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.

What cost-effective marketing strategies might my company use in these challenging economic times?

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, Gerry Bogatz of MarketingWorks, Inc.

Q. What cost-effective marketing strategies might my company use in these challenging economic times?

A. The tendency of many companies in and out of the education sector is to pull back on marketing when times are tough.  After all, isn’t marketing one of the few areas of a budget that can be reigned in without hurting the bottom line “too much?”  While this may be true in the short run, sales a few months from now can be hurt significantly if a company isn’t putting itself in front of its prospective customers continually.

Here are just a few of the cost-effective ways that a company can market its products in tough times.

How do you get your content discovered once you create an e-strategy and deliver your content online?

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. How do you get your content discovered once you create an e-strategy and deliver your content online?

A. In the electronic space where more and more people are reading online, viral marketing tools like widgets and book previews provide good opportunities for publishers to market their titles across the web. Here are few ways you can use widgets and book previews to get your content discovered online.

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.