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.
Showing posts with label school fundraisers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school fundraisers. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
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:
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.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
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.
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.
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