How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers?

chewie49 · 04-25-2009, 06:18 AM

Hello!

I have a product (offline product) I want to sell for teachers to use in their classes. The problem is that the big majority of teachers won't use the internet frequently so it will be harder to reach them online.

My main marketing method so far is by fax. I send about 400 faxes per day and many phone calls. But as you may imagine, this is getting BORING!

I would like to use the internet to promote this product but I have noticed many school teachers in Spain don't use the internet frequently. And even worse,....as my product is for the benefit of the Children (their students) not for their OWN benefit, they don't really care, because they payroll is the same with the product or without the product.

What do you suggest?

Regards

michellegreen · 04-25-2009, 06:31 AM

If the children are benefiting, could it mean that the teacher will benefit too, such as making the teacher look good, or making the children better-behaved...??

The bottom line is this: Everyone wants to know "What's in it for me?".

If they're not going to benefit, then chances are they won't buy. The key will be to highlight what the teachers will get from your product, and if you can do that then your conversions will definitely be higher.

As for getting the message to them, do they at least use email? Otherwise it's a trip to the post office or continuing to fax if you want to keep your prices down I'm afraid!

I hope that helps!

Easy Cash · 04-25-2009, 06:44 AM

Find out exactly why your product is going to benefit a teacher.

Then - go to the principal of the school and ask to do a presentation to him/her and sell it to them first.

If you win the Principal over - you have a very good chance of then converting the teachers.

But - you must focus 100% on why your product is good for the teachers.

rapidscc · 04-25-2009, 06:54 AM

1. Try sponsoring school events. Have a big banner with your url displayed.

2. Host Student contest. Advertise the contest in local schools.
The contest should involve the students visiting your website to submit entries.

Maybe like submitting to your site an article written by students.
and having an online ranking of the contestants.
Give a good price. Money perhaps.

This one I was thinking of implementing before but didn't have enough motivation to do.

JohnMcCabe · 04-25-2009, 08:46 AM

Just because your product is for teachers to use with students does not mean teachers are your market. As you said, the teachers get paid the same whether they buy from you or not.

If the system in Spain is at all similar to that in the USA, you have two real markets...

1. Figure out who can order products for use in the classroom (school board, administrator, headmaster, etc.), and go for bulk sales. You want to make one sale that covers buying a unit of your product for every teacher in the system.

2. You may also need to target the parents, and show them the benefit of their child's teacher having your product. If the parents want the teacher to have the product, they can put pressure on the school to buy it.

You may not be able to reach the teachers directly online. You may have to reach them indirectly, and let you online presence do some of the selling once you have the attention of the person most motivated to buy.

lucasmurray · 04-25-2009, 08:57 AM

Give away the product to a few high profile teachers, maybe find a head of a teachers association. Find a way to make your free product do the work for you. If it is really a benefit to students and the product is truly great then just getting them out there being used in classrooms should generate interest. In general when internet marketing is not effective then beating the pavement is a time tested method to get sales.

imventures · 04-25-2009, 09:53 AM

My experience is that teachers don't really have much say in what to buy to teach their kids. They don't even decide what to teach the kids which is normally set by the curriculum of the school system. So they are probably the wrong target market.

Targeting the principals or the district heads might be better. Or else, modify the materials for parents to use with their kids at home, which might be an easier market, although there might be more support issues.

Loren Woirhaye · 04-25-2009, 11:21 AM

Get Gordon Burgett's book:
"Self Publishing to Tightly-Targeted Niche Markets"

The reason why is because the book uses specific examples
of researching, designing, and market testing an information
product for school teachers.

Very specific information in the book. Not internet marketing
but highly relevant for reaching your market and assessing
what they will buy.

chewie49 · 04-25-2009, 12:27 PM

wow guys,....as always you are amazing!! Thanks for the tips!

The main problems with school teachers (mainly in public schools) is that they do what they do because the Must do it, not because they want.

My product is for the children, it is a series of different puppet shows with educational themes. The children learn and have fun at the same time.

For teachers this means: organization, send the info to the parents, receive the money from the parents, receive complaints from the parents because the school ask for money a lot, and obviously a puppet show with educational material for children is not something they want to buy. There is nothing in it for them.

For the last 8 months, it has been very difficult to sell the shows. Do you know what is the price of the shows? US$1.5 (or 1 Euro) per children. Yes that's right. That cheap. But if the teachers don't move a finger to notify the parents there will be a highly educative show for their kids, there is no show.

I am trying to find a way, besides the faxes, to sell the shows. The conversion ratio with the faxes is about 2-3%. These are unsolicited faxes in most of the cases. It usually takes 3 to 4 communications for them to be interested.

I guess the conversion ratio is kind of normal, right?

I haave found some online forums where teachers get together and talk about many things, mainly talk bad about the system, etc.

I would like to find an incentive to gather a mailing list of teachers so i can mail them the information of the shows inside the newsletter...I need to interview many of them to find out what motivates them and what "freebie" Can i offer them so they join the list.

Cheers!

JohnMcCabe · 04-25-2009, 01:03 PM

chewie, have you thought about doing a video of your puppet show and selling that to the parents? Worked out pretty well for Jim Henson...

Christa_Regalado · 04-25-2009, 03:26 PM

I agree with the suggestions above. Target the decision makers first. If the teachers could not afford your product even though it will benefit them in the long run, the cost would still be their top priority. One way to get your product out there is to influence the people who have the money to purchase the product on their behalf -- school administrators or the parents.

04-25-2009, 06:18 AM	#1
chewie49 HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Barcelona, Spain Posts: 279 Thanks: 9 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? Hello! I have a product (offline product) I want to sell for teachers to use in their classes. The problem is that the big majority of teachers won't use the internet frequently so it will be harder to reach them online. My main marketing method so far is by fax. I send about 400 faxes per day and many phone calls. But as you may imagine, this is getting BORING! I would like to use the internet to promote this product but I have noticed many school teachers in Spain don't use the internet frequently. And even worse,....as my product is for the benefit of the Children (their students) not for their OWN benefit, they don't really care, because they payroll is the same with the product or without the product. What do you suggest? Regards

04-25-2009, 06:31 AM	#2
michellegreen Michelle Green War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Posts: 446 Blog Entries: 7 Thanks: 28 Thanked 66 Times in 28 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? If the children are benefiting, could it mean that the teacher will benefit too, such as making the teacher look good, or making the children better-behaved...?? The bottom line is this: Everyone wants to know "What's in it for me?". If they're not going to benefit, then chances are they won't buy. The key will be to highlight what the teachers will get from your product, and if you can do that then your conversions will definitely be higher. As for getting the message to them, do they at least use email? Otherwise it's a trip to the post office or continuing to fax if you want to keep your prices down I'm afraid! I hope that helps!
	Michelle Green Quality articles - promote your business with style...!

04-25-2009, 06:44 AM	#3
Easy Cash Gerry Walter War Room Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Posts: 1,174 Blog Entries: 121 Thanks: 104 Thanked 63 Times in 51 Posts Social Networking	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? Find out exactly why your product is going to benefit a teacher. Then - go to the principal of the school and ask to do a presentation to him/her and sell it to them first. If you win the Principal over - you have a very good chance of then converting the teachers. But - you must focus 100% on why your product is good for the teachers.
	FREE WEBSITE TRAFFIC! This TRAFFIC Method ACTUALLY WORKS! Click HERE

04-25-2009, 06:54 AM	#4
rapidscc Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Sunny Philippines Posts: 1,682 Blog Entries: 26 Thanks: 462 Thanked 213 Times in 164 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? 1. Try sponsoring school events. Have a big banner with your url displayed. 2. Host Student contest. Advertise the contest in local schools. The contest should involve the students visiting your website to submit entries. Maybe like submitting to your site an article written by students. and having an online ranking of the contestants. Give a good price. Money perhaps. This one I was thinking of implementing before but didn't have enough motivation to do.
	Raul Omar Diaz Cooking Up Something Big!

04-25-2009, 08:46 AM	#5
JohnMcCabe Happy Hooker War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: North of the Peace River, Southwest Florida, USA. Posts: 7,626 Thanks: 2,687 Thanked 4,399 Times in 2,394 Posts Social Networking	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? Just because your product is for teachers to use with students does not mean teachers are your market. As you said, the teachers get paid the same whether they buy from you or not. If the system in Spain is at all similar to that in the USA, you have two real markets... 1. Figure out who can order products for use in the classroom (school board, administrator, headmaster, etc.), and go for bulk sales. You want to make one sale that covers buying a unit of your product for every teacher in the system. 2. You may also need to target the parents, and show them the benefit of their child's teacher having your product. If the parents want the teacher to have the product, they can put pressure on the school to buy it. You may not be able to reach the teachers directly online. You may have to reach them indirectly, and let you online presence do some of the selling once you have the attention of the person most motivated to buy.
	Salad is not food. Salad is what food eats... -- The REAL PETA, People for Eating Tasty Animals "I did not fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat tofu!"

04-25-2009, 08:57 AM	#6
lucasmurray Warrior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: denver co Posts: 10 Blog Entries: 9 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Social Networking	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? Give away the product to a few high profile teachers, maybe find a head of a teachers association. Find a way to make your free product do the work for you. If it is really a benefit to students and the product is truly great then just getting them out there being used in classrooms should generate interest. In general when internet marketing is not effective then beating the pavement is a time tested method to get sales.

04-25-2009, 09:53 AM	#7
imventures Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 39 Thanks: 2 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? My experience is that teachers don't really have much say in what to buy to teach their kids. They don't even decide what to teach the kids which is normally set by the curriculum of the school system. So they are probably the wrong target market. Targeting the principals or the district heads might be better. Or else, modify the materials for parents to use with their kids at home, which might be an easier market, although there might be more support issues.

04-25-2009, 11:21 AM	#8
Loren Woirhaye Who'm I kidding? War Room Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Easthampton, Massachusetts Posts: 4,542 Blog Entries: 15 Thanks: 117 Thanked 904 Times in 651 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? Get Gordon Burgett's book: "Self Publishing to Tightly-Targeted Niche Markets" The reason why is because the book uses specific examples of researching, designing, and market testing an information product for school teachers. Very specific information in the book. Not internet marketing but highly relevant for reaching your market and assessing what they will buy.
	HOT! $25,000,000/yr Copywriter's Secret Book—FREE! \| The "Automated Free Traffic Formula" ArticleBot Secrets Revealed! Breakthrough Marketing Blog (+ goodies) CopyWriting Services

04-25-2009, 12:27 PM	#9
chewie49 HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Barcelona, Spain Posts: 279 Thanks: 9 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? wow guys,....as always you are amazing!! Thanks for the tips! The main problems with school teachers (mainly in public schools) is that they do what they do because the Must do it, not because they want. My product is for the children, it is a series of different puppet shows with educational themes. The children learn and have fun at the same time. For teachers this means: organization, send the info to the parents, receive the money from the parents, receive complaints from the parents because the school ask for money a lot, and obviously a puppet show with educational material for children is not something they want to buy. There is nothing in it for them. For the last 8 months, it has been very difficult to sell the shows. Do you know what is the price of the shows? US$1.5 (or 1 Euro) per children. Yes that's right. That cheap. But if the teachers don't move a finger to notify the parents there will be a highly educative show for their kids, there is no show. I am trying to find a way, besides the faxes, to sell the shows. The conversion ratio with the faxes is about 2-3%. These are unsolicited faxes in most of the cases. It usually takes 3 to 4 communications for them to be interested. I guess the conversion ratio is kind of normal, right? I haave found some online forums where teachers get together and talk about many things, mainly talk bad about the system, etc. I would like to find an incentive to gather a mailing list of teachers so i can mail them the information of the shows inside the newsletter...I need to interview many of them to find out what motivates them and what "freebie" Can i offer them so they join the list. Cheers!

04-25-2009, 01:03 PM	#10
JohnMcCabe Happy Hooker War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: North of the Peace River, Southwest Florida, USA. Posts: 7,626 Thanks: 2,687 Thanked 4,399 Times in 2,394 Posts Social Networking	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? chewie, have you thought about doing a video of your puppet show and selling that to the parents? Worked out pretty well for Jim Henson...
	Salad is not food. Salad is what food eats... -- The REAL PETA, People for Eating Tasty Animals "I did not fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat tofu!"

04-25-2009, 03:26 PM	#11
Christa_Regalado Active Warrior Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 71 Thanks: 3 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: How Can I generate traffic to a site for laid-back School teachers? I agree with the suggestions above. Target the decision makers first. If the teachers could not afford your product even though it will benefit them in the long run, the cost would still be their top priority. One way to get your product out there is to influence the people who have the money to purchase the product on their behalf -- school administrators or the parents.