It’s the most important question we received this month. And possibly the most important question ever on marketing and promotion for your program.
Q: I am curious, can we reduce the number of times a year we send out a brochure without reducing registrations and income?
A: This is a great question. Many programs want to “save money” by reducing their mailings and production of print brochures. However, this is not the best way to do it.
Here are some things you should know:
- Mail twice to past participants.
You should mail twice to your past participants from the last two years. The data from LERN members who do this generate higher enrollments and make this strategy cost effective. This is actually the #1 promotion and marketing strategy for virtually every lifelong learning program. It has one of the biggest ROIs of any marketing strategy. No program has reported it does not work.
- Target brochure distribution.
Cutting back without targeting will hurt registrations and income. A better way to improve your ROI is to have LERN provide you with a free market segmentation/carrier route analysis. This is part of your member benefits. With the data from the reports we can provide, you can target your mailings to the areas where you are going to get the best response and you can eliminate the areas where you are not getting a good return. Most programs can reduce brochure distribution costs up to 20% and generate the same or more registrations using our carrier route analysis.
- Mail more times, not fewer.
LERN actually recommends INCREASING the number of times you mail your brochure every year, not reducing them. The reason is that people tend not to sign up for classes that are scheduled to begin more than 6 weeks after the registration date. That means that courses which start later in the period covered by the brochure may see lower registrations. This data was collected from LERN members, based on their mailing and registration results.
- Increase Brochure Quality
Maintain or even increase your brochure quality. You can also request a brochure critique and ask us to help you reduce the number of pages you print without having a negative impact on responses. This is also a free benefit of LERN membership. Just send your latest print brochure to LERN, PO Box 9, River Falls, WI 54022. We do the rest.
- Talk to LERN Consultant
If you would like to discuss this further with a LERN consultant, please let us know. Just email us at info@lern.org or call us at 800-678-5376. Ask for a phone conversation with our staff. There is no charge to LERN members.
