Sprintmail Blog

Understanding School Budget Holders & the 5 New Marketing Rules You MUST Follow

Ben — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:28:09 +0000

FREE REPORT DOWNLOAD HERE>

I speak with over 125 different education suppliers every single week. These companies all have one thing in common…

They all want a slice of the new education budgets which have been topped up.

However, there is also a major split between these companies chasing that same budget pie.

Some will get those sales, those big orders, those key contracts, and win their share of the £89.5 billion education budget… but the rest will (for want of a more compassionate word) fail. They won’t get the slice of the budget that they had hoped for, their sales will dip, profits will fall, and they will undoubtedly lose market share.

From May to July all normal marketing to schools principles go out of the window and a new set of rules apply. If you don’t know what these rules are then you are going to let that budget slip through your fingers, that’s a fact!

I’ve prepared a free report that has one purpose and that is to let you in on the 5 NEW revolutionary rules that will undoubtedly ramp up your sales to schools now they have received their new budgets.

FREE REPORT DOWNLOAD HERE>

Your Slice of the £89.5 Billion Education Budget

Ben — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:13:09 +0000

April has got to be one of my favourite times of year, spring has sprung and so have the school budgets which mean our customers can start reaping the rewards from their marketing to schools. As schools return from their Easter break in the third week of April all the Bursars, and teachers that have control over a departmental budget will be ready to spend their budgets.

The UK 2012 Education Budget currently stands at a whopping £89.5 billion. We may be in a tough economic climate but that is still a massive amount of money that can potentially see a portion of it spent with your company. But as the famous saying goes, “you’ve got to be in it to win it”.

Now is the time you should seriously be considering planning a strategy of marketing campaigns to schools and teachers to penetrate the market and boost your sales. Even if on an adhoc basis if you are not getting your message out there into the education sector that £89.5 billion budget will be spent on your competitors’ products and services, not yours!

46% Discount – Take Action Now!

To help you sell to these key Budget Holders within schools we’ve created 3 specialist marketing packages to suit. These are discounted by up to 46% for any orders made before April 30th or for the first 10 orders (whichever comes first). These packages will allow you to contact key decision makers by post, email, and phone. CLICK HERE to read more about these discounted packages.

Or call Jackie on 01684 297374 or email jackie@sprint-mail.co.uk.

The New Year’s Tactic for Success!

Ben — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:31:39 +0000

We have developed a strategy that has seen our clients’ emails to schools receive record responses and sales for this time of year. In a time when schools are cutting back we have found a way to buck the trend and get amazing results.

Recently I’ve noticed a large number of companies contacting us having failed with previous attempts at emailing schools and teachers with the help of professional marketing companies. There results were poor and each time they seem to have been fed the same excuse, “schools just aren’t buying at the moment.”

To be frank that is rubbish!

We have developed a formula for success which is proving this theory wrong and generating in some cases hundreds and hundreds of responses for our clients.

Take for example one of the UK’s leading water cooler suppliers. We recently sent out an email which we designed for them and generated such a high responses that it took them 5 weeks to get on top of the demand. They were chuffed with this result, “We were the victims of our own success! The email was so successful that we are working overtime to cope with demand.”

If you want us to implement this new tactic for your next campaign then give me (Ben) a call on 01684 297374 so we can discuss this in more detail.

Let’s Get Personal

Ben — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:49:50 +0000

Since the new school term began in September we have noticed a trend between which emails are working, and which ones are not, when trying to advertise your company to the education sector.

There are several variables, obvious ones, such as personalising with the recipient’s name and school name, and sending the email direct to the teacher instead of the school office that can have a massive influence on your responses. However, recently it is those companies that have also taken a personable approach to their style of writing which have seen a transformation in their level of responses and return on investment. We have always known this style of copy has been successful, but since the start of term it has been greatly out performing a standard newsletter approach or email packed with images and links.

Why? Well teachers are far more likely to respond to an email that appears to have been sent to them directly as opposed to a mass market email. If you pose them an interesting question, or make them an attractive offer they can’t refuse you will ignite interest with the reader and improve your chances of making more sales.

In a recent email we sent for one of our clients we sent their standard email to schools, but this time tweaked it with a more personable style by asking the recipient directly, “Would it be okay if I gave you a call this week to discuss this in more detail.” This simple sentence increased the client’s average response rate from 12 to 51 replies.

This is just one example of how careful personable content can drastically boost your responses and naturally your sales. Next time you are planning an email to teachers send it to us first and we will be happy to give you some feedback and advice to make sure your personal approach hits the right notes.

Call me today on 01684 297374 or email me your content directly to ben@sprint-mail.co.uk. I will be more than happy to give you a call back and discuss how we can help improve your content and ultimately make you more sales.

42% Discount – Call 01684 297374

Ben — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:52:05 +0000

Roll up roll up! We are offering one last summer special offer to help you rocket your sales for when the schools return in September. Book a schools marketing package now and save up to £1,449.

Our marketing to schools packages make everything simple for you. They are currently discounted by up to 42%. We will professionally design your email, email it three times (on the dates of your choice) to the schools/teachers of your choice and we’ll also track the results so you can measure your email’s success.

We are offering two discounted package deals to suit your exact needs. This offer is in limited supply and to get a discount you must order by 31st August 2011. It is first come first served so contact us now.

To be sure of receiving your 42% discount and start selling to schools in September, please call Ben or Jackie on 01684 297374, or email sales@sprint-mail.co.uk.

If our marketing to schools Starter Package or Direct Package doesn’t quite suit your requirements then we can always tailor make a package to your exact specifications, just get in touch.

Congratulations Jackie! We Are Google AdWords Professionals

Ben — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:30:01 +0000

We are forever looking to offer new exciting services to help our clients generate the best possible return on investment from their marketing campaigns, so we have recently been working towards creating higher quality leads for clients through a number of new services.

One part of this strategy was to become a Google AdWords professional company, enabling Sprint Mail to offer a fully managed AdWords service to drive more quality traffic to your websites and ultimately generate more sales for you.

Head of our Digital Marketing Team, Jackie O’Shea, was tasked with passing the necessary exams held by Google to achieve this prestigious accreditation. She passed her exams with flying colours (96% if you’re asking!) and she is now officially Sprint Mail’s Google AdWords Professional! Well done Jackie.

If you are looking to transform your web presence through Google advertising then call Jackie now on 01684 297374 or email jackie@sprint-mail.co.uk to arrange your free AdWords consultation.

Our Google Adwords Professional

Fujitsu & Tesco

Ben — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:27:02 +0000

There is such a positive atmosphere around the offices here at Sprint as we continue to take intelligent marketing to new heights. It’s a testament to our team’s hard work and aim to develop new customer acquisitions that we have recently completed projects for two of the world’s largest corporations – Tesco and Fujitsu.

Tesco were looking for the most accurate up-to-date database for the education sector to launch a new service through their in-house marketing departments. Sprint Mail’s Education Database was the natural choice, particularly as Tesco needed a system that has live updates on a daily basis, and allowed them to control their full marketing campaign in-house.

Fujitsu on the other hand wanted to formulate a complete marketing strategy to target school ICT departments but outsource everything to a specialist in the education marketing place. Fujitsu’s reputation as one of the world’s leading technology suppliers demands the highest service possible, so Sprint Mail were honoured to be chosen to execute every step of their strategy.

Before we knew it we were undertaking one of our biggest projects to date with a series of direct email campaigns to named teacher and key decision makers, HTML email design, telesales database, and the printing and fulfilment of a full 2011 product brochure posted to every single school within the UK to be complete all within ten days. With every team member getting stuck in, the campaign was completed on time and to the highest standard. It’s a real credit to our team’s energy and enthusiasm to continually strive to give every customer the best service possible and help them get the best results, and that goes with every project we undertake; large or small.

Royal Mail’s lorry full of Fujitsu’s postal campaign on the day of collection.

Fujitsu and Tesco are great companies to work with and we have enjoyed every step of the process and look forward to working with them in the near future.

Email of the Month – the 4,500% Return on Investment

Ben — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:27:53 +0000

It’s the time of year when schools are pretty flush with cash (even with the recent budget cuts), and although some companies are finding it difficult in this tough economic climate to sell to schools others are flourishing.

Take for example Preston based company – PAT 247, a company that specialises in pat testing for schools. They recently invested £600 in an email campaign to schools with many of the emails being sent (by Sprint Mail on their behalf) direct to specific teachers and key decision makers, which returned over £27,000 worth of sales within one week!

So what did they do to achieve a 4,500% return on investment?

Well there email was relatively simple with a clear message and attractive offer to encourage responses. Not only was the offer tempting but PAT 247 answered the key question that every recipient of marketing material asks themselves – “What’s in it for me?”

PAT 247 had created three key points to highlight what was in it for the recipient (free repairs, free microwave emission testing, and free plugs replacement). This coupled with their very competitive prices put PAT 247 in a strong position to achieving a healthy response.

The next point which helped PAT 247 sell over £27,000 worth of pat testing was the uniqueness of their service, it was something schools were looking for and needed urgently, they offered something that was a necessity, not a luxury, and this fact went a long way to boosting their return on investment.

Finally, PAT 247 were smart enough to use Sprint Mail‘s secure trusted emailing service which allowed them to email their exact target market directly. Sprint Mail’s direct emails to teachers service has helped PAT 247 have a great sales period recently within the UK schools sector and they now continue to use this service on a regular basis.

If you are in need of any pat testing then I would encourage you to get in touch with PAT 247, they are a friendly bunch and very competitive.

A Crazy time and crazy 41% discount!

Ben — Mon, 16 May 2011 08:21:02 +0000

It’s been a crazy month, we’ve launched a new website, had our busiest month ever, and now we are introducing our dedicated marketing to schools packages to help you start taking advantage of schools’ new budgets. You have two options for all budgets.

Our marketing to schools package makes everything simple for you. They are currently discounted by up to 41%, we design your email for you, we send it three times over three months to schools for you, and we’ll even track the results for you so you can measure your email’s success.

1) Starter Package WAS £1,439. NOW £849 – 41% Off!

3 x email campaigns sent to 28,000 schools (1 a month for 3 months) worth £989.
1x HTML email professionally designed by us worth £300.
3 x tracking reports worth £150.

2) Direct Package WAS £3,297. NOW £1,999 – 40% Off!

3 x email campaigns sent to 28,000 schools (1 a month for 3 months) worth £989.
1x HTML email professionally designed by us worth £300.
3 x split subject testing worth £300.
3 x contact database of qualified leads worth £300.

Limited Offer – 15 available

This offer is in limited supply so is only available to the first 15 orders. To be sure of receiving your discount and start selling to schools now please call Ben or Jackie on 01684 297374, or email sales@sprint-mail.co.uk.

If our marketing to schools packages doesn’t quite suit your requirements then we can always tailor make a package to your exact specifications, just get in touch.

Here comes the budget rush – Top 3 Tips!

Ben — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:40:31 +0000

Every year its the same. Come May schools will have their budgets in place ready to begin spending on all manner of products and services that schools need. This is a key period for selling to schools, with pupils starting to break up for exam leave, giving teachers more free periods and more time to plan their purchasing for the next year.

But like you, many other companies will be trying to take advantage of this prime selling time to schools. So how can you get your products or services in front of teachers when they will be receiving a lot of messages by email and post trying to do the same?

Here are my top 3 tips on selling more to schools this May.

1) Look the part. How can you compete against other marketing material if your’s does not look professional, eye catching, and draw in the readers attention. If you do not have a creative flare or the knowledge of exactly what you need to avoid in your design to navigate through spam filter systems safely, then get it professionally designed and written. You only get one chance to make a good first impression so get it right!

Take a look at some examples of emails we have designed for our clients to help them get a better response. http://www.sprint-mail.co.uk/html_design.php

2) Think outside the box. In this day and age you need to be clever to succeed when selling to the education sector. What can you do differently than your competitors, and what inspiring way can you communicate that message?

I have dealt with thousands of companies trying to sell to schools. Some of them have truly remarkable products but without that magic spark to their marketing message their great products can get lost amongst other messages and not reap the rewards and sales that they deserve. The one thing these companies forgot was thinking outside of the box, not taking the time and effort to really put their message across in a new exciting way. Don’t make the same mistake.

3) Go direct. This one is simple. If you email teachers at their direct email addresses your responses will improve over just emailing the school office. Let us know the exact types of teachers you need to sell to and we will design and broadcast your email to them.

Good luck with all your May marketing, and as always if you ever have any questions or need any advice give me a call on 01684 297374 or email ben@sprint-mail.co.uk.