Special Coverage
The Field in Crisis: Saving The Print Brochure
It’s a national crisis in the U.S. that could cripple the field. Eliminating the print brochure has caused those programs 20% to 50% or more of their registrations as compared to programs with a print brochure.
The latest LERN survey showed that 29% of programs still did not do a print brochure for the Fall 2021 session. Once again, Fall 2021 registration results just-in show that programs without a print brochure had 20% fewer registrations on average than programs with a print brochure.
Programs across the U.S. have tried all sorts of substitutes. None of them have worked. You’ve tried email, post cards, eliminating course descriptions, social media, websites, digital brochures.
Digital marketing is now integrated with print marketing in the field. But no amount of digital marketing has replaced the print brochure
“To date, not a single program in the country has reported the same or more registrations without a print brochure,” notes William A. Draves, President of LERN.
“Instead, we get members calling us in tears after eliminating the print brochure,” reports Julie Coates, LERN Senior Vice President.
Coates, who has been tracking brochure trends for over 30 years, has again updated her research on the print brochure for the field heading into 2022. “The evidence is overwhelming in favor of the print brochure,” she concludes.
Registrations have fallen by up to 80% or more by eliminating the print brochure, according to LERN members. And course cancellation rates have dramatically spiraled up to 75% of classes being cancelled.
There’s despair among programmers whose brochure has been eliminated. Some of the comments from your colleagues:
“This has been an excruciating setback for us. At a time when we were asked to become self supporting, they took away the best marketing piece we had.”
“This is the worst fall semester we’ve had since 1992. We definitely feel that not mailing the catalog had a significant effect on registration.”
“A city near us has a mayor that cut their brochure, and of course, their enrollments have dropped in a huge way. It has happened in a couple of cities in our area already with dismal results.”
LERN will continue its fight to help programs keep, or re-instate, their print brochures.
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