More Money Needs?

What's next?

Over the past year or so I have had many people ask me about marketing and advertising, particularly now that we have been actively involved in helping high schools (and in particular athletic departments) find new income sources.  It’s a fine line between tasteful marketing and overt obnoxious advertising.  I have been involved in marketing for many years, on all sides of the equation; creating events, selling programs, generating revenue for corporations and organizations and consulting for numerous companies. 

Now, as school budgets continue to be tight and many teachers are forced to pay for some of their own supplies, all kinds of things are taking place.  For example, just a few years ago, Tom Farber, a high school calculus teacher was told that the San Diego high school district where he taught would be cutting his supplies budgets by one third. Farber had a problem. At 3 cents a page, his tests would cost more than $500 a year. His copying budget was $316 alone. Farber was a diligent and conscientious teacher.  And, he wanted to give students enough practice for the big tests they would face in the spring, such as the Advanced Placement exam.  What to do…what to do?

Tom Farber decided he would sell advertising on his tests?  Yep, he announced that quizzes would have an ad rate of $10 each, $20 for chapter tests and $30 for final exams.  Within a few days he had more than 75 email offers for participation in his program.  He generated enough advertising to pay for all his supplies for the year.  Pretty innovative and amazing!

And, the line between the public and private sectors just keeps getting fuzzier.

As a way to bring in some much-needed cash, a growing number of public schools in northern Texas are covering their buses and buildings with advertisements, according to a recent report in The Dallas Morning News. The Texas state legislature cut $5.4 billion in education funding and grants last year. To make up for the lost cash, schools in at least a dozen districts are selling ad space to local or national businesses. 

Many schools are taking a careful approach to the selling of ad space. In one Philadelphia-area district, schools are only running ads that relate to health, education and safety, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer… though under those guidelines, there's still room to advertise drinks like Gatorade, computers or local sporting goods stores.

There are more advertising opportunities than one might think…rooftops of buildings, seats in stadiums, lamp posts in parking lots and even on lockers.  One school district was offered $200,000 for rights to place advertising on high school lockers.  No matter how you cut it, that is a lot of money…and if money is really tight and programs stand to be cut and students are going to lose out on valuable learning opportunities, maybe some of these advertising media are actually valuable.  But, that is a decision that I don’t have to make.

But, we can help any district evaluate opportunities, create and sell programs on their behalf to help offset the cost of programs and maybe generate some valuable income for the district.  Should you want more information, feel free to contact us at your convenience.