Q: Do CE programs have more success with a combined catalog (enrichment and career) or separate catalogs?
A: Separate brochures for different target demographic audiences can be very effective. They afford you the opportunity to specialize your marketing message for each target audience. They also allow you to reduce the number of pages for targeted content, as well as reduce mailings for each of your brochures to specific audiences. As a result, your production budget will be better spent. As you are probably aware, LERN does not advocate a “shotgun” approach to marketing your programs, but rather targeted messages and delivery. By separating career training, professional certification, and personal enrichment classes, you could create stronger marketing messages and better response with more targeted marketing.
People seeking professional development have different interests and goals from those looking for personal enrichment classes. People seeking professional development will be focused on results, so your brochure for those courses should tell them how they can become more skilled and successful through your courses. When your marketing message and brochure elements target a specific group, they will come across as more personalized, more customer-focused, and more valuable to the recipient. You could reduce the number of pages to make the content targeted, plus reduce mailings for each brochure to specific audiences. And can deliver the right message to the right audience on the cover and throughout the brochure in the process. Each brochure will be more specific to the interests and needs of the recipients.
With separate brochures for distinct target audiences, the covers and content can reflect, address and deliver the right message for the right target audience, maximizing the marketing effectiveness of each brochure. No type of programming would have to become “secondary” in emphasis or placement in the brochure. Each type of programming can receive the focus and marketing emphasis it deserves to increase the value of the message for recipients.