Q: The Community Enrichment unit at a public institution and considering new revenue streams has anyone implemented paid corporate advertising in their printed materials to either defray the costs of the brochure or expand their mailing? We normally insert ads for other campus departments but I have several companies who are only too happy to get their ads in front of our 50+ population in the 12000 brochures we do each semester. What are the downsides?? What pushback did anyone get??
A: LERN does not generally recommend that you place ads in your brochure. There are several downsides for most programs. First, if you are a non-profit organization or a government organization who has a reduced rate for mailing, placing ads in your brochure can cause you to lose your special mailing privileges. The reason is that promoting corporate products in your brochure, is not consistent with your primary mission, and unless it is, you stand to lose this benefit.
Second, ad can compete for the reader's attention and draw attention away from your programs and classes. Unless they are extremely well-done, they can add a cluttered, unprofessional look to your publication because they are not consistent with your overall graphic design theme or look. Too many ads can give readers the impression that your programs are of lower value, and can cause you to lose enrollments.
The final consideration is the space you devote to ads. You could devote this same space to income generation through marketing your own activities or putting class descriptions in the space given to ads. If your classes perform at the average for your program in number of participants and average course fee, you can calculate the potential income from classes. You should do this, because you need to have a realistic idea of how much income you are generating from ads, and unless you calculate the amount you lose (or potentially lose) by not putting classes in that space, you will not have a realistic idea.
Questions
Advertising in Brochures
Jun 11, 2018 10:25:51 PM
by
Jordan Kivley
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