Client

The client offers a unique program for teaching cooperative behaviour among primary school students through the playing of interactive games. The program has been in use in WA schools for over ten years and is very positively received by teachers and students.

There is a manual which teachers can use by themselves and the program founder conducts teacher training and student sessions in schools.

Brief

The client wanted to expand their operations Australia wide, beginning with sales of the a manual and advancing to teacher training seminars.

The client engaged Glide to help plan and implement appropriate marketing strategies. Budget constraints were tight as the manual sells for about $50.

Objective

The objectives for the first stage of development were to:

• Expand sales of the manual to schools in other Australian states.
• Start teacher training seminars in other states.

Strategy

Given the cost constraints, a direct mail strategy was chosen.

Lists of schools were compiled from a variety of sources including state education department websites and other public data.

A brochure was developed which emphasised testimonials from teachers and benefits to teachers.

A mailing package was developed which included a letter to the principal, a notice to be displayed in staffrooms and a convenient order form. Based on teacher feedback the package was not developed to high presentation standards; it was mostly mono print on bond paper, which teachers found more credible.

Mailings were rolled out state by state so that there was a return on investment to fund each successive stage. This also enabled progressive refinements of the technique, with fine tuning to the package materials.

The program founder was invited to speak at an education conference in Queensland late in 2000. His presentation resulted in very positive feedback.

We seized on the opportunity of the publicity and word of mouth generated to promote teacher training seminars in Brisbane and Townsville in March 2001. Again, promotion was via direct mail to the schools, with an initial mailing shortly after the conference a reminder in February. There was also a small PR campaign just prior to the seminars.

Results

Initial mailings averaged a better than 10% order rate for the manual, well above typical cold-mail results of 1% and 2%.

By February 2001 the seminars had achieved sufficient bookings to go ahead, with more bookings likely from local media exposure resulting from the small PR campaign.

This represented a jump forward in marketing position, compared with the delayed and probably more expensive moves which had been anticipated before the opportunity of the conference presentation.

Ongoing marketing now focuses on consolidating contacts with teachers. A new manual is about to be launched, with a promotional video to support it. Near future developments are planned to include an expansion of teacher training seminars in eastern states and further manuals targeting different audiences.

Interstate markets progressively outgrew the local base, with Queensland maintaining its initial head-start lead.