When my clients ask me "What is the most effective marketing tool to sell supplemental products to schools and libraries?" I tell them to put their money into a catalog. Why? Because catalogs continue to be the most effective return on your marketing investment. There are several reasons for this:

1) Catalogs are generally shared among many buyers, thus increasing your reach within the institution.

2) Catalogs are generally "filed" and used as a reference resource throughout the year, thus increasing the length of time the catalog generates revenue.

3) Catalogs will generate immediate orders as well as long term orders, thus increasing immediate revenues as well as orders that come during the summer months.

Here are some frequent questions I've had recently regarding catalogs.

How many products can be sold in a catalog?

Some of my clients have few products and worry about not having a large enough catalog. Some have thousands of products and feel that they can't list them all effectively. Regardless of the number of products you have, you should start with a comprehensive, annual catalog of at least 12 pages. For those companies with fewer than 4 products, you should add products by distributing other complimentary products to your product line. If you have too many products, you should develop "niche" catalogs, concentrating on specialty topics and mail them during the year in addition to your comprehensive annual catalog.

How should I organize my catalogs?

Organizing an effective catalog depends upon the composition of your product line and an understanding of who will make the buying decision. If your product line is all of one format (videos, for instance) and you have more than 150 products spanning grades k-12, you might create 3 different catalogs -- one aimed at each major market (Elementary, Middle and Secondary) with each catalog internally organized by subject area. If you have multiple formats (books, software, videos), you might consider splitting your catalogs by format since there are different potential buyers of videos/books versus software and then organizing the internal pages by grade range. If your product line is concentrated in a specific grade range, and is comprised of different formats, you might consider organizing it by product line/subject and combining all the formats together. The key to effective catalog organization is putting yourself in the shoes of the person who is receiving it. If the recipient is a 1st grade teacher, she/he will be interested in seeing all products in all subjects for their grade level. If the recipient is a secondary biology teacher, they won't be interested in seeing any products at the elementary level and probably none outside their primary subject interest - Science.

When should I mail my catalogs?

Most companies mail their school catalogs in August, to take advantage of the opening of the school year and December to take advantage of the primary previewing and decision-making season. Larger companies will mail catalogs as frequently as once a month by creating specialty catalogs such as "Best Sellers", "Software Under $50", and "Clearance Sale", for example. Companies targeting the public library market will mail in September to take advantage of the beginning of the municipal budget cycle, in January because of traditionally high response rates, and in May to push for unspent money from the current year's budget.

How do I track response from a catalog?

Most companies add a suffix to their product codes to track response from a specific marketing effort. For instance, product code 100 becomes 100-A to denote the Fall catalog and 100-B to denote the Spring Catalog. It is important to use this type of system because a majority of orders are placed through purchase orders and not from the order form you put into your catalog. Consumer direct marketers are usually frustrated in our markets because most companies mail 100,000 or fewer catalogs at one time, so it is generally cost-prohibitive to code each list selection by changing the product numbers. So it is very difficult to track a particular response from a teacher or librarian to a particular list segment. However, you can always do a "customer profile" of the orders from a particular catalog and compare the results to your mailing list assumptions.

If schools and libraries won't use my order form, why should I waste space by putting one in the catalog?

Order forms are important because teachers and librarians fill them out and send them to the purchasing department. Even though the purchasing department issues their own purchase order, they are using your order form to ensure correct order numbers and prices are entered, along with shipping information. And, I'm sure you already know that a small portion of schools and libraries will fax or mail the order form directly, without going through a purchase order -- especially if the amount of the order is under $500.

Creating an effective catalog requires the development of an overall strategy, selection of the right mailing lists, development of copy that sells, creating a design that supports that copy, the development of effective offers and pricing, and, of course, mailing at the right time. And, remember the old axioms of direct mail. Test, test and test some more!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This tip was written by Carol Ann Waugh, President of Xcellent Marketing, a marketing and new business development firm specializing in the education and library markets. Xcellent Marketing offers a variety of marketing services to help publishers increase their sales and profits from identifying new markets, providing critiques of web sites and marketing communications such as direct mail, catalogs, space ads, etc., as well as developing effective marketing plans. Carol can be reached at mailto:cwaugh@xcellentmarketing.com or by calling (303) 388-5215.