I think enough dust has settled to allow us to say that we know what the government’s cuts have been in schooling.
First, this year’s budget remains in tact apart from the Harnessing Technology Grant which has been moved away from broadband provision and given to the new Free Schools.
Nothing else has been changed in England, and in the rest of the UK it is life as normal, as the regional governments had no plans to make cuts anyway.
What’s more the government appears just as committed as the last government to stopping schools stockpiling money, and they are going to be out in force next year to ensure this year’s money is spent. Schools trying to hold money back next April are going to be told in no uncertain terms that the regieme is “spend it or lose it”.
With this scenario in mind, the only way to cope with this educational year is, it seems to me, via a planned set of campaigns, experimenting with the approach that you use, to ensure that the process works.
The rest of this school term is an ideal time for testing as schools will be buying ready for next term, as usual. (It is sometimes thought that one can’t sell in July, but July is always one of the high points of the year financially, whether one is selling books or furniture.)
The aim is to get the text of the ads right, testing both email and direct mail, and then using that information to prepare a new series of adverts to hit the schools from September onwards.
We are of course always happy to look at adverts and share our thoughts on marketing to schools, on a job by job basis – or if you would like us to be part of your marketing campaign for the coming months, do have a look at www.velocity.ac – the programme where we work closely with our clients to get their marketing right.
If you are interested in Velocity – please do call sooner rather than later so that we can set up the arrangements, even if you don’t want to start until later in the year.