The New Year projections

In 2012, many school districts will make the jump into allowing advertising in schools.  Whether it will be something as natural as putting ads around athletics or as unnatural as putting ads around their sacred lockers and on liners of the food trays of students who are trying to eat their lunches.

I hope that greed doesn't sneak in.  There is a great saying when something is done in the wrong place ("This isn't the venue") and I worry that schools will allow charlatans to walk in and convince them that the money they can earn is worth more than their sleep at night.

I've been lucky to work with a school district that has maintained an absolute sense of balance and we have been both ethical and profitable.  I wonder if in 2012 there will be some sort of regulation pushed through by the government or a major lawsuit surrounding price discrimination or free speech protection.

There are a lot of companies claiming to have a background in how to best utilize advertising in schools.  If you ever need any questions answered or want to get an objective opinion, you can always call me on my cell phone at (410) 960-1089 or email me.... Happy New Year.

No Trapped Environments

You're school board is worried about using advertising as a non-traditional revenue maker for your school district?   Here's the fastest way to ease the mind of your school board, parents, and community groups.

Say it with me:  No Trapped Environments.  This is Edunomics 101.

The school districts putting ads up in schools where students can't leave are breaking the Cardinal rule. 

No Trapped Environments - as a general rule, follow it and it will keep you out of trouble with parents (and, frankly, you'll just sleep better at night).

Do not put up advertisements in schools where the students can not leave.  Obviously don't ever touch the inside of a classroom but also do not go inside of buses, cafeteria, and - if you are asking me - stay off lockers. 

There's plenty of ways to make money off of advertising to parents, employees of your school district, and (with care and discretion) students. 

If your district decides they want companies to reach students, explore your game nights.  This works because:

• It's outside of school hours
• Students pay to be there
• People are used to athletics having corporate sponsors

You'll find once  you establish an advertising program within your school district, you will actually pull more advertising out that bringing in the first three (3) months.  Companies found out a long time ago they could reach into classrooms providing materials, posters, "giveaways" and coloring contests.  Make sure your district addresses all of these issues upfront and, remember, No Trapped Environments.

PA announcements

While school districts are allowing for advertising to sneak into classrooms, hallways and on lockers, Orange County Public Schools has done a great job of keeping the advertising outside of those areas. 

One of my favorites:  PA announcements. 

Offering a package of two (2) PA announcements has brought in a lot of revenue with zero cost to the school district.  PA announcements can also be great added-value benefits to your other packages. 

Check out the PA announcements in the video and tell me it doesn't add to the atmosphere....  nobody likes dead air.  Not on the radio and not in a stadium:

More concessions

If you can identify your biggest games of the season, try this:

Get a measurable bassline for sales (i.e., past sales from similar games) - if you don't already do this, you should be doing it every season for every game.  An easy excel file with something like the following so you can measure what you can expect in the future (trending) like:
attendance
weather
other events that day
team record
opponent
televised? Y/N
vendors?
concession sales?

These questions will let you plan accordingly for future games.  The answers will help you do everything from staff better and not waste money on unneeded personal to be able to charge premium prices for outside companies that want access to your fans.  You can also take it to the next level and put vendors at your largest games. 

Think about this:  If you are a parent and you bring two of your children to come watch the oldest play in their home varsity game, do you want to get up out of your seat and have to coordinate a trip to the concession stands?  I mean bathrooms are tough enough.  You don't have an assigned seat and you may not want to lose your seats so it would be absolutely convenient if somebody came to you.  I bet you'll see your profits increase and you'll get positive feedback from your parents that don't want to get up and stand in the long lines.  And, admit it, it adds great atmosphere to hear the sound of somebody screaming "peanuts."

NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, story on Orange County Public Schools advertising programs for their EducationNation segment. Aired October 1, 2011

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/44742428#44742428

Placing a value on naming rights to stadiums

There are some simple formulas to help you valuate the naming rights to your stadiums. 

Here's some recent local coverage in the Orlando market.

First, channel 13 ran a story on advertising programs and naming rights.  It aired every hour on the news for two straight days (September 2-3, 2011). Anchored by Kelli Cook
http://mediacenter.tveyes.com/downloadgateway.aspx?UserID=75871&MDID=762356&MDSeed=2732&Type=Media

Channel 9 story on advertising programs and naming rights, aired September 9-10, 2011.

Anchored by Q McCray
http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1805&DateTime=9%2F10%2F2011+8%3A22%3A54+AM&Term=Orange+County+Public+Schools&PlayClip=TRUE

Proof of Perforrmance

If your school is taking sponsorships and non-traditional advertising revenue streams seriously, take heed:
Make sure you give your sponsors a "Proof of Performance," or sometimes called a "Statement of Goodwill".

Preferrably, these statements go something like this (see below) and they are signed by your principal and/or athletic director at your school level or by a district offiical.  When you can, have it notorized.  It validates your programs and gives the companies advertising with you peace-of-mind. 

It'll make a word of difference when it comes time for renewals.

Proof of Performance or your Statement of Goodwill example:

I can attest that our school has actively participated in the sales and marketing initiatives of [your school or school district]
Our athletic program appreciates your support and, in return, we have fulfilled our agreement to display all of the proper and appropriate signage at our varsity home games.

This includes, but is not limited to: goal post wraps, bulls-eye signage for the chain crews, vests for the chain crews, vendor presence, banners/signage, and PA announcements.

Thank you for trusting [your school or school district] with your advertising and marketing efforts.


School: ______________________________________________________





Athletic Director: ______________________________________________





Signature: ____________________________________________________



Date: _______________________________________________________

Forums

We are going to be doing some forums for school districts to interact and have an opportunity to discuss what's working and what is not.  The first one should be in the middle of September.  Keep checking here for additional details.

The Size Of Online Ads Can Determine Your Worth

One of the most important factors that will determine whether a company (especially a larger company or an ad agency) will advertise with your school district is size. 

The group that dictates size is the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the reason this is important to you is this:  If "my company" is going to spend money with your school district one of the deciding factors is the "ease of use" - meaning how much do I have to do to put an ad up on your site. 

If your website ad sizes are the same as the web sizes that my creative team is already producing for online websites, the online version of local newspapers, or anywhere else....then I don't have to do anything extra.  That means you should be using the web banner ad sizes found here:  http://www.iab.net/iab_products_and_industry_services/1421/1443/1452

You don't need all of them.  Just pick a few.  Work with your IT department to find out what sizes work and sync them up.  That way advertising agencies and major marketers won't have to pay a graphic designer $90 an hour more to design a web ad just for you...  and that should make you a buck or two.

The local dollar vs the district dollars

Don't forget the local dollars.  Schools are really good about getting them; school districts find it a bit more challenging.  Here's a simple rule of thumb:

The school should go to the franchise owner or individual location of the business.

If there is a chain or franchise, the school district should go to the regional marketing director, or franchise group responsible for all the stores in your school district.

The easiest way to find out this information is to call one of the locations and ask the franchise owner who their marketing representative is or who handles the marketing/advertising for that geographical area.

Identify Your Unique Selling Points

In Florida, Orange County Public Schools (Orlando, FL) has identified their unique selling points.  It's a fairly easy exercise but needs to be done.  Your unique selling point is whatever it is that you want to use to distinguish yourself to advertisers.  Whatever you think would make your school district more attractive than the next.

First, all school districts have unique selling points when talking to potential advertisers that should convince your advertiser that you are a better option than radio advertising, billboards, direct mailings, etc.  You should have a pretty solid list, but is should include:

• Ability to reach a targeted (and often hard-to-reach) audience of parents, educators, and students.
• Ability to segment these groups (by school, grade, zip code, etc)
• Ability to create an emotional connection with the community through the advertising sponsorship.

It pays off though to highlight your school district in more specific ways.  For example, Orange County uses  past athletes who have gone professional in their respective sports to highlight the history and pride in the county.  Last year, they had the ability to boast that they had the NFL MVP and the MLB Cy Young Award winner (Chris Johnson, Olympia grad) and Zach Greinke (Apopka grad).  

The next step is to push that information out to the public.  Here's what the ridiculously good video that theOrange County Public Schools Video Services team came up with to promote their programs:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqzs-ILp2jU

If your school district has done anything similar, send them my way.  I'd enjoy the chance to see them.

8 ways to increase your concession sales

If you want to sell more food and drink and make more money at your athletic events, there are a few ways you can do this that can be done relatively easy.  We're constantly looking for new ways to make money at schools and I have found that the concession stands are already set up but not being monetized to their fullest.

1.) Order in bulk - There's two ways to save and you can do it on the front end, back end, or both.  This is one way to save money on the back end.  If you can start a "collective" of sorts with all the schools in your district or, better yet, form a buying partnership with other school districts in your market you can do the same thing that large food services groups in school districts have been doing for years - leveraging their purchasing power to drive down prices.

2.) Sell name brands - It's a proven fact:  Name brands sell more product. 

3.) Kick out your outside vendors who aren't paying you a flat rate - I always hear that some "chicken sandwich" place or a pizza place wants to come in "to help our fundraising" - which is b.s. - it's a great way for them to brand their product to your audience, align their company with your community, and make a lot of money - traditional "cause" marketing.  Don't take 3% of their sales.  Tell them you want a flat rate up front since you will also be cannibalizing your own sales at your concession stands.  Companies that come in to stadiums and athletic events and don't pay out aren't worth your time.  

4.) Promote your concessions - Utilize signage, promotions, and your P.A. announcer to increase your sales.

5.) Take the food to the stands - If you're a mom with two kids on your arm and your at the game where there are no assigned seats, you might just wait out the game and just go sit down and eat afterwards.  If your school is serious about selling more food at games, take the food and drink to the stands.  It actually adds to the game experience since so many fans are used to seeing this at professional and college games.  

6.) Create something unique - Get known for something.  Can people get pit beef, cheese steaks, funnel cakes, barbeque, grilled wings, quesadillas, smoothies, fried twinkies, etc?  Is there something unique you have.  I love the barbeque pits because they send off smoke and a strong smell that send people running your way.  

7.) Show pictures of food and drink that you really want to sell - Next time you are at your favorite restaurant, check out their menu - you'll notice that the items they sell the most of (or often make the most money off of) are the items that have their picture on the menu.  People increase impulse purchases when there is visual stimulus.  

8.) Give away samples - I know, nobody wants to give away anything for free but try this:  Put a certain amount of product out for sampling and know how much it cost you (for example:  sample $200 worth of new pit beef) and then, at the end of the night, compare your sales with other nights that you didn't sample (of course take into consideration like variables such as attendance, weather, time of day, etc) but I bet you'll see a significant increase in sales.  Doesn't your grocery store do the same thing?

These are just a few ideas.  If you want us to talk about your situation and what we recommend, contact us at brian@tebopartnerships.com or check out www.tebopartnerships.com
contact us

WARNING: SUMMER SCAMS

Tebo Partnerships
Be aware.  Every summer companies start calling on local businesses in your area claiming that they are raising money for your schools.  They take thousands of dollars in and you don't see any of it. 

They call on companies when they think you're not paying attention and when the local businesses in your area can't verify the authenticity of their claims.  These scams are nation-wide. 

These companies survive off of two things:
1. That you don't care
2. That you won't know

There's ways to combat this.  Inform your school staffs, parents, and local chamber of commerce or any other business organizations or associations that if somebody claims they represent the schools or school district, make sure they authenticate that.  Give a phone number of a school representative.  Tell local businesses what companies you do authorize, if any, but more importantly lead them to your programs that you do yourself.  Give them the name of your boosters club or alumni association.
and don't forget.... CALL THE MEDIA.  They are great about these stories and actually do a great job of getting you free press.  It shows you are protecting their best interests and the television stations get great ratings because they look like the watchdogs in your community.... see an example where we (Orange County Public Schools) had a savvy investigative reporter help us.  He was real good.  He actually even got the States Attorney involved.

Do Your Research

Before you sign an agreement with a third-party company to represent your school district, Do Your Research.

There's no other post here that is more important to read if you understate the importance of this one.

Companies are holding school districts hostage after they sign their advertising agreements because they are not equipped or qualified to sell the inventory you're giving them.  It's like handing your baby to a drunk - don't do it.

Here's the perfect example:  A guy with a printing shop starts to send out promotional materials to schools.  No sales experience or background in education but he's got some coin and knows the Pantone Color Chart.

He grabs the following picture from my presentation at the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) conference and - probably snagged all his other photos - and sends out an email to superintendents all over the country asking school districts to 'trust them' with their advertising and sponsorship programs...  

What they pur in their promotional material (above)

Slide from the NIAAA annual conference (above)

Original picture from Oak Ridge High School in Orlando, FL (above)

They are hoping you forward their email-blast promotional materials along and ask somebody to contact them to learn more. They do this without ever doing any homework.

 If you cut corners you're going to pay for it.  If you want advertising to work for your school district, you're going to have to do some work and research - either on the front end or the back end.  You'll end up working harder and get less done if you don't do your research up front.   

How To Know When Your Fundraisers Stink

YOUR FUNDRAISERS SUCK!


If you ask your team to sell crappy, cheap bracelets – your fundraisers suck.

If you have them stand in the middle of the street promoting half-naked car washes – your Fundraisers suck.

If you ever lost money on a fundraiser – your fundraisers suck.

If you have them selling over-priced chicken sandwiches that a company dropped off in a cow outfit and they are called and you had to pay upfront and promised you all the revenues after you cover your expenses – and then it rains and nobody shows up to the football game where you were selling them….

If you are helping your local sports team hock their worst seats to their lowest-attended games (usually on school nights… at like 8 p.m. on a Tuesday! Go team) – well, you get the picture.

Point is this. Some companies think schools are stupid. Not the physical building, but you.

I know that stings and it hurts me too but you have to address the issue here. They know you are over-worked and under-appreciated. Stressed out and underpaid. You don’t have the time and resources to sit around making cold calls to raise money or the energy to develop amazing fundraisers that will get television coverage. So these companies sit around board rooms and come up with programs that have you sell their product, service, or brand for them and you see what minimalism truly is.

Here’s why they love you:

You’re Kids are Great Salespeople – they are free labor and (mostly) cute. In the business world, you can’t hire and fire by looks and, let’s face it, the older we get the uglier we are. You also definitely won’t get buy in the business world having somebody peddle your wares for free. But somebody came up with the word fundraising and the tables were cleared.

There’s a “Cause” Involved - Cause Marketing is, according to Alden Keene’s definition of cause marketing: “a relationship that bridges commerce and cause in ways that benefit both parties.”

This is only true to a point. When a company asks you to sell yo-yo’s to raise money for your tennis program and they’re going to give you 2% of all the profits (after they take out their marketing and shipping costs) and you have to handle:

• Distributing all the product to the students

• Promoting the fundraiser with signage, etc

• Keeping track of the inventory

• Handling the cash

• Handling unsold product

• Taking the risk

It’s not worth it. And, to boot, at the end of it all, you and your team invested dozens of hours and maybe even some money up front for $26 dollars.

The Cone Millennial Cause Study in 2006 showed that 89% of Americans (aged 13 to 25) would switch from one brand to another brand of a comparable product (and price) if the latter brand was associated with a "good cause".

Companies know that they need to align with a cause. I’m just saying be selective. The company you partner with is going to walk-away with many benefits while you burden the cost and responsibility of making the program go.

Free media exposure (they may not give you much money but they’ll pay their PR firm plenty to ensure that every media outlet in town is there when the program starts, when it finishes, and when the big fake check gets presented to your school). Some companies do this with poor communities and there is actually a name for this: Poverty-pimping. When you see those photo opp’s of politicians reading to an impoverished kid in a poor neighborhood; that’s poverty-pimping.

Free brand alignment with your school and your highly-desirable parent (consumer) Companies love getting their product in your hands or in the hands of your students or in the hands of your parents as much as car companies love getting you to sit in their car.

Solutions to improve your fundraisers –

One At A Time – Do not do multiple fundraisers at one time. If you can prevent it, don’t do a fundraiser overlapping with another group’s fundraiser either. Keep it simple and don’t dilute your message.

Brand alignment – Align your school or program with an appropriate and established company. That hurts your schools and destroys the value of your brand. That’s right… imagine you are Nike or the Yankees. They aren’t going to align with something that doesn’t fit what they want you to think about them.

Quit Taking Free Stuff – Companies will give you free stuff and then you’re in their pocket. Anytime they can go around giving your school real money, they most likely will.

Demand a base fee – Ask companies for a set minimum donation up front. If you don’t sell the 2,500 bird feeders that they promised you 6.5% of, then you still get X amount of dollars. Put a value on the time it will take your school to distribute the information, the number of people that will receive the information, and how much money the potential partnering company stands to make.

Look, I’m not saying get greedy but with the pressure and budgetary restraints we’re all under, let’s start getting our fair share. Good luck and, as always, if you have any questions or want additional help, contact me directly at brian_siatkowski@yahoo.com.

Here's the Ticket: How to create revenue from your event tickets

School districts use tickets for everything from athletic events to school plays.  Most districts use tickets for their high schools and middle schools. 

There's a simple way to bring your tickets in-house so you can earn the revenues from the advertising placed on the ticket backs instead of allowing for an outside company to send you tickets every year and keep the advertising dollars for themselves.

1.)  Assess your inventory -  How many tickets will you need.  The best way to measure this is to look over past gate receipts and/or even look over an old ticket order form if you do use an outside company.

2.) Find out the costs - There are a bunch of ticket companies out there.  Contact them and get a quote.  If you need 100,000 tickets or one million it will be worth your time either way.  This must be done and be accurate.  You need to know the costs before you price your packages (can you imagine selling the ticket backs to an advertiser and then losing money!)  Be very specific and be uniform when you are gathering quotes.  I always recommend getting five (5) quotes or more.  You'll be amazed at the pricing discrepency depending on the quantity of tickets you need.  When I say, specific I mean you let them know what ticket weight you need, do you need color, do you want them in rolls or books, are the tickets all the same, do you want incremental numbering for auditing purposes, etc.  Here are a few company websites that might be of help to get your quotes: 
http://www.admitoneproducts.com/?gclid=CIOpvv29-acCFQat7Qodp1QPrA
http://www.globeticket.com/
http://www.nationalticket.com/
http://www.worldwidetickets.com/

3.)  Create the package - I'm a big believer in the "Hear-See" formula.  When a fan sees a coupon for a restaurant or product on their event ticket, a great way to increase the chance that the fan will use the coupon is to have the person "hear" it as well.  During the game we provide our ticket back advertiser with two (2) PA announcements at football games and we even allowed them to sponsor the game's Coin Toss.
It's also a great way to differentiate yourself as an attractive advertising option.

3.) Pitch to sponsors - This can be the most intimidating part of the whole process.  If you already have companies that work with you, they are a great starting point.  You want to let them know you appreciate that they trust you with their advertising and marketing dollars so this is a great way to do that.  They don't have to sponsor the ticket program and never look at it like you are trying to squeeze more money out of the them.  If sincere about your advertising program then your sponsors will be reaping the benefits of new customer acquisition, increases in the frequency of visits, a jump in customer loyalty, and heightened brand awareness. 

As always, if you have any questions.  Just contact me.  I can help you along and warn you of some pitfalls that are out there as well as offer a few additional short cuts. 

And, if you just need tickets and don't want to get into the ad sales business, this company won't give you money but they may just give you free tickets to use for your events (which still will save your school district some money).

It's Got More Problems Than Wings

I'm going to bet you get approached a lot by companies wanting you to participate in this or that.  They'll tell you it's free and they are doing it "for the kids" but, the truth of the matter is this, these are branded events.

The latest and one of the most stunning examples is the arrogance of Red Bull.  They now host a high school 7-on-7 football tournament.  See here for details:  http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/001242851364517

The funny part of all this is that Red Bull is being "last called" on the sidelines all over because of the health risks.  See here: http://www2.dailyprogress.com/sports/2010/sep/24/energy-drinks-banned-high-school-practices-games-ar-524220/

I mean, come on, really?  Do you think it's wise to chug back a boatload of caffeine before you run sprints up and down the field?  The reason companies like Red Bull get involved in stuff like this isn't because they love football or your kids.  It's because they have total environmental control.  The aforementioned tournament drew almost a 1,000 students in a stadium last year where Red Bull gave out promotional bags, uniforms donning Red Bull, and - you guessed it - a ton of Red Bull. 

This borderlines on irresponsible marketing.  Nonetheless, I'd keep my program far away from it.

Holding Inventory Hostage

The biggest joke surrounding advertising with high school athletic programs is this:

When you have signs on your scoreboards, inside your gyms, and on the back of your tickets and you are not seeing a dime for it.

Don't get me wrong.  With certain programs, it's easier to get that basketball scorer's table, or that new scoreboard for your football field, or free tickets to use for your athletic events. 

But, if you invest a little time and effort, you can make some serious cash from those spots. 

For example, in one of the high schools I worked with there is a company that put an illuminated billboard in the gym.  They come by and change the advertising in and out every year and keep promising a check but when you call them.... all you get is crickets. 

Outside companies that sell advertising don't care if they high-jack your inventory and hold it hostage. 

That's space you could have sold.  And next time hopefully you will.