Programmers successfully keeping their print brochure cite 5 ways to convince central administrators to save your print brochure.
1.Know the numbers.
The most important way is to know the numbers and cite them frequently. “The numbers speak for you,” notes Diane Peart of Broward County, FL. Let the numbers speak for themselves and do the work for you. Three kinds of numbers to cite:
-Data from the experience of other programs in the field.
-Research on Gen Y and younger generations, and how online companies are now doing print catalogs.
-Survey results from your own program’s participants on whether they want to keep getting a print brochure.
For data on other programs in the field, as well as research on younger generations liking print, email us at info@lern.org Ask for information on “saving the print brochure.”
2.Suvey your participants.
Getting data from your own participants is universally effective, report other programs that used the method to keep their print brochure.
Emailing your participants is fast, no cost and you start getting results within two hours.
Here’s one way to word the question: “Do you want to continue to receive our print brochure?”
Other ways of getting input from your community that other programs have used include focus groups and contracting with an outside firm to do the survey for you.
3.Make Equity an argument.
Underserved communities do not have the same access to digital resources, notes program exec Gary Girard of Omaha, NE. “When we look through an equity lens,” he says, “We know the underserved people in our community do not have access to the same digital resources.”
4.Get testimonials and stories.
Generate and document individual testimonials and stories from your participants. Personalize it. Just a few stories, from 3-5, is enough. They are powerful.
For example, some programmers reported that participants in focus groups brought their print brochures with them, all marked up with courses of interest. Others report that people receiving the print brochure share that brochure with others, including family, friends and neighbors. “They were our best marketers,” says Girard.
5.Develop an Elevator Speech.
We need a short 1 minute verbal summary of what to tell anyone and everyone in our institution why the print brochure is critical, suggests Girard. Basically memorize 3 talking points that you can bring out at any time, in any situation, to make your case. One of those talking points should be a number, such as the percentage of your participants that want to continue to get a print brochure.
Your Elevator Speech
Here’s some talking points to memorize in developing a 1 minute summary for your colleagues and central administrators.
-The numbers speak for themselves. Our participants want a print brochure.
-Gen Y and younger generations like print. That’s why Amazon, LinkedIn and other online companies are now doing print catalogs.
-Registrations drop by 20% to 50% or more after programs like ours drop their print brochures.
We cannot sustain that loss.
-Like all businesses, our print brochure generates 9 times its cost in revenue. Like other institutions, we get 70% of our registrations from the print brochure.
-It’s not my opinion. Our participants, our national association LERN, and the direct marketing industry all say to do a print brochure.