Q: I have a question regarding how to time the mailing of our brochures. Below outlines what we have done in the past.
Our Spring brochure typically hits the homes during the first week of November, before the holiday frenzy begins. Class start dates for each course/program varies, of course, but the semester begins the first week of January.
Our Fall brochure hits the homes at the end of July. Classes begin right after Labor Day in September.
The Summer brochure hits homes in mid April. Classes begin at the end of May.
A: LERN recommends that brochures hit no more than 6 weeks before the first classes begin. Mailing in November for spring classes beginning in January is not something we recommend for several reasons:
1. Even if the brochure hits before the "holiday frenzy" you are mailing more than 8 weeks out, and this can reduce your enrollments.
2. Even if the brochure hits before the frenzy, you will still be doing registration during that very busy time, and signing up for your courses may not be a top priority.
3. Most programs mail their brochures to hit immediately after the Christmas holiday, and have classes beginning in early February.
4. LERN recommends that you offer a minimum of 4 terms to maximize your enrollment success.
5. LERN recommends that you mail twice each term--once to your mailing list and once about two weeks later, to your best customers. With your spring schedule as it is, that would be problematic.
Fall brochures coming out at the end of July for September start dates is not as much of a problem as your spring mailing, although the mailing can get tangled up in the "back to school" frenzy, OR be lost in the shuffle of summer's end vacations.
For your summer term, if you are offering youth programs and summer camps, that information should be in the hands of parents in February, because that is when they start making plans for their children's summer activities. If you are later than that, you may be losing out to other programs who get their summer camp info out earlier. LERN would not recommend that your summer term begin prior to the end of the school year if you are serving youth and families, since their focus will be on year-end activities at school. Most summer programs begin after Memorial Day.
The schedule that LERN recommends is:
Fall: Classes begin mid-September
Winter: Classes begin Mid-January to Early February
Spring: Classes begin late March
Summer: Classes begin early June
In addition to getting your promotions out about 6 weeks prior to the beginning of your first classes, you should avoid having your brochure span more than 8 weeks because this tends to reduce enrollments, particularly for courses and classes that begin late in the term.
Be sure to track the responses for each of your brochures so that you can maximize your enrollments. In your case, I would not recommend completely changing your mailing dates all at once. You need to see what works. Instead, I would recommend mailing at your normal time, and then doing a second mailing at the time recommended by LERN. I would also strongly recommend considering a fourth term of classes, rather than just three terms.