Education marketers need to target schools better, according to a new survey by School Market Research Institute Inc. Sixty-three percent of elementary school and 59 percent of secondary school secretaries said the amount of catalog and direct mail promotions sent to their schools at any one time is way too much.
The majority — 42 percent of elementary and 38 percent of secondary — reported that less than 5 percent of catalogs and promotional mailings arrive addressed to people no longer at their school or never there to begin with. Seventy-seven percent elementary and 70 percent secondary said, however, that that their schools rely primarily on catalogs for product information and research.
Other findings from the study:
* 11 percent elementary and 14 percent secondary reported receiving product information through retail stores.
* 8 percent elementary and 10 percent secondary said their schools received information through sales reps who visit their school.
* 73 percent elementary and 74 percent secondary said most of their schools' purchases are made through catalogs.
School Market Research Institute, Haddam, CT, conducted the survey of equal numbers of elementary and secondary school secretaries regarding mail distribution in their school.
