Some of you might remember that a few weeks ago I conducted an online survey to find out if and how paid advertising and sponsorship are used in magazines and newsletters published by universities and colleges.
A total of 110 professionals working in institutions representing more than 1.5 million students completed this online survey between April 22 and May 12, 2008.
The survey was completed by people working in marketing/communications (69%), web (7%), alum associations (3%) and other offices.
43% of the respondents indicated working in private non-profit 4-year colleges, 38% in 4-year public colleges and 6% in public 2-year colleges. The average student population across the data was 14,408 students.
Interesting survey findings include:
- 12% of the print publications published by survey respondents include paid advertising or sponsorship.
- Survey respondents reported that revenues generated by advertising and sponsorship cover an average of 20% of their print publication’s total budget.
- The biggest challenge to launch an advertising program cited most often by survey respondents publishing an ad-supported print publication is the necessary extra workload/resources required for selling, designing, producing and billing the ads.
- Financial issues put aside, 65% of all the survey respondents think higher education publications shouldn’t include paid advertising or sponsorship.
The complete 7-page executive summary is available for free to Higher Ed Experts’ members. Just log in at www.higheredexperts.com and click on the report link listed in the “HEE reports” section.
If you’re not a member and work for a university/college, just join HEE (membership is free) at www.higheredexperts.com/register.