What did we learn this month
1. That this years schools seemed more willing than in the past to start spending the new financial year’s money straight away once Easter is over. Early days, but that’s the impression I have got
2. The amount of direct mail reaching schools is down about 20% on this time last year.
3. For some firms the response rates to promotions to schools are way down on what they got four or five years ago – however every single case like this that we have been asked to analyse at HHM is a case where the company has not changed their advertising materials or marketing approach very much in recent years.
4. Teachers like everyone else seem to be demanding a new conversational approach to advertising in which the advertiser talks with the teacher about his/her needs, rather than talk about the company and what it does. (Actually this is a particularly interesting point, because when I have got into in-depth conversation with people about their marketing they often tell me that they don’t talk about themselves — and then hand me a sales letter that is about nothing but themselves.)
5. The new email lists which direct emails straight to the teacher rather than via the administrator are successful – not least because they are not very widely used, so the recipients only get one or two personal emails a week.
6. Shared mailing packs are now 30% smaller than this time last year, and response rates seem to be holding up well if not increasing as a result.
7. School administrators and teachers are still complaining about getting too many catalogues, but there does seem to be a way around this.
8. In terms of response rate there is still nothing to beat the solo mailing.
9. Educational blogs and personal news services are having a growing impact on teachers – but the market is still young.
10. Teachers are starting to use the on-line directories of suppliers more – probably because they are being promoted more readily via email to teachers. (The HHM version is at www.top5.org.uk – do have a look if you haven’t seen one of these before).