Q: Is there a document somewhere that outlines why marketing is needed, how much you should spend, who is doing the marketing of classes, how is the marketing being done, etc.?
A: There is a good reason that marketing is essential to the success of any endeavor that involves sales, whether it is in education or whether it is a consumer product. You have to let people know what you have for them and how it will benefit them. This is a tough job, and marketing can make or break your program. If you do it well, you can thrive. If you do it poorly, you will fail.
The question of how much to spend on marketing is part of LERN's financial formula. The most successful programs spend between 10% and 15% of their total income from classes on marketing. We recommend that programs produce a high-quality brochure and use direct mail in addition to any other online or email marketing they may do. The online venues are cheaper, of course, but the results are much less successful than mailing a direct marketing piece to prospective customers.
Targeting is important to keep your marketing costs under control. The best responses will come from past participants and your other best customers. Mailing an untargeted piece to people who have not taken part in your program is a low-percentage return risk. If you have reason to believe that there are untapped markets among people who do not sign up for your classes, you should do a small test mailing and measure the results.
Today, there is a lot of what is called "cross-channel" marketing. This means people are using a variety of marketing channels. These include the print brochure, social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, etc.), email marketing, banner ads, Facebook ads, blogs, and websites. A great deal of marketing is done on mobile devices, as well. There is also a strategy called inbound marketing where you get customers to come to you. HubSpot is one service that helps with this type of marketing. The idea here is that you provide something with value to your prospective market. If they like what they see, they respond. You then give them something for free--a report, a free webinar, etc., and capture their contact information for future marketing efforts.
Marketing today is much more sophisticated than it was even a couple of years ago, and most programs are using multiple channels to get the word out.