MDR's Free Webinar Series
October 11, 2007
College Publishing...Today, Tomorrow & Tips to Stay Ahead

Presentation Questions Answered:

Q: What is CAGR?
KM - CAGR is compound annual growth rate. It reflects year-over-year growth for a specific period of time. While it is not the actual growth rate, it presents a way of smoothing out growth rates that vary from year to year.

Q: Were those average list prices or net prices on the previous slide?
KM - PubTrack Higher Ed tracks actual sales in college bookstores at point of sale, so that would be price paid.

Q: Do you have any figures on the use of film as a teaching tool in the classroom?
KM - We do not track film specifically. Educause (educause.edu) this month did release its annual survey of IT issues in higher education (for 2006) and part of that survey (p. 31) showed 62.6% of all college classrooms were equipped with LCD projectors and 25.2% with document projectors/systems/cameras. There is some commentary there, too, that might prove helpful.

Q: You say 3.4% CAGR in new textbooks. In what subjects? Can you address math textbooks, specifically algebra, calculus, etc.?
KM - Yes, Simba projected moderate compound annual growth of 3.4% in new textbook sales. We do not have math either broken down or projected out as a discipline. However, the College Publishing Market Forecast report does contain some data from PubTrack Higher Ed on math (not broken down to separate subjects) in terms of used-book rates, estimated total retail sales in 2006, and sales by leading publishers in that discipline. PubTrack Higher Ed is a subscription database, and you can find out more information about it at www.bowker.com.

Q: Does custom publishing reduce a publisher's book returns?
KM - Publishers do believe that custom publishing could reduce returns because of more precise ordering. We do not have independent confirmation that that is happening.

Q: On trends to watch: What is your take on print ads in industry-specific journals?
GM - I favor a mix of marketing communications channels. Print advertising continues to be an important channel, but integration with the Web is essential. The more focused the publication, the better. Get the closest match you can to your target audience, and then be sure to make the ads “actionable” so you can track them. I favor direct- response print ads that drive people to a specific landing page on a Web site. This enables you to integrate print and Web outreach and make tracking response from your print ads easier.

Q: When is the expected launch of Web 3.0? Can you explain the idea of info agents in a little more detail?
GM -The timing for new technology advances are hard to predict but know that Web 3.0 is coming. Whether next month or five years from now, I think everyone should keep on top of this important development and plan for it as if it will happen next week! Information agents are individual machine-based “detectives” who will work alone or collaborate with other info agents. By using sophisticated algorithms that are still being developed, they will be able to translate concepts and deduce new information rather than just matching keywords like Google and other search engines do today.

Q: Please provide an explanation to those of us who do not know what Wikis really are.
GM - Wikis are Web sites, often called “online encyclopedias,” that are created by the online community, open to anyone to register and then to create entries and freely edit them. The most popular and widely used is called Wikipedia.

Q: What is the URL for the higher ed Wiki? Where do we find higher ed social networking groups and higher ed Wikis?
GM - You will find the link to this site as well as other relevant Wikis and social networks at www.sellingtoschools.com/hiedmarketing.

Q: Every time I have tried to utilize Wikipedia and put up articles, etc., they have been taken down with a reminder that Wikipedia cannot be utilized as a marketing tool.
GM - You have to be very careful how you use any Web 2.0 venue. First you have to understand the audience and what type of information is on the site. You need to participate in a way that fits and not step out of bounds. Wikis are very useful tools for marketing but are more like PR outlets than advertising channels. In general, Web 2.0 is about stimulating dialogue, not broadcasting your marketing pitch. Participate as an individual, not as someone who is trying to sell something. Be genuine.

Q: Can you give an example of combining voice mail with email campaigns?
GM - Last year I did a campaign with one of my clients. We deployed an email message using MDR’s service. At the same time, we made outbound phone calls to the same people who were on the email distribution, with the goal of leaving a short, highly personal voice mail message. The voice message alerts the owner of the voice mail box about an email message. This works especially well if the recipient of the email message doesn’t know the person or entity in the “from” field and may not engage around the “subject” field. Using voice mail and email at the same time to the same audience is a digital-age version of what we usedto do with direct mail and the phone before email and voice mail were ubiquitous and preferred channels.

Q: How do you evaluate viral marketing?
GM - There is any number of ways to measure the success of viral marketing. Two key metrics you could consider are Web traffic and search engine position. As you invest in viral marketing, you should begin to see significant upswings in your Web traffic, especially around viral campaigns. You should also experience steady improvements in hits using popular search engines like Google, along with higher position on the search returns.

Q: Please explain what a “Web public relations site” is.
GM - There are a number of PR outlets on the Web that offer a variety of services, some free and some fee-based. These sites feed your news to Google and other search engines; feed your news to major news sites on the Web; and have tools for embedding videos, audio, and even podcasts into your press releases to create a buzz. They also include tracking tools. You can find links to some of them by going to www.sellingtoschools.com/hiedmarketing. The home pages of these sites offer plenty of information about what they are, what they do, and why you would want to participate.

Q: Are you suggesting that uploading propaganda on Wikipedia is a viable strategy?
GM - Absolutely not! I do not advocate propaganda (mistruths or misleading information) in any form via any media. I think all of us in the marketing profession are somewhat guilty of “stretching the truth,” but in online formats, the tolerance for the stretch is lower than in other media, like TV and ads. Any of the Web 2.0 venues require genuine dialogue that is focused on the audience interest — not yours. Users of a Wiki might genuinely be interested in knowing a bit about one of your company’s founders, and in fact, there are hundreds of Wiki entries that define “people” or “technologies” that are not propaganda or a sales pitch. Wikis are a great strategy if properly executed, but like any medium, abuse will cause trouble and backfire.

Q: I do not see the value of a blog unless you are offering some content besides product information. What further information could a publisher offer and why would we want to take them away from our Web page, which might offer similar information?
GM - Your question implies that you have not spent much time reading blogs or participating in blogs. My first answer is for you to spend time as a blogger; then you will be able to answer your own question. What I’ve learned is that in using blogs as outreach, we want to open a conversation — reach out in a personal way to the people who “own” the blog, in a warm, informal basis by emailing and telling them about you and what you do, establish common interest, how what you do is impacting education. By doing that, you may be invited to become a regular member and contributor to these blog communities. Most company Web sites are organization-driven. Blogs are people-driven and personal spaces. Treat them as such and the value will become obvious. You are usually entering someone’s personal space — it is like their home. Respect is top priority.

Q: What are the key benefits of developing a professional learning community?
GM - The key benefit of a PLC is ultimately removing the lines between supplier and customer, so customers view suppliers as part of their organizations. This goes well beyond the concept of partnering. What we are talking about is collaborative, cooperative learning. It is the idea that “we are all in this together.” Congenial dialogue, ongoing interactions, building best practices — all of this drives high levels of trust and loyalty. Loyalty means high customer retention and referral rates. In effect, your customers become your most powerful channel. Cost of sales and marketing drops dramatically and market share increases dramatically.

Q: I would like to know more about PLCs. Where should I go to get more? Are there any examples that you could relate to us?
GM - There is a lot of information about PLCs on the Web. Rick DuFour is a popular author and speaker on this topic with books, audio tapes, and other materials, mostly focused on educational institutions. A simple Google search will yield a tremendous amount of information about Rick and his work in the education market. Building PLCs is an evolving concept for marketers, but not new. I have been an advocate and practitioner for my entire marketing career. Examples? The huge success of Renaissance Learning (Accellerated Reader) in K-12 (80% market share and the industry’s highest margins) is due to PLC as basics go to market strategy. Texas Instruments built PLCs as its key strategy to build its education business with math faculty, and they own the market. Newer examples are Adobe Systems “Partners by Design,” a five-year-old program that was developed for Adobe by Glen McCandless (Focus Marketing Inc.). The Adobe program now leverages many of the new PLC components ( http://www.adobe.com/education/pdf/pr/071902_adaa_release.pdf). LEGO’s Education Division is building out a new PLC now with blogs, Web sites for sharing and dialogue, and events.

Q: What companies provide the best (e)mailing lists for Humanities and Social Sciences for higher ed?  
MDR has the highest counts of faculty e-mails (at 1.15 million), the most targeted course selections (at 4,500 courses) and most experience (6+ years) deploying successful e-mail campaigns for Higher Education Marketers, which is much more than any other source.

Q: Are the enrollment numbers presented in the introduction of the webinar for bricks and mortar schools or for online only educators as well?
MDR - These figures come from NCES (National Center of Education Statistics) which defines these figures as Fall Enrollment figures for degree granting institutions (http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_172.asp). Although these figures could include either, the predominance would most likely be in the "brick & mortar" institutions.

Q: In the introduction of the webinar, you mentioned that there are 4,513 senior and 2699 junior colleges. How are you defining junior and senior?
MDR - We defines Senior Colleges as 4 year degree and graduate institutions, and Junior Colleges as 1, 2 and 3 year degree institutions.

Q: Can I get the contact information for speakers so that I can speak directly to them?
Here's the contact information for the speakers: