What do others really think about your marketing materials?

May 17, 2010

Ever heard the expression, “He couldn’t see the forest for the trees”? It refers to someone who loses his perspective on a situation because they are too involved (and invested) in the situation to see it clearly. This is what can happen when you market your program. You may think that your current brochures, web page, etc. are just fine– but what do others think about them? Do you really know?

What’s the solution? Have your marketing materials audited. If you have your current marketing materials audited, you may get a clearer picture of what outsiders really think of your materials – and your program. An audit is usually conducted by an impartial third party, and it involves an objective evaluation of your materials to determine what is good about them and what you need to improve.

This may mean hiring a marketing professional or educational consultant to review what you currently have. What she will probably do is review and assess how you:
•    use branding (for example, your logo and image)
•    convey the information (language, style, readability)
•    use colour, graphics, font and typesetting
•    can make your marketing more effective

An audit may also include an evaluation of the texture and quality of paper you choose for your printed materials, the accessibility of your web site, a ranking of your web site in search engines or an evaluation of your office stationery. These are all factors to consider when you are thinking about how you present your image to the world.

An audit of your marketing material done by an objective outsider may surprise you. A good consultant will give you no-nonsense feedback about your marketing materials and valuable information on how to improve them. These improvements may give your school the competitive edge it lacks.

There are hundreds of marketing consultants out there. It may benefit you to hire someone who specializes in educational or international marketing so you can get the best assessment possible.

Once the audit is complete, you will then have to decide which, if any, of the auditor’s recommendations to use. This will depend on cost, time and your own perception of how you wish to present your school. But inevitably, you will come away with a fresh perspective on how others view your school through your marketing materials.

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This post is an adapted excerpt from 101 Ways to Market Your Language Program It is been adapted from “Idea # 8: Have your current marketing materials audited.”

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

1 Comment | 101 Ways to Market Your Language Program, ESL, marketing, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

University’s English Language Program accreditation revoked

May 10, 2010

Inside Higher Ed has just released a news article entitled “Entangling Alliance” that reports that the English Language Institute at the University of South Florida has its accreditation revoked by the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA), an international standards and accreditation organization for English language programs. The function of the CEA is similar to that of Languages Canada, which grants accreditation to language schools in Canada.

The CEA reportedly revoked USF’s accreditation after it entered into a partnership with a company called “INTO University Partnerships” a private firm which handles the marketing, recruitment and student services for international students, including English as a Second Language Programming. Inside Higher Ed quoted Theresa O’Donnell, Executive Director of the CEA, saying “We did not accredit the partnership, we accredited the University of South Florida’s English Language Institute”.

This is hot news for English Language Programs considering entering into public-private partnerships for international student recruitment and marketing or English language programming. This will no doubt have implications for the University of Southern Florida as an institution, and more importantly for its current and prospective students.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

3 Comments | ESL, ESL agents, languages, marketing, recruitment, second languages, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

How much should educational programs spend on marketing?

May 10, 2010

One of the major pitfalls of marketing plans for language programs is that directors and coordinators are given little or no budget to work with. Time and time again I have heard, “We have no money for marketing!” The reality is that you are going to need to spend at least some money, and probably a fair amount of time, promoting your program if you want it to grow and flourish.

There are varying theories about how much an organization should spend on marketing to be effective. It’s hard to know how to to budget. Here are a few tips for those working in the educational sector.

It is important for you to decide, together with your staff and school administrators or owners, how much you are willing to invest in it. Bringing all the players to the table may be a difficult task in itself, but if you are serious about marketing your program, you need to be serious about how much you really have to work with to get the job done.

Being brutally honest about how much of your resources you can allocate to marketing will help you target your dollars in the most effective way. The first step is sitting down with a calculator and figuring out exactly how much you have to work with.

One place to start is to look at your gross income for last year and use 10 to 20% of that for marketing. This may seem like a lot, but if you can grow your program another 10 to 20% (a safe estimate), you will have more than made your money back.

When I say 10-20%, this also includes the salaries or hourly wages of those working on marketing endeavours. So, if you have a marketing coordinator, that salary will be included here.

At the very least, you should know how much you are spending on marketing now. For heaven’s sake, don’t bury it in categories such as “office supplies” or some other budget line that makes it impossible for you to know what you’ve actually spent. Even if your budget categories are rigid and there’s no line for marketing, keep a separate tally somewhere in a file that you can refer back to. Every year, assess how much you’ve really spent on marketing and if it’s too much or enough. If you’re spending more than 25% on marketing and not getting the return you expect, then it may be time to change how you market, not how much you spend on marketing.

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This post is adapted from “Idea #6: Be honest about how much you are willing and able to invest in marketing” in 101 Ways to Market Your Language Program

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

1 Comment | 101 Ways to Market Your Language Program, ESL, languages, marketing, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

“Using Skype in ESL and Literacy Programs” Free webinar

May 7, 2010

As a follow up to my post “Using Skype in Language and Literacy Programs” I decided that it would be beneficial to show you rather than just write about it. So, I’ve organized this free webinar:

“Using Skype in ESL and Literacy Programs: a webinar”
Presenter: Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.
May 18, 2010 – 09:45 – 10:30 (with optional Q & A after) – Mountain Time

Login-time: 09:45 Mountain Time (Calgary, Canada) (Please adjust accordingly for your time zone)
Start time: 10:00
End time: 10:30
Questions and Answers: 10:00 – 11:00

This webinar will go over what Skype is, how it can be used to:
1) connect you with other professionals – and save on long distance charges – even internationally
2) empower teachers and tutors
3) give presentations and workshops

How do you join the webinar?
1) Mark the date and time of the event in your calendar
2) at 09:45 Mountain Time (adjust for your time zone!) on May 18, click on this URL:
https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/dropin.jnlp?sid=lcevents&password=Webinar_Guest
3) Have a pen and some paper handy to take notes.

With thanks to the folks at Elluminate (www.elluminate.com) who are generously providing the webinar platform at no charge for this event.

This is a free professional development seminar. Everyone is welcome to attend, so pass this along and invite a colleague.

Note: Following the webinar, I did another post with the recording, slides and a hand out. Check it out: Using Skype in ESL and Literacy Programs: Webinar follow up http://wp.me/pNAh3-5T

Check out my research article on this topic:

Eaton, S. E. (2010). How to Use Skype in the ESL/EFL Classroom. The Internet TESL Journal, XVI(11). Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Eaton-UsingSkype.html

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

8 Comments | ESL, languages, Literacy, social media, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Specialized courses: Essential for a healthy marketing mix

April 28, 2010

In 1982, W.P. Kinsella wrote Shoeless Joe, a novel that was later turned into a major Hollywood movie starring Kevin Costner. The most famous line of the book is, “If you build it, he will come.” The basic premise of the book is that if you have an idea or a dream, go with it. The rest will take care of itself.

While this feel-good book, and the movie it was made into, may smack of naïveté on some level, the main principle is one that we can use in marketing our schools. If you build a specialized program, based on a sound curriculum that you can deliver well, the students will come.

Is there something that your school does better than any other in your area? Do you have a program to train foreign language teachers? Do you offer a specialized course in medical or veterinary terminology, for example? How about a course in business communications? If you have at least one course or program that differentiates you from other schools, you can focus on being the best there is for that specialty. You can still offer basic language training or other programs, but having a specialized niche will ensure you a unique market share, and add both revenue and students to your program. It can also add flair and a sense of uniqueness to your program. I’ve seen programs that offer English and sports or English and activities such as surfing, and they truly set themselves apart from the hundreds of other English programs in the world.

Specialized courses often referred to as “ESP” or “English for Specific Purposes”, in the English as a Second / Additional Language field. Together, generalized and specialized courses combine to form your marketing mix. Finding the right mix can boost your revenue significantly.

Specialized courses deserve special attention in your marketing plan. For example, if you offer a program for language teachers from foreign countries, you could easily research the contact information for language schools abroad and add that information to your database.  Then you have the tools to do a targeted direct mail campaign to those schools that would catch the attention of those teachers and school administrators.

Also consider that specialized courses likely require specialized curricula. You’ll want to ensure that whatever materials you are using fit your niche market really well.

Generally, it takes longer to see results for specialized programs. That is because it may take prospects longer to find out about your niche and respond to your marketing. I’ve seen more than one niche program fail because administrators gave up on it too early. One semester or session is not enough to test the market to determine if there is a demand for your specialized course. These types of program may require extra attention in their infancy, simply because their target market is very specific.

You may want to dedicate a certain amount of time (for example, one hour a week for an entire year) just to marketing this particular program. This may mean contacting associations, schools or other audiences with an interest in your niche to advise them of your program. For example, if you have a program to train teachers, then a direct mailing to teachers’ associations abroad may help you promote these courses. It may cost you time to build your mailing list, or it may cost you money to buy such a list. You won’t see a return on your investment until participants begin to enroll.

If you persist, within a couple of years, you can have a booming program.  The trick is to carve yourself a niche and be patient while the world discovers your uniqueness. If you build it… they will come.

This post is adapted from “Idea #5: Carve yourself a niche” in 101 Ways to Market Your Language Program.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

1 Comment | 101 Ways to Market Your Language Program, education, ESL, marketing, marketing mix, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

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