By Nancy Carter

In a little over five years, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has gone from a newsletter for Paul and Gena Suarez's homeschool eBay store to the highest quality international homeschool magazine on the market, reaching 90,000 readers per issue. It's been a lot of work and a huge blessing from God, and we're so thankful for what we've learned along the way.

Now it's our turn to share what we've learned about PR and marketing with you. Since our mission is to support and encourage homeschool families everywhere and to introduce them to resources and products that will help them reach their goals, we want to help entrepreneurs and established homeschool companies alike learn about the homeschool market and the most effective methods for reaching homeschool parents around the world.

We want to know your PR and marketing questions. Are you wondering about how to brand yourself in the minds of your customers? Do you want to know how other entrepreneurs have gotten their foot in the door as a curriculum provider? Want to know how to become a "Category of One"? Let us know. And we want your case studies! If you are willing to share your secrets of how you've reached the homeschool market and let us highlight your business in a future PRMama newsletter or blog, contact us ASAP.

Just email me at PRMama@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com so we can be sure to include these topics in future issues. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. I think you're going to really enjoy this month's issue! Be sure to look for your chance to win a FREE ¼ page ad in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Let's get down to business!

Nancy Carter, Editor
PR Mama e-Newsletter

: Tips for Marketing a New Product
By Amelia Harper

I got started in homeschool publishing because I felt that I had something unique to contribute and saw a real need in the homeschool and educational market for my concept. When I came up the idea for Literary Lessons from The Lord of the Rings,it seemed like the perfect fit for me. So after prayerful consideration, I started HomeScholar Books to produce this and future literature products while selling other literature products to supplement my current inventory.

In the past 18 months, I have sold more than $110,000 of this curriculum through my website and through vendors who sell my product. This rather amazes me. I love the fact that people are buying my product and I love it even more when I get notes from them telling me how much they enjoy the product! The costs have been very high, though. I still have a lot to learn. But I have gleaned a few things from this journey already. I think it is important that we all share our experience with one another so that we can all benefit from one another's knowledge.
They say one of the main things about starting a new business is to research your area and to plan ahead as much as possible - to learn all you can before you enter into the business or before marketing a new product. However, especially in a niche market, like the homeschool community, it is impossible to get all the answers you need. A lot of what is now being done has never been done exactly like this before. The homeschool market is constantly evolving, the technology to run a business is constantly changing, and there are not enough forerunners in the homeschool business community to make a truly informed decision about the likelihood of success. You can expect to make mistakes (I have made more than enough to fill ANOTHER article!), so plan to learn from them and move on. You will get better with experience.
 
However, there are some strategies that I would suggest before going into a home-based business for the homeschool community or for marketing a new product in an existing business.

1. Decide whether there is a market for your idea or product.

One of the best things I did was to set up a simple one-page website as I was working on Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings. I was inspired to do the project anyway - it was a labor of love and that in itself compelled me. But it was a lot of work - more than 20 months of concentrated effort - and I knew that the initial investment of funds would mean that I would have to borrow a lot of money (producing curriculum for a niche market costs far more than one can imagine - especially when it is over 700 pages long!). So I wanted to judge the interest in the project. Basically, I set up the website with a mockup of my book title - Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings - and briefly explained that it was a work in progress and that I wanted input. I had a place that people could email if they were interested in knowing when the work would be completed, and I asked for suggestions and for addresses for people interested. As the work progressed, I updated the website with the expected publication date and more information about pricing and so forth. I got on some message boards and directed people to the site and asked them to tell me what they thought of the idea. By the time I got ready to publish, I had a mailing list of over 250 people who were likely to buy the curriculum. Moreover, some of these people continued to send me notes of encouragement expressing eagerness for the work to be done. Some even offered to help edit so it could be finished sooner! That type of encouragement was vital as my energy was depleting and there were days that I felt the project would never get done. It also gave me the incentive to enter the business arena.

2. Take some seminars in business.

Most of us can't afford time for full-fledged courses - I could not either. But many Small Business Associations are funded by the government to offer free or low cost business seminars - usually in one night. Many community colleges host these, so check there or with your local Chamber of Commerce. I was able to take small classes in marketing, Internet sales, basic bookkeeping, and business startup - all for less than $25. Not only did I learn a great deal, but I found out about valuable resources to help me get started. I still plan to take more classes now. There is always more to learn!

3. Examine your own abilities to provide the products.

The homeschool market is competitive these days. You need to examine your own strengths and make sure that you can deliver the product you advertise. Whatever you do needs to be something you love. I basically write about literature: writing and literature are two of my greatest loves and areas in which I have considerable training and experience. If I did not love what I do, my work would be a whole lot harder!

4. Count the cost and decide whether the timing is right.

I will have to admit that the cost of running my own business has been more than expected - both financially and time-wise. If I did not have teenagers at home to help with the younger kids, I could not have done this. Even now, after my first curriculum is out, I have to wait on the next major book because my two younger ones now are in the early years of education and need more time for their homeschooling. (Though I also still homeschool a teen, I find that they are much more self-directed once they read well and can do more on their own). So I have to take that into consideration as I plan future projects, because I know how obsessed I get in the midst of producing them. However, I am working on some smaller projects to produce in the meantime. Owning my own business allows me that flexibility to work around the needs of my family, but it is far more work than I ever would have imagined in the beginning. Still, I have learned more than I even would have imagined. And I hope to learn even more - through both success and failure.

Amelia Harper is the owner of HomeScholar Books and the author of Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings, a complete one-year literature curriculum for secondary level students. She is also a freelance writer who contributes regularly to newspapers, academic works, and magazines and serves as the Contributing Media Editor for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She is also a pastor's wife and the homeschooling mother of five. Visit her website at www.HomeScholarBooks.com.

: Everybody's Doing It!
By Nancy Carter

Companies, businesses, and entrepreneurs know how important it is to develop strong relationships with their clients, and blogs are demonstrating themselves to be an effective marketing tool. As technology allows businesses to develop themselves beyond a traditional storefront where they can greet each client personally, many companies are using corporate blogs to foster a sense of "who" makes up their company and "why" they feel so passionate about what they do.

Corporate blogging is a way to increase your company's visibility, offer insight into your industry, and keep readers up to date with what is going on with your company and the people who make it what it is. Answers in Genesis and Thomas Nelson are just two of the companies that have joined the over 4 million blogs worldwide. A Guidewire Group Market Cycle Survey, "Blogging in the Enterprise," finds that 53% of respondent companies are already blogging, and an additional 35% of respondents plan to begin corporate blogs within the next year. And they are blogging because it is effective. According to The Bottom Line on Business Blogs, blogs can benefit businesses in many ways. Author Robyn Aber mentions numerous benefits, including the following:

• They're cheap, easy to launch, and don't require HTML expertise.
• They strengthen internal and external business relationships and improve productivity through interactive information exchange.
• They're not intrusive, since users have to seek out a URL to read the content.
• They improve branding by presenting a more authentic and distinctive voice for a business than a canned PR or MarCom messaging.

So whether you operate a home-based business and are looking to establish your identity in the marketplace or a large corporation seeking to remain personal and create community, consider establishing a company blog. You can join our community of over 4,500 bloggers for FREE at HomeschoolBlogger.com. We'd love to have you join us.

Nancy Carter is the Public Relations Assistant for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and loves telling the stories of homeschoolers and homeschool businesses. Join the discussion at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/PRMama. She and her husband, Tony, enjoy homeschooling their three boys on their farm in Kentucky. You can keep up with their family's adventures at Lessons Learned on the Farm at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/tn3jcarter.

When people market their companies, they often march through traditional marketing activities, such as ensuring their website is updated regularly, getting the branding consistent, submitting press releases every time something new can be talked about, advertising in print, online, radio, podcasts, email blasts, television, billboards, and so on. This is all good! But often there are opportunities where you can make use of every possible way to increase those blind spot areas. Areas you might not have thought about before.

One thing you might not have considered could be your "thank you" page on your website or shopping cart. When someone buys something from your cart and the transaction is complete, where do they land next on your site? At the homepage? Why? They've already been there. Remember? They're done - they just did what you wanted them to do. So where should they land? This is important! It's strategic to keep on top of their next step. It should be a personally written "thank you" page. And on that page, there should be a suggestion (from you) for them to go to another site next.

Do trades with other sites. Send your customers to another business-owner friend. And have her do the same for you. Her thank you page should suggest that her customers visit you next, since they are done with her. She received revenue from them - now she can send them to you. These are qualified prospects: they've just spent money online. Shouldn't they come see you now? In the homeschooling market especially! If I am selling someone a magazine, I may as well send them to xyz company from my thank you page, right? Or, I can suggest they buy something else. Whatever I decide to do is fine - but shouldn't I make use of that page and do something?

So make a trade with a friend today. Or, sell an ad for that space. TOS is doing this now with its 11 e-Newsletters (trading, not selling). We have thousands of subscribers to our e-Newsletters, with many, many people a day double-opting in to them. When they do, they land on a thank you page from us. We've already made three trades and are open to more. This is a way for you to spend zero dollars on marketing, yet potentially receiving many dollars back in sales. Do it today! Get your word-of-mouth campaign (viral marketing) working for YOU from another site(s) - this is one EASY way to do it, and you should see a traffic hike immediately. Remember, traffic = sales.