Using Industry Awards to Effectively Grow Your Business

In the current market where anyone can “publish” instructional materials on a website, educational publishers need to find ways to separate their products from the market and highlight their commitment to quality content. In this blog post, reprinted with permission from VerticalResponse, CEO and founder Janine Popick discusses why small businesses should enter industry awards.

If you’re running a small business today, congratulations! You should be proud that you’re  keeping the economy going. You should also give yourself a huge pat on the back for surviving and thriving. One of the easiest and most inexpensive ways of giving yourself that pat on the back is to apply for industry awards that you could be eligible for.

How can my company succeed in the instructional materials business when so many adoption states are cutting back on spending?

In this new blog series from AEP, “What’s Keeping You Up At Night?, experts offer their advice on the most pressing issues facing the educational publishing industry. AEP members may sign up for a free half-hour consultation with the experts for 30 days after their entry is posted.

The following question was posed to our current featured expert, Mark Grayson of Six Red Marbles.

Q. How can my company succeed in the instructional materials business when so many adoption states are cutting back on spending?

A. California opts for open-source texts! Texas scales back science spending by 50%! To survive these days, you’ll have to throw out decades of conventional wisdom about adoptions. Consider these points:

Look where the money IS, not where it used to be.

There are new opportunities on the tech side, the instructional supplies side, and in other booming markets, from after-school to charters to home-school. Are your offerings integrated with an accountability system so schools can make a case for federal Race to the Top funds? Are there other grants that you can help your customers tap?

Do micro-payments motivate people to make more purchases?

In this new blog series from AEP, “What’s Keeping You Up At Night?, experts offer their advice on the most pressing issues facing the educational publishing industry. AEP members may sign up for a free half-hour consultation with the experts for 30 days after their entry is posted.

The following question was posed to our current featured expert, Sameer Shariff of Impelsys Inc.

Q. Do micro-payments motivate people to make more purchases?

A. We are in global recession, budgets are in free-fall, and readers are becoming increasingly price sensitive. In times like these, publishers must experiment with different business models to discover what works best for them. One model that invites further exploration and experimentation is micro-payments.

To start exploring this model, publishers should first identify untapped market segments that are willing to pay a small price for a limited time access to content.

How Are Stimulus Funds Impacting the Education Market?

Sec. Duncan has recently announced plans to release a second wave of stimulus funds early, but the Wall Street Journal article, “A Hard Lesson for Teachers,” (Aug. 11, 2009) shows that the first round of funding hasn’t made a huge impact in terms of teachers keeping their jobs. In fact, the article cites NEA figures that almost 100,000 teachers won’t have jobs in the upcoming school year. Moreover, teacher colleges are reporting a downturn in applications.

Even with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the deep education cuts shouldn’t be a surprise. As Dr. Richard Sims Chief Economist for the NEA reminded AEP Summit attendees in his session, “Economic Forecast for the Education Market,” education is mostly state and locally funded—specifically by property, sales, and income taxes. And more important, education is fighting for state funds with health care and corrections. Until the local real estate and job markets improve, education will not recover.

Dept. of Ed. to Release Second Wave of ARRA Funds Earlier than Expected

On August 3 Secretary Duncan announced that he would release the second wave of ARRA economic stimulus funds for ESEA Title I, IDEA Special Education, and Vocational Rehabilitation earlier than expected. The Secretary plans to release a total of $11.37 billion for the above-mentioned three programs to States BY SEPTEMBER 1, 2009. The release would be about one month earlier than previously indicated.