Never underestimate the importance of a Term 4 marketing campaign to schools. It is the time schools are cashed up and planning their spending for 2015.

Photo: cienpies/cienpies.net

With term 4 commencing between 6th and 13th October – depending upon which state you live in your campaign should start landing on school desks in the first week of term also plan to send a second mid-term campaign to schools in early November. All marketing campaigns to schools should utilise integrated marketing communications.

What is an Integrated Marketing Campaign?

Wiki describes Integrated Marketing Campaigns as the application of consistent brand messaging across both traditional and non-traditional marketing channels and using different promotional methods to reinforce each other. In real terms this means suppliers need to be sending marketing campaigns with a similar look, feel, message and call to action using a variety of delivery channels to get their message in front of school decision makers. Channels may include email, snail mail, phone and fax.

The school market is one of the busiest within the B2B space. Here are the three most important aspects of a marketing campaign to consider:

a. Data – target the “right” person
b. Offer – get a school’s attention with an interesting offer
c. Graphic Design -stand out from the crowd with professional creative

Keep your marketing campaigns varied and interesting. A campaign could involve four delivery channels:

1) Snail mail
2) Fax
3) Email
4) Phone

Why market to schools in Term 4?

Term 4 is a critical time for school suppliers. The calendar year is finishing in December and planning for 2015 has commenced. Here are 4 good reasons to target schools in T4:

1) Fete Season
September and October is the school fete season. This may not seem important until you find out the average primary school will gross around $20,000 in a one day fete. The P&C Committee usually run the annual fete and funds are distributed or appropriated in term 4.

2) Capital equipment purchases
Term 4 is also an important time for schools to plan their capital equipment purchases and building / renovations program. Capital acquisitions are usually installed over the Christmas break.

3) Budget planning for 2015
Make sure your competitors do not put their foot in the school door. Term 4 is the time schools put their budgets together for 2015. Products, services and suppliers are identified and quotations are submitted. These acquisitions may occur in T4 or T1 next year.

Michael Bleakley

Michael Bleakley is a journalist, communicator and marketing professional of 25 years. His career began in his early 20’s publishing tech magazines for education. Michael’s career then moved into online and book publishing for a global business publisher, then finally into database publishing and marketing at A-ZGovBIZ.