Test Prep Professionals || October Marketing Strategy                   Test Prep & Admissions Home Nationwide Employment Listings through INDEED Business Tools for Tutors & Counselors October Marketing:   Excerpted from our  Q4 Calendar October is arguably the busiest month for us in terms of the testing calendar.  For that reason, fighting an aggressive battle for Spring (Winter)  test-takers begins here. Looking beyond this quarter involves lead/inquiry collection for Q1 2017. In terms of the more immediate:  now that Kaplan is offering free PSAT Prep and discounted ACT Live Tutoring, it will be important to review your firm's  value proposition.   For example, if  one is an elite tutoring or admissions provider (i.e.--you charge upwards of $75/hr for services), it will be time to familiarize yourself not only with the Khan /College Board assets, but the Kaplan /ACTprogram, and the Kaplan Free PSAT program.   The point is, even if your client base is unlikely to benefit from the free or near free programs above, they won't know it until after the fact--unless you explain things before that.  In any event, and depending upon your client demographics, prepare a short sheet to counter-message one's services vs. those free or near free services.   We find value in many of these services and prefer a message  of inclusion:   "we use  [ service] as part of our program." Events:  Consider Fall Practice Test Messaging or Early Application Deadline Workshops.  Offers:  Consider using your  largest incentive for the Core Product in October. Switch to a corollary product or an early bird message in November.  Planning: Triage past inquiries (leads)  into 30, 60, 90 and 180 cohorts.  Sequence your messages for each lead group and drip email.  Sales:  Create a short sheet with incentive & counter-messaging (do this monthly as a habit).  Networking:  in general terms, the main message to groups and schools will be:  Free Practice Tests + Incentive, or College Essay Workshop, or Early Application Workshop.  .  Schedule a 15 min. call to discuss (choose free business consultation). More broadly   Be sure to align blog, email, social outlets to include the primary Offer & Event. Crystal ball:  More students than in the past will submit both ACT, SAT scores.  Number of SAT Test Takers is up due to state contracts; number of students submitting ACT scores also up.    Included below is an October Digest from testprepprofessioanls.com.  This should lend context to  the planning function.         Test Prep Professionals || Tutoring & Admissions Digest #10                      SAT scores fall modestly in a year of transition for college admission test (The Washington Post) By Nick Anderson -- SAT scores fell modestly this year for the last high school class to take the old version of the college admission test. The average total score for graduating students who took the old SAT…Continue Reading NACAC 2016: The Rise of Portfolios Within College Admissions (Newswire)  Staff -- Learning Machine CEO Chris Jagers hosted a conversation about the growing role of portfolios during the college admissions process at the annual meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). Participants from MIT, Carnegie Mellon…Continue Reading Colleges Report More Students Submitting ACT Scores, Survey Finds (Stockhouse)   As Colleges Report More Applicants Submitting ACTⓇ Scores, ACT, Inc. and Kaplan Test Prep Launch ACTⓇ Kaplan Online Prep Live to Make Best-in-Class Live Teaching Accessible to All Students Introduction of Live, Interactive Program Supports Growing Popularity of the…Continue Reading   How Students Can Position Themselves For Selective College Programs (Forbes) By Nina Berler -- Nestled within the large, elite, and highly selective University of Pennsylvania live the Penn Engineering’s Integrated Studies Programs, which combine the computer science major with a specific focus: Networked & Social Systems Engineering (NETS), Digital Media Design(DMD), and Computer Engineering (CMPE). The student who…Continue Reading The October 1st FAFSA Filing Date Is Not A Deadline, Despite Erroneous Reports (Forbes)  By Troy Onink -- Despite the urgency stemming from inaccurate media reports that parents must file for college financial aid using the FAFSA (Free Application For Federal Student Aid) by October 1st, 2016, parents and those advising parents through… Continue Reading   The Undervaluing of Guidance Counselors (The Atlantic) By James Murphy -- Teenagers make bad choices. Honestly, who doesn’t? For adolescents, however, who are armed with new responsibilities, opportunities, and bodies they are almost inevitably unprepared to deal with, the wrong decision can have serious, life-altering…Continue Reading

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