Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Targeting Teachers With Free Curriculum Guide

Posted by Anonymous on 11/5/2010 at 1:02 PM ET 125 Points
Guide Dogs for the Blind is offering a free downloadable curriculum guide to teachers of grades 3-8 via https://www.guidedogs.com/kids . GDB 101 can assist them in teaching about disability, diversity, animals, etc. We have promoted it to our constituents through our print publications and social media.

We're looking for suggestions on how to best reach them (at no or very low cost). The kid's site and curriculum guide are ripe for cause-related corporate sponsorships, inclusion in textbooks, incorporation with feature articles to educational magazines. I would be very interested in specific suggestions and contact information (publishers, writers, appropriate contacts in corporations) or other strategies.

I'm sure there are lists we could rent for an email campaign, but I'd especially like to hear from someone who has experience with this target audience.

We're a nonprofit receiving no govt. funding and this project is ancillary to our main mission: providing skilled mobility dogs, training and lifelong support services to people who are blind or low vision throughout the US and Canada at no charge.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 11/5/2010 at 4:18 PM Moderator
    OK, so why might a teacher want to divert kids' attention from whatever test they're preparing for to learn about guide dogs? Aren't teachers tasked with getting their students ready to perform on some standardized test, learn what's in their prescribed lesson plans, and mastering the curriculum at their schools?

    If so, then there isn't much reason why they'd care about your guide. If it helps them accomplish some important goal of theirs, then you need to tell them about it. Give them a compelling reason to download and use the guide and teach about disability, diversity, animals, etc.

    Without that compelling reason why, you're talking to yourselves when it comes to motivating action on the part of teachers.

    And what's in it for YOU to do this? What is YOUR objective? If it's not worth spending much money on, then it can't be very important in the scheme of things. Maybe you need to focus your efforts (and your limited budget) on accomplishing the organization's primary mission.
  • Posted by michael on 11/5/2010 at 7:10 PM Accepted
    jr,

    I have some experience marketing to schools (and being on the school board). You may have more success with charter & private schools rather than public schools. They tend to be a little more flexible and open to curricula adjustments.

    Email actually works very well. Each district has a curriculum director but principals do have some say-so.

    The parent organizations are another group that can champion your cause.

    Michael
  • Posted on 11/6/2010 at 1:36 AM Member
    this isn't free, but can be relatively cheap if targeted properly. make a facebook business page, place an opt-in box in that page to sign up for the list, or use the new features that will automatically provide it only after they "like" your page. the liking part will generate some free traffic and a little 'buzz'.

    Once that's setup and working right, do very targeted FB ads ... you can target people by age, likes, geography, etc. combining these will truncate your impression count and ensure only the right audience sees it ... you can easily target only kids, only teachers with pets over 40 in Maine who volunteer, etc.
    unlike Google and standard PPC, it's not really keyword driven, but lifestyle ... and waaaaay cheaper
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/6/2010 at 8:14 AM Member
    Why not start with the schools & students that already reached out to you? Ask them who they could contact in other local schools in their area that might be interested in your offering.

    Also - I don't notice an obvious link to your kids section from your home page's main menu. That would be the natural place for people to look for what you're offering as well.
  • Posted by marketbase on 11/7/2010 at 4:10 PM Member
    How about reaching out to schools (curriculum directors, BOE, PTA/PTO) and rather than aiming for teachers to spread the word, maybe suggesting assemblies with student groups during the school day, or maybe the schools would allow community information sessions after school hours where students, parents and anyone else in a community would be welcome. That way the teachers are taking "off task."

    Best,
    jag
    MarketBase
  • Posted by Mara Conklin on 11/8/2010 at 10:41 AM Accepted
    I have experience in this area. Having worked with a company that wanted to do the same thing, here's what I think will work. First, make sure your materials are bias-free. Corporate underwriting is fine but promoting products will be frowned upon. Secondly, take your curriculum to the board of education in a sizable city and ask for their endorsement (or at least to make the curriculum available to their schools). Be armed with statistics about how many kids are seeking this kind of information, especially in the district you approach. Once you have the backing of one large district, it will be easier for you to approach others and get a positive response.
  • Posted by Mara Conklin on 11/8/2010 at 12:12 PM Member
    We rolled it out by region of the country, mainly because we needed the buy-in and support of the company's regional offices. It had great success. We started with Chicago and then expanded from there.
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