Around the country

It's good to see school districts around the country taking the bull by the horns.

Just yesterday, I met with a team and I think I walked out with a few new ideas myself.  I look forward to establishing a more interactive presence on this site to create an idea-exchanging atmosphere. 

how long does it take?

The school district I work for just hit the one year mark in our efforts to sell advertising to benefit our school district.  I found some interesting statistics. 

On average it takes about 3 people to reach the decision-maker
About 13.375 phone calls or emails with that person.
And about 5.625 months to close a deal from start-to-finish.

It's interesting.  This stuff doesn't happen over night but it does happen.  And - I can say with the utmost certainty the pace picks up the longer you have your programs in place.  You'll start to receive call-in's and do less outbound calling.  You'll be worrying more about invoicing than lead generation.

Going out on your own

If your school or school district is going to go out on your own and there isn't anybody with legit marketing experience, you should find somebody to help you out prior to starting an advertising or marketing program for your school or school district. 

I can't emphasize this enough.  I don't mean some guy that set up parties back in college and did all the "promotions" for it or somebody that had an internship putting flyer's on cars for a restaurant chain.

Get real help.  Here's a good starter kit:  Donna Anselmo's Marketing Demystified.
http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Demystified-Donna-Anselmo/dp/0071713913

Or contact an agency (this one is mine) to help you out:  http://www.tebosportsmarketing.com/
Do not contact an agency that asks you to sign anything giving them exclusivity.  That's like saying, "hold me hostage for a year."