making for your marketing dollars? | | | | conversations went on, others stopped by. They |
| Answer: Blank stare. The idea of tracking this had | | | | asked questions. Conversations happened. |
| never occurred to them. They didn't even think it | | | | Other vendors stopped by, a few of them |
| was possible. | | | | welcoming the school to the market. It was a |
| How many students do you have now? | | | | novelty to have an educational institution at the |
| Answer: A handful. Certainly not enough to make | | | | market. In some ways, they appeared not to fit in. |
| ends meet. | | | | And yet they did. They were part of the community. |
| What's your target market? | | | | In fact, their prospective clients were not only the |
| Answer: The world. | | | | students themselves, but also the farmers who might |
| Sigh. The last question often gets answered this way. | | | | want to have their workers better educated. The |
| It is of my pet peeves, to be honest. I dug deeper. I | | | | school was reaching out to their prospective market |
| found out that most of their students were local | | | | by meeting them on their own turf. |
| immigrants. Some would qualify for government | | | | Anyone who stopped by was invited to put their |
| funding and others wouldn't. The conversation | | | | name into the draw. They were told that they could |
| revealed that some farmers in the local community | | | | give the course away to anyone they chose, such as |
| employed seasonal foreign workers, mostly from | | | | a seasonal staff member or a neighbor. |
| Mexico. Not all of those farmers wanted their | | | | The ballot box slowly filled up with names. |
| workers to be fluent in English, but some did. | | | | People were interested. They took away brochures. |
| Bingo. | | | | The result? After 4 weeks, enrollment for the |
| "You've got brochures?", I asked. | | | | semester was up by 47%, resulting in their highest |
| "Yes. They're not pretty and we can't afford new | | | | number of registrations ever. A 47% increase in |
| ones." They cautioned. | | | | monthly registrations, achieved over a 4 week period |
| No problem. | | | | is a significant increase. |
| "What's your budget?", I asked. | | | | The costs: |
| Nervous chuckle. "Um... Free?" | | | | Table at the farmers market for 4 weeks: $80 |
| "OK," I said. "We can't do free, but do you have | | | | Bristol board and big "fat markers" to make the sign: |
| $1500 to spend?" | | | | $10 |
| "Well, not really, but I know you've got to invest | | | | Paper and pens for ballots: $7 |
| something to get something." | | | | Staff salaries: 2 people x 8 hours x $20 per hour x 4 |
| "Exactly," I said. "Now here's what I want you to | | | | weeks: $1280 |
| do..." | | | | Cost per week: $344.25 |
| My suggestion for this particular program was for | | | | Total cost for 4 weeks: $1377 |
| them to rent a table for 4 weeks at the local | | | | And most of that was spent on staff wages for |
| farmers' market. Have two staff members or | | | | those working at the market. Rather than putting |
| teachers from the school work the table. Tell all the | | | | most of the money into advertising that wasn't |
| staff and students to come to the market this | | | | generating much return, the school was actually |
| weekend "drop by and say hello". Many staff went | | | | helping out their own staff and teachers by giving |
| to the market on the weekends anyway, so that | | | | them some extra hours. |
| was easy. | | | | Were they able to track the return on the |
| By saying "drop by and say hello", kept the feel of it | | | | investment they'd made? Absolutely! |
| casual and low-pressure. After all, just about | | | | What else did they get? They got new students and |
| everyone who meets a friend or colleague at the | | | | new relationships with others in the community who |
| market stops to say hello, so we weren't asking | | | | were interested in their programs. |
| them to go out of their way. | | | | Were the brochures helpful? In this case, yes. |
| I told them to make a big sign and hang it behind the | | | | Anyone who was interested popped one into their |
| table to people walking by would see it. "It's | | | | bag and pulled it out later at a convenient time. This |
| important to hang it at eye level," I told them. "Don't | | | | was, literally, not the market for high tech gadgets. A |
| make the mistake of hanging it off the table so | | | | brochure was appropriate in this context. |
| people's legs brush it as they walk by." Putting signs | | | | With a few adaptations this same approach could |
| at eye level is always important in a busy setting. | | | | also work for literacy programs who want to build an |
| I told them to put this on their sign: "Win a free ESL | | | | awareness campaign. |
| course from ABC English School". | | | | My point in sharing this story is that depending on |
| Why a free class? It doesn't cost a school hard | | | | your market, grass roots approaches may work very |
| dollars to give away one course. And it would | | | | well. Reaching out to your market in a way that |
| generate interest. | | | | makes sense to them, and includes a personal |
| Next, I said, make or buy a ballot box and have | | | | connection is likely to be much more successful than |
| some pens and paper handy for people to write | | | | doing something just because it's fashionable. |
| down their name and e-mail address. | | | | |