Q: Can LERN assist with duties for a community education programmer including timelines for marketing assignments? For example: how many brochures should be mailed each year and how do we determine target dates for completion for this job?
A: I have attached a job description and a document with information on the role of a program professional. These should be useful to you. Regarding the number of brochures to mail, you need to start with your budget. The basic strategy is this:
1. Determine how much income you need to generate.
2. Determine your average income per class or event. (Your total income divided by the number of classes that make. So, if you have $10,000 in income, and 50 classes that make, your average income is $200 per class).
3. Determine your average enrollment per class. (The number of registrations divided by the number of classes that make. If you have 500 registrations and have 50 classes that make, then you have an average of 10 people per class).
4. Determine the average fee per person. If you have 10 people per class, and each class averages about $200 in income, that means the average cost per person is $20. (200 divided by 10)
5. Determine how many brochures you have to distribute to get one enrollment (divide the number of brochures distributed by the number of registrations you receive. So, if you distribute 10,000 brochures and generate 500 enrollments, 10,000 divided by 500 is 20. So you know you have to distribute 20 brochures to get one enrollment).
6. Let's say your income goal is $20,000. You know it takes 20 brochures to generate one enrollment or $20 (your average course fee). Thus you would need to generate 1000 enrollments to get $20,000 in income. Therefore you would have to distribute 20 x 1000 or 20,000 brochures to get one thousand enrollments.
So:
1. Determine your income goal ($20,000)
2. Determine how much many brochures it takes to get one enrollment (20)
3. Determine how much your average enrollment is worth ($20)
4. Determine how many enrollments you need to meet your income goal (1000)
5. Multiply the number of enrollments needed times the number of brochures it takes to get one enrollment (1000 x 20)
This is a very broad sweep of distribution strategy. You can, of course, improve response rates by careful targeting your mailings carefully and by tracking to determine your highest response areas. LERN can provide you with a free analysis of your mailing effectiveness if you would like us to do that. Just email Debbie@lern.org and ask for instructions on submitting information for a segmentation analysis.
LERN also has a free software tool, the promotions tracking tool, that you can access from the LERN Club. You can put in your deadlines for each aspect of your brochure production, and this tool will keep you on track. The process is this:
Start with the date you want to have your brochures hit.
Go back from there to determine when you have to mail in order for the brochure to hit at the time you want.
From there, go back to when you need to get copy to your printer in order to meet the mailing deadline.
Take another step back, and determine when you have to have final copy ready for the printer.
Step back again, and determine when you need to have all your course information and descriptions ready for layout/production.
Step back from there and determine when you need to start contacting prospective teachers/instructors.
For each step in your process, figure out how much time the process takes from start to finish. Put in intermediate steps and assign duties and timelines to specific people.
http://media.lern.org/webinars/The-role-of-Program-Professional.docx