2009 looks like an odd times for selling to schools.   On the one hand there are firms that seem to be doing exceptionally well, while on the hand there are companies that report that sales to schools are very poor at the moment.

 

There’s no doubt that schools have money – more money than ever before in fact.   School funding in most of the UK is fixed three years ahead, and the government has actually been bringing money originally promised for 2010 forwards into 2009.

 

Which suggests now ought to be the ideal time to sell into schools.   And yet every day my colleagues and I get calls from companies telling us that they have tried a mailshot or an email campaign, and it has not done so well as they had expected.  Others are saying that sales rates are down considerably on what they were getting five or ten years ago.

 

We’ve gathered together all the information we can find on this, to explain why some firms are doing well, and others not and put it in a report: “How to Sell to Schools”.   The good news is, it is free.  The bad news is… well I am not sure there is any bad news.

 

The report looks at the amount of money schools have, special sources of funding, what differentiates one firm from another in terms of promoting to schools, and the various media avaialble when selling to schools. 

 

But that’s not the end of it.  After you have had a look at the free report you can, if you wish, forward me a copy of your current leaflet, brochure, sales letter or email, and I’ll call you back and tell you if I think it might get a higher response rate if it were changed in any way.  You don’t have to take note of what I say, but like the report, the service is free.

 

The whole report is on the internet – just go to www.hamilton-house.com and you’ll see the link in the central What’s new section at the top.

 

 

When emailing teachers, the most effective approach is to email the teacher as directly as possible.

 

The traditional approach has been to email the school’s administrator with a note in the subject line saying “Attention Head of Maths” (or whatever subject is required.)

 

Although this can work, higher response rates can be gained by emailing teachers in more direct manners. 

 

In order to develop email marketing to teachers we have been researching a number of mailing lists which go to the teacher in a much more direct manner.   One set of such lists has been available for some time – and after Easter two more sets of email lists for teachers will be added.

 

Here are details of all four approaches to reaching teachers by email.   Please do give my colleagues or myself a call on 01536 399 000 if you would like to know more about any particular list.

 

 

1. THE SUBSCRIBERS LIST.   

 

This is a list of named teachers at their personal address who have subscribed to the weekly Education Management News service.   This includes a mixture of home and work addresses.  Because these teachers have asked to receive this information the response rates are higher than in any other list.  

 

Only one advert is allowed on each list per week, and booking is essential.

 

You can select by subject area including English teachers, history, ICT, maths, discipline & behaviour, music, senior managers, school visits, and many more. 

 

Full details of the lists available, with the totals and costs appear at http://www.yesmail.org.uk/emailteachersdirect.html

 

Because advertising is limited to one email a week on each list, booking is essential.   The price is approx 20p per teacher

 

2. THE PERSONAL LIST. 

 

This list is new and will be launched after Easter.  It consists of named teachers at their personal email address in the school and as such go straight to the teacher and by-pass the school office. 

 

Only one advert is allowed on each list per week, and booking is essential. 

 

The list of subjects avaialble is given at the end of this email.  Again booking is essential, because of the fact that only one advert will be sent out per teacher per week.

 

Most of the subjects covered will have at least 500 teachers on them – and this number will grow over the coming term.   The price is 18p per teacher.

 

 

3. THE PREFERENCE LIST.  

 

This list covers named teachers at their preferred work email address.  

 

Some schools ask for all emails to go to the school office first, with the mail then forwarded to the teacher by the admin staff.   For these schools we give the school address and then on the subject line put the individual teacher’s name and job (eg, Attn: A. Smith, Head of Maths). 

 

Only one advert is allowed on each list per week, and booking is essential.  The list of subjects covered is the same as that for the Personal List, and again appears at the foot of this note.   The price is 10p per teacher

 

 

4. THE SCHOOLS LIST (with title of teacher in the subject line).  

 

Here the mailing goes to the administrator with the job title (but no name) on the subject line (Attn: Head of Maths).  The list covers all schools, with selection by county, postcode, size of school and age range.

 

You can have any title of a member of staff in the subject line, and thus there are no restrictions.  Also, there is no limit on the number of emails that can be sent out, and so most mailings can be despatched within a day or two of booking.  

 

It is possible to select by age range, area, and size of school.  The price ranges from 5p per school up to 10p per school depending on the number purchased.

 

GENERAL NOTES

 

a)     List of subjects available for the Personal List and the Preference List

 

Art

Business Studies

Deputy Headteachers

Design Technology

English

Geography

Headteachers

History

ICT

Maths

Modern Languages

Music

PSHE / Citizenship

Science

Special Needs (SENCO)

               Sport / PE

 

b)      Tracking

 

Tracking can be arranged on all lists.  It is included in the price of the Subscribers, Personal and Preference lists, but is charged extra for the Schools List

 

c)      Coverage

 

The Subscribers list is an opt in list, and so only includes those teachers who have asked to receive the emails.  Full details on http://www.yesmail.org.uk/emailteachersdirect.html

 

The Personal and Preference lists contain no overlap between them since each school uses either one system or the other for handling email communications.

 

The Schools List covers 99% of all schools.

 

d)     More information

 

Please call 01536 399 000, or email Tony@hamilton-house.com

 

Tony Attwood

The use of keyword searches that are eight or more words long increased 20% in the period between February 2008 and February 2009.

The number of seaerches undertaken by people on Google each year increases as you might expect.

But behind the figures is something very interesting.  For it turns out that the growth is particularly in searches which include five or more words.  Searches for strings of one to four words have declined.

People put in longer search chains to try and find exactly what they want – and this is a very good reason for web sites to contain articles of some length in relation to the topic you are selling – because that will enhance the chance of your site coming out top in a google search.

Thus the only notion of “getting to the top of the Google list” is fading out, simply because people no longer type in one or two words very much.  What you need are articles that will help people find your site because you cover the whole topic.

An example of how to deal with this trend can be seen on the Hamilton House site where a collection of articles has been built that people can find in relation to education.  These articles not only give people the answer they might be looking for, they also tell them that Hamilton House is the place to turn for all information about education.

If you’d like to talk about this and how it can work for you, do give me a call on 01536 399 000.

Tony Attwood

Hamilton House Mailings plc reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB.  Phone 01536 399 000.

Information is slowly emerging as to what has happend with school budgets in the financial year now coming to an end.

 

Some local authorities in England have started to take action against schools that have kept back more than the 5% of budget allowable in secondary schools, or more than 8% in primary schools.

 

These local authorities are recovering the money from the school budgets and then spending it themselves – often on upgrading IT services across the local authority particularly in relation to new government requirements for IT provision which come into effect in 2010.  

 

Other local authorities are taking the money and then redistributing it to other schools that have spent all their money.  Gloucestershire, Peterborough, Middlesbrough and Staffordshire have been mentioned in this area.

 

The number of schools that have balances beyond the allowable level is certainly down on the 40% of schools that had this situation two years ago.   Of those who have held money back, most have specified that it is for long term projects, such as building new rooms for specialist subjects.

 

What is clear is that the amount of money being talked about is only a tiny percentage of the £55bn a year of taxpayers money handed out by the Dept of Children.  £42bn of this goes on salaries, leaving £13 billion to be spent.  If all the secondary schools kept the maximum allowable the amount carried forward would be £325 million or £65,000 per school.

 

For the primary schools similar calculations would give a carry-over (or “surplus”) of £21,000

Against that we have a report in the TES saying that 9.1% of schools have budget deficits.   As the TES says, where a school is in deficit, it must agree a recovery plan with the local authority to eliminate the deficit, normally over three years.

So at this moment, a mixed picture made up of

 

Schools having money taken by local authorities and used for central purchasing.

Schools having money taken by local authorities and given to other schools.

Schools having surpluses over the allowed area but no action being taken

Schools having deficits.

 

Quite a mixture – but certainly NOT a picture of vast hordes of money being stockpiled in school accounts.

 

Tony Attwood

 

EbaseMarketing is a revolutionary approach to marketing that has been developed by Hamilton House Mailings (HHM) over the past eight years.  For the first five years we tested it exclusively as a method of promoting our own businesses.  In the past three years we’ve been testing it with a small number of other companies.  Now we’re offering it on the open market.

 

It is very simple, and can be used to market almost any product or service.  

 

Better still, it can deliver your message to each potential customer for as little as 3p each.

 

Part 1:  EBaseMarketing – how it works

 

a)     First, you need to collect together the email addresses of your customers and potential customers.  

 

b)      Second, these addresses are loaded into a bulk email program which allows the messages to be administered and transmitted very easily. 

 

c)      Finally you email these individuals every week with interesting information and thoughts, plus occasionally offers related to your product.  But here’s the twist: you must not try and cut down on the  “interesting information” in order to put in more emails that focus on selling.  The “interesting information” emails are the key to the whole enterprise.

 

Part 2: Why does it work so effectively? 

 

a)     We all like to receive well-informed “inside” information that is relevant and helpful to our work, and when we receive it we build a bond with the people who send it to us.  When looking for a product or service we turn to the source of the “inside information” first of all.

 

b)      Most firms lose customers because they don’t stay in touch with them regularly enough.  EBaseMarketing overcomes that problem, and helps you recruit your competitors’ customers, rather than allowing your competitors to steal your customers.

 

c)      EBaseMarketing is very low cost.  While a direct mail shot to 2000 customers and enquirers might cost you around £900, this promotion can be undertaken via EBaseMarketing for just £75 – that’s 3p per customer.

 

Part 3:  If it’s that good, why don’t more firms do it?

 

a)     There are a few technicalities to deal with (although we have the know-how and software and can overcome them quickly). 

 

b)      Some firms believe (without trying the system) that people won’t read the emails.  Others argue that customers will be annoyed by getting the regular mailings.   But all the evidence from eight years of research shows otherwise.  Indeed just recently we did a mailing for one of our clients and 970 out of 1500 recipients of the email not only read the email but also clicked on a link at the foot of the email to reach a web page which contained more information.

 

c)      We’ve spent most of our research period finding out exactly how best to write the “interesting information” in such a way that it generates sales.  Some firms have tried to short-circuit this part of the project and have failed to hold the interest of their readers. 

 

Part 4:  How to get started  

 

a)     If you have a database we can help export it into our transmission program.  If you don’t, we can help you put one together very quickly.

 

b)      Where HHM is doing the email transmission we’ll give you as much free advice as you want on how to write the “interesting information” emails.  Additionally if we are transmitting for you regularly, we will write four complete news and information pieces for you free of charge.  After that we can continue to write for you for an extra fee, or you can write the pieces yourself. 

 

c)      Transmitting the emails.  Normally we charge £75 to transmit a message to up to 2000 addresses.  This price includes importing the database and giving advice on the text to use.  Where extra work is needed, or where we do this for a one-off mailing, there may be additional costs, but we’ll always give you the exact cost prior to any work taking place.

 

 

If you would like to explore what I believe is the most cost effective method of marketing that I have seen in the past ten years, just call me or my colleagues on 01536 399 000.

 

Tony Attwood

There has been considerable talk about the government slowing down expenditure on schools.

I can’t speak from inside knowledge – I just observe what they are up to, but it does seem to me that rather than slowing down, they are trying to put more money into schools in order to help the economy limp along.

This is rather a long post – but if you are interested in how much money is coming into schools it is worth going through it – there’s some interesting detail in the government figures below.

The latest idea is that thousands of school modernisation projects across England can start 12 months early after £919 million was brought forward to boost the construction industry.

More than 100 local authorities in England will share £499m brought forward from 2010-11 to the coming financial year, after bidding for capital investment made available in last November’s Pre-Budget Report.

The DCSF has also accelerated another £390m of capital funding devolved to direct to every school head in England to invest in smaller projects as they see fit – from building new classrooms or science laboratories to fitting out new gyms or ICT facilities. A further £30m is now available for play areas.

It means that overall schools capital spending in 2009-10 will be will now be £7.943 billion – up from under £700m a year in 1997.

The government has also set up measures to support long-term public capital investment programmes by enabling private finance to keep flowing into the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF) and other PFI-funded projects, announced today by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

The full details of the capital acceleration package are:

• £499 million allocated to 116 local authorities who bid for £800 million capital made available in the Pre Budget Report to be brought forward from 2010-11 allocations to 2009-11. It includes:
o £235 million for Local Authority Modernisation Grant
o £76 million for Primary Capital Programme
o £50 million for Locally Controlled Voluntarily Aided Programme
o £138 million for Targeted Capital Fund for 14-19, SEN and disabilities fund.

• £390 million is being allocated a year early direct to every headteacher in the country – bringing forward 40% of all Devolved Formula Capital allocated for 2010-11 to 2009-10. A further £5.1 million is being allocated direct to academies. It means:

o a typical unmodernised primary school of 250 pupils will now get £47,950 this year, including £13,700 brought forward from their 2010-11 allocations. A primary newly built, rebuilt or refurbished in the last decade will now get £23,975 up from £17,125.

o a typical unmodernised secondary school of 1000 pupils will now get £158,200, including £45,200 brought forward. A secondary newly built, rebuilt or refurbished in the last decade will now get £79,100 up from £56,500.

• £30 million of investment for play facilities brought forward from 2010-11 to 2009-10.

All accelerated spending will be taken off the 2010-11 local authority and school allocations. Ministers confirmed that 2010-11 capital allocations remain available for all local authorities to bring forward, including the 33 local authorities who have chosen not to bid so far.

In a separate announcement today, the Department for Children, Schools and Families also confirmed that nine more local authorities would get their 2010-11 Primary Capital Funding originally earmarked in the Schools Capital Settlement in 2007.

Fifty local authorities overall now have confirmed funding for their primary programme for the next two years – and department continues to work with a further 83 local authorities with confirmed funding only for 2009-10 and 15 who need to do more work before funding is confirmed for both 2009-10 and 2010-11.

 

Notes

1. The full allocations broken down by local authority are at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/pnattach/20090045/1.html

2. The 2008-11 local authority capital settlement in October 2007 set out that £6.669 billion will be invested in 2008-09; £7.024 billion in 2009-10 and £8.235 billion in 2010-11. The revised national figures are now £7.943 billion and £7.316 billion.

3. The Chancellor announced in the Pre-Budget Report on 24 November 2008 that he made available £800 million to be advanced 12 months from the 2010-11 allocations from the Primary Capital Programme; Local Authority Modernisation Grant; Locally Controlled Voluntarily Aided Programme and Targeted Capital Fund for 14-19, SEN and disabilities fund. In total, £1.6 billion was allocated to the programmes in 2010-11 in last year’s three-year capital funding settlement.

4. The specific programmes involved are:

a. Primary Capital Programme: 41 local authorities with approved strategies for the next two years, also announced last November, were allowed to bid for accelerated capital. The programme aims to rebuild or refurbish half of all England’s 17,000 primaries over 14 years.

b. Local Authority Modernisation Grant (capital grant): to improve the infrastructure of the school estate (other than voluntary-aided schools and academies);

c. Locally Controlled Voluntarily Aided Programme: to improve the infrastructure of the voluntary-aided school estate; to support the provision of new pupil places; and to facilitate physical access to schools;

d. Targeted Capital Fund: to provide additional funding to areas not currently in the BSF programme to support 14 to 19 reforms, including diplomas; and to improve facilities for SEN and disabled pupils.

5. Ministers announced which local authority Primary Capital Programme Strategies for Change for 2009-10 and 2010-11 had been approved last November – they confirmed 41 had fully met the requirements and would get their earmarked allocations for 2009-10 and 2010-11; 92 would get funding for earmarked allocations for 2009-10 but needed more work before future funding was confirmed; and 15 would get tailored professional help to bring their plans up to speed before funding is released from April 2009. Nine local authorities Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Durham, North Somerset, Plymouth, Sandwell, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and Windsor & Maidenhead in the second category have today had their 2010-11 funding confirmed.

The full local authority funding breakdown and other background material on Primary Capital Programme is at: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/resourcesfinanceandbuilding/pcp/

Tony

This article first appeared on Education Marketing – a free daily bulletin on selling into schools.  To subscribe free of charge just click here - when you get a reply just reply to that and you will start to get the daily service.  If you want to leave you just follow the instructions at the bottom of each email.  Your email address is never divulged.

Hamilton House Mailings plc reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB.  Phone 01536 399 000.

We’ve just hit the highest click through rates ever on an email campaign.

With emails to subscribers to the free Education Management News service (which teachers have to opt-in to before they can get any messages) the average open rate in the last month has been 28.5% with the average click through (as a percentage of emails shown as being opened) is 6.1%

Before now the highest open rate we had was 50.3% and the highest click through was 26.9%

This week we went one better and got an open rate of 54.7% and a click through of 39.8%

There are several points to note here.   First open rates are not the most reliable of figures – and each bit of software measures opens in different ways.  So the only comparison is with the same software – the results you are getting from your software might have a different set of parameters from our software.  There is more on this in the Hamilton House report on our website at http://www.hamilton-house.com/free%20reports/OpenRates.htm 

In this case, we mailed 777 subscribers with information about some free resources – which of itself explains the high figures.  But the key point here is that it is possible to advertise something for free by email and get very low open and click through rates.  Everything depends on the way the advert is written.

If you would like to talk about emailing schools and getting the click through rates up, do give me a call.  01536 399 000

Tony Attwood

We’ve introduced two new services on our generic email lists of schools

1.  Guaranteed open and click through rates.

Just send us the copy that you want to send out, and ask for the guaranteed service.  There’s no extra charge (but you must ask!)

We will tell you what we expect the click through and open rate to be and that will be our guarantee.  (We set them individually because some products get much higher open and click throughs than others).

If you feel the rate we guarantee is too low, we can talk about changing the text to make it more effective.

Then we do the mailing, and if we don’t get the rates we’ve guaranteed we give you your money back.

 

2.  Mail more than one school department

If you book in to email more than one school department at a time we’ll give you a discount.  The text of each mailing does not have to be the same – but they need to be booked in as one, and they will go out over a period of several days.

So, for example, you might have products that could sell to The School Librarian, the Head of English, and the Head of PSHE.  Book all three adverts in and you’ll be getting a 60% discount.

For the 5000 secondary schools, and the 5000 largest primary schools the rates are…

 

Mail one school department for £260

Mail two departments for £399

Mail three departments for £499

 

If you would like to discuss these developments, or make a booking, please give us a call on 01536 399 000.

 

Tony