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.

Mining Social Media for Market Intelligence

Janet Eden-Harris, Vice President, Marketing, J.D. Power and Associates, spoke at the 2009 AEP Summit about how publishers should gather information and interact with customers on blogs, chat rooms, and other forms of new media. Here are highlights from her session, “Mining Social Media for Market Intelligence.”

Using social media to gather market intelligence is about listening in on the conversation. Whereas the traditional method for gathering data was doing a survey—asking the customer questions and hoping they would answer back—new media marketing involves finding people who are already discussing your products or areas of interest online. The power has shifted to the consumers, and they want to tell you what they think on their own time and in their own way.

Educational publishing’s top marketing products honored

AEP has announced the winners of the 2009 Beacon Awards for excellence in education marketing. This year’s winners were honored at a special luncheon held during the AEP Summit in Washington, DC, at the JW Marriott hotel. The featured speaker at the event was Joe Rospars, founding partner at Blue State Digital and New Media Director on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Do Educators Get What They Pay For?

On May 27, AEP hosted the free webinar, “Do Educators Get What They Pay For?” sponsored by Follett Digital Resources. A prelude to the discussion for AEP’s 2009 Summit “Publishing in the World of Free,” the webinar examined the new role of instructional materials publishers from the educator’s perspective and discussed how our industry can stay relevant in the digital age.

The event, moderated by Deb deVries and Bridget Foster, featured Sheryl Abshire, Ph. D., Chief Technology Officer, Calcasieu Parish Public Schools (LA), and John A. Vaille, Ed.D., Chief Technology Officer, Lake Washington School District (WA). Here are highlights from their discussion.

Current Usage of Digital Materials

Both agreed that 100% of their teachers are using some sort of digital material in their classroom, especially because of the vast number of resources available on the web. And they only see the amount of time teachers use the digital material in the classroom increasing.

What can I do to make more sales from my web site?

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, Ben Weintraub of Merit Software.

Q. I have a great education related product that I want to sell to schools.  What can I do to make more sales from my web site?

A. Your web site is your most important marketing tool.  Anyone who is considering buying anything from you will spend a lot of time on it. There are many steps publishers can take to make their web site more effective.