The document provides several promotion ideas for marketing continuing education programs. Some of the key ideas discussed include: 1) Using Google+ and ensuring your program comes up first in search results for relevant keywords. 2) Hosting in-person events targeted at Gen Y to promote networking and pressing the flesh like other generations. 3) Continuing to utilize printed catalogs and materials like brochures as they remain important promotion strategies alongside digital and social media efforts. 4) Employing tactics that have been shown to work for print-based marketing, such as compelling headlines and short copy, in digital marketing as well.

1. Top Promotion Ideas of the Year
Suzanne Kart
William Draves
Paul Franklin

2. Use Google+ in your marketing
• Over the last year, enough data has been
collected on the SEO ranking effect of Google+ to
determine it is the most important factor in SEO
ranking found a study released in August
(Ranking Factors Rank Correlation 2013).
• 89% of American consumers search the internet
before making a purchase.
• Don’t you want your program to up come up first
when people search for “continuing education” in
your market?

3. In-person events for Gen Y
• Contrary to the perceptions of media
and older adults, Gen Y embraces faceto-face networking and events. New
conferences this year aimed at Twenty
Somethings verify that.
• Think about in-person events targeted
for Gen Y to promote your program.
Gen Y likes to press the flesh just like
other generations.
• Using their words, messages, images
and values (like servant leadership and
charitable causes), use in-person
events targeted to Gen Y in your
marketing.

4. Don’t eliminate your catalog
Your catalog and other printed material remain critically
important promotion strategies and variables for financial success
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Web-based and social media marketing and promotion have become increasingly
deployed and effective. Yet, the data reinforce that your catalog and other printed
material are essential ingredients for financial success in today’s marketplace.
Consider these data from recent marketing studies:
Roughly 80% of all mail delivered is opened compared to only about 20% for emails.
Print delivers a higher response rate compared to email. The Chief Marketing
Officers Council found that the average response rate for email is 0.12%, whereas
the average response rate for direct mail is 4.4%.
According to the Printing Industries of America, print catalogs carry an average
cost per lead of $47.61 whereas the average cost per email lead is $53.65.
Printing Industries of America also found that 67% of online searches are driven by
offline messages with 39% of shoppers making a purchase.
Websites supported by catalogs yield 16.3% more revenue than those not
supported by catalogs.
For these and many other data based reasons, you need to not only continue your
catalogs and other printed matter but make them work harder for you.

5. Send More Email
• Have your promotional emails come from a
person – not just organization. For instance, you
probably received emails from both William
Draves and Suzanne Kart about this conference –
rather than just “LERN.” Emails that come from a
person are more likely to get opened.
• Send more emails to less people. You’ll get more
business. If your open rate stays at 10-20% and
your opt out and bounce rates are both <1%, it’s
working.

6. Mix real and stock photos
• It might not be the ‘end’ of stock
photos, but mix real photos with
stock photos in your marketing.
• The advantage of real photos is
authenticity.
• The advantages of stock photos
are crisp, clean, well staged
images.
• If you have seen the same stock
photo used by two or three
different organizations, think
about whether overusing the
same photo will be effective.

7. What works for print works for web
• More and more research on consumer likes and dislikes
says that what works for printed material works for website
and email.
• For example, the headline in a print advertisement or direct
mail piece has always been seen as the most critical copy.
So, too, the title of an event in your catalog. Similarly, the
subject line in an e-mail is critically important because it
very important in whether an e-mail gets opened or not.
• Now, direct marketers have determined that, like in print,
short lines are better than longer lines for website copy.
Denny Hatch, venerable sage in direct marketing, says that
new research shows copy lines on websites should be 50 to
75 characters and no more. Any longer and the copy is
difficult to read and people are inclined to give up.

8. Websites – the future is more white
space.
• As we evolved during Web 1.0, design became
all about the bells and whistles.
• We’re now evolving into web design being all
about usability.

9. Employer or third party testimonials
• We know participant testimonials work. You
know participant testimonials work. Now look
at a third party testimonial, such as a few
from employers.
• What employers say does influence
employees, and of course other employers.
There might be other influential third parties,
such as local leaders.
• Whenever something, like testimonials,
works, look for a spin-off, extension or
variation, because it stands a good chance of
both complementing your existing copy and
enhancing it in your marketing.

10. Dynamic Pricing
• More and more dynamic pricing as used by airlines for years is
finding a place in other marketplaces. It may be time to consider
dynamic pricing in event marketing and pricing.
• Dynamic pricing using algorithms to maximize revenue by getting
each customer to spend the most he or she is willing to pay. Have a
day of the week, or time of year or a venue where an event draws
more than other days or venues? Dynamic pricing says the cost to
play goes up. Conversely, slow days, or slow seasons or venues that
don’t draw as well means prices are lower in an effort to get more
seats in the seats.
• Dynamic pricing may be tricky to pull off and you probably can’t
take it as far as the airlines have. But, it is definitely worth watching
as it evolves as it is doing and it is worth thinking about how you
could apply in your enterprise.

11. Blogging and Social Media
• You need to be blogging – and you need to
include video on your blog. During May 2011,
over 31 million people in the U.S. watched video
content on social networks and blogs. (Nielson
Q3 2013)
• A social media presence is a must. 53% of active
social networkers follow a brand. (Nielson Q3
2013). In addition, Google and Bing both use
social media indicators to determine search
engine ranking.

12. Wordsmith your Categories
• Your subject Categories, both in your print
brochure and on your website, are important.
• That’s what readers look at first to find courses
and topics of interest to them.
• So tweak the words describing Categories where
the courses and topics might not be pulling as
many registrations as you think they could.
• Adding or subtracting a single letter in a word can
make a big difference. So can re-ordering the
words. So can substituting another word that
means the same.

13. Capture customer reviews and use them
in all your promotional materials.
• People love customer reviews. You should be
offering your customers the opportunity to
review your events.
• Then use the results in all of your promotional
materials – web pages, catalogs, brochures, other
direct mail Facebook, even TV and radio if you do
any.
• One caution… the most credible reviews address
both the positive and the negative. A string of
glowing only reviews lose credibility, according to
marketing researchers.

14. People like a good meme.
• GWU, for instance, sees a 300% increase in
engagement with their site when they post a
meme. LERN’s jumps even higher – closer to
500%.

15. Use Serif for the body of your print
brochure.
• Research says san serif type is better for your
web site. And san serif works in really small
print, especially for copy that is not very long.
• But for your course descriptions and other
copy in the main part of your brochure, go
back to serif typestyle.
– It works better.
– It leads readers to keep reading better.
– It is easier on the eyes.

16. Use a deadline and give it a name
• We have been doing this for years with discounts for
early registrations. But, marketers inside and outside of
continuing education have found other ways to compel
people to action by creating deadlines and giving them
a name. Another example of dynamic pricing.
• Examples…
– Providence program has special deals on courses if you
register on Black Friday.
– Try a Cyber Monday or a 24 Hour Sale or a Daily Deal on a
specific event or… let your imagination run.
– Find a few and test them out. Use email promotions as the
marketing vehicle. Test with different market segments.

17. Thank you!