Quick Tips for Marketing Success

Below are some great ideas that you can use to quickly jump-start your marketing campaign:

• Change the copy on your marketing materials (coupons, brochure, website, etc.) from a focus on your company to a focus on your clients, from a focus on selling to a focus on helping.
• Present price in context, by explaining the value and benefits of the products you offer. If potential customers don't understand the value you provide, a reasonable price might seem high and become a barrier to sales.
• Invest the time to write articles to establish yourself as an expert. Let your passion, personality, and professionalism stand out in all of your communications.
• Thank each student who completes your course, and request feedback on how you might improve the customer experience.
• Expand your business by finding ways to maintain contact with your customers and explain how you can help them to find solutions to their problems. Periodically (weekly or monthly) provide driving tips or updates to traffic laws to educate customers and encourage them to explore your website for further information.
• Cross-promote. Educate your existing customers about other products you offer that are closely related to a product they have just purchased.
• Start a viral marketing campaign on social bookmarking or Web 2.0 sites. Do something exciting and different (e.g., post humorous-but-educational videos to YouTube, or run contests on Facebook) and you can draw customers that you may never have thought to attract.

How You Doin'?

Are you doing everything you can to maximize your sales and profits? The first step to making helpful changes to your marketing strategies is to assess what you're doing now. Perhaps what you've been doing is delivering satisfactory results. At the very least, you'll save time and energy by targeting your efforts on those areas that will make the biggest improvement.

By answering the following questions, you'll pinpoint your areas of success as well as opportunities for improvement. Missing or incomplete answers to these questions may highlight aspects of your marketing strategy that require attention. Ask yourself:

• What advertising methods am I using now? Which of these successfully deliver customers and which fail to drive traffic to myoffice/website?
• What call-to-action messages do I employ, and do they consistently prompt sales?
• What is the average age of the prospective customers I'm targeting? Is my advertising/signage/website appropriate for those prospects?
• Your website: The sites designed by the Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) Web development team for our affiliated partners have been optimized to maximize sales. If you're maintaining your own site, however, or if you've contributed to your site's content, ask yourself:
• Does my site look professional?
• Is the customer's path to purchase direct, requiring a minimal number of clicks?

IMPORTANT! Once you've identified areas that might need attention and decided upon a course of action, be sure implement your changes one at a time and track the results. That way, you'll know which tactics to incorporate into your regular marketing efforts and which you should discontinue.

New Florida Laws Take Effect July 1, 2010

A pair of laws relating to traffic school in the state of Florida will take effect on July 1, 2010.

First, the good news: Florida State Statute (F.S.S.) 322.0261(4) requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to mail notices to drivers who must take traffic school pursuant to that section. If adjudication is withheld for any offense requiring traffic school, the traffic school requirement shall be waived, unless specifically ordered by the court. However, drivers convicted of passing a school bus in violation of F.S.S. 316.172 must complete a traffic school course even if adjudication of guilt is withheld.

The bad news (for traffic school providers—and motorists) is that F.S.S. 381.14(9) limits the numbers of times that drivers may elect to take traffic school in order to remove points from their records to no more than five attendances in a lifetime.

Other changes related to legislative updates will take effect on Sep. 1 (and a few on Oct. 1). Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., will be updating its approved curricula and will provide you with more information closer to that time.

TSC is on the Move!

Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) has been operating out of its current location for many years. However, due in part to the success of our affiliate programs—i.e., to your success—we have found that our current office space no longer meets our business needs. We are, therefore, pleased to announce the relocation of our California corporate offices to the following address:

Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc.
14526 Roscoe Boulevard
Suite 218
Panorama City, California 91402

Effective July 19, 2010, please direct all correspondence to this new address.

The move itself is being coordinated so as to negate any impact on daily operations, and TSC will continue to deliver the same great service and support that our affiliate family has always enjoyed. Nonetheless, should you have any questions about the relocation, please feel free to email Gloria Verver, our Director of Affiliate Programs, or give her a call at 1-800-252-9488.

Affiliate Marketing Misconceptions

Affiliate programs offer outstanding financial opportunities, but your business will require some promotional efforts on your part to be successful. Here are some misconceptions that can keep affiliates from realizing the full potential of their traffic school enterprise.

Misconception #1: I Don't Need a Marketing Campaign

Every business needs a marketing campaign. This is so important that it bears repeating: every business needs a marketing campaign! At the very least, it's a sign in a window somewhere; but more effective campaigns will generate more customers—and more revenue. You don't have to live and breathe marketing, but you can see a significant increase in business by making a thoughtful effort to implement a few small changes over time. Hopefully these blog posts will inspire you and provide some useful suggestions.

Misconception #2: One Marketing Strategy is Enough to Build an Effective Campaign

One or two marketing techniques make a good start, not necessarily an effective campaign. We understand that there are lots of other duties that occupy your time each day, but not all strategies require constant tending. Issuing coupons (which we highly recommend!) involves the initial layout and an occasional reprint; beyond that, you just have to hand them out. And a magnetic sign attached to the side of your vehicle (another great suggestion!) requires nothing more than a small investment in design and application. In short, it's not all work all of the time. Merely following through with a simple but well-conceived plan can go a long way.

Misconception #3: Marketing Campaigns Run on Auto-Pilot

Marketing channels are constantly changing. Think of the recent shifts from traditional forms of mass communication to new media. Even within the new systems, there have been great transformations. Website aesthetics have evolved and functionality has dramatically improved over just the past few years. To be effective, your marketing techniques need to remain current. You don't have to embrace every fad—an exhausting and fruitless exercise. You might, however, periodically (at least on a yearly basis) review and revise your marketing plan to ensure that you're capturing all of the business that you can. It's unlikely that you'll need to completely revamp your system, but some tweaks from time to time can optimize your results.



It can seem daunting, but the purpose of all of this talk isn't to discourage you. Good marketing simply involves building your name as a trusted provider of traffic safety education. Professionalism, credibility, and regular, small improvements are the key to growing your customer base and your bottom line. And, as always, TSC is here to help you every step of the way.

Mandatory Reporting for 12-Hour ADI

Students who must complete a 12-Hour Advanced Driver Improvement (ADI) course are serious hazards on the roadway—and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) is understandably serious about those students' obligation to complete their traffic safety education. DHSMV, therefore, requires traffic schools to report certain students who enroll in, but fail to complete, an ADI course.

The reporting requirement applies to students who are taking an ADI course because they have had their license suspended for exceeding the point limit or because they have been classified as an habitual traffic offender (HTO). If these students reserve a spot in an ADI class and subsequently fail to attend the class for which they enrolled, DHSMV requires the traffic school to report the no-show. Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) conveniently makes the reporting form available to its affiliates via the link below. You may download this PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file and print the form as needed; each printed sheet will contain two copies of the form. Reporting will be performed on a monthly basis, using Form 77057: Student Status Report. Completed forms must be mailed to DHSMV by the 3rd business day of each month, reporting no-shows for the previous calendar month.

Getting Your Products to Market!

The number of entrepreneurs participating in affiliate marketing programs is exploding—and with good reason: it's a fantastic opportunity to earn money from your own business. You've already invested in a partnership with Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) that allows you to offer high-quality products that are valuable and beneficial to your customers. If you take the time and effort to implement a successful marketing campaign, you can attract new and repeat customers and reap great financial rewards.

With the idea of helping you to grow your business, TSC is publishing to the TSC Affiliate News blog a series of posts that will help you to develop an effective marketing plan. We want you to prosper. After all, our success is based on protecting and growing your business!

We'll start the series…at the beginning, with…

Branding

Marketers view a brand as an implied promise regarding the level of quality of a product or service. Your brand may increase sales when prospective customers make a favorable comparison with competing products or services. Ultimately, brand management is the extended process of carefully cultivating a reputation that develops over time. However, there are a few steps you can take immediately that can help to drive business your way.

Pick a Great Name

The first impression that prospective customers have of your business is usually its name. Try to select a name for your traffic school that will attract a broad audience. We encourage you to pick a name that inspires an idea of fun and/or high quality at an inexpensive price. You might stay away from names that are insulting or offensive, unless you make very clear that it's meant in fun (the _____ for Dummies series of books successfully exploits this concept). While you might try to develop a brand that suggests exceptional quality or exclusivity and luxury without regard for price (think Apple Inc. or Prada), be aware that this could limit your audience and that the best strategy in this industry is generally to appeal to as many people as possible.

An Image is Worth a Thousand Words

You may not realize it, but the images you choose for your website (and other marketing materials) tell your customers a lot about your business. The images should always be of high quality, of course; you don't want your customers thinking that you run a shabby establishment. But the content of the images tells a story and creates a feeling as well. Be conscious of what narrative is expressed and what emotions are inspired, and thoughtfully select images that are attractive to your intended audience and in concert with your name and other branding efforts.

Copy is Not for Copying

Be sure to customize your site with your own text as well as images. The website templates that TSC provides free of charge to affiliates contain some basic text, but don't be afraid to change what's there and to add your own. Communicate to your customers in your own voice. By being authentic to your brand and conveying an air of professionalism, you'll inspire confidence and trust—and encourage sales.

Your Affiliate Manager is Here to Help

You are present in and have a good handle on what will work in your community. There may be marketing ideas that you haven't considered, however. If you're not making the number of sales you'd like, there's no shame in asking for some help. Contact TSC's Director of Affiliate Programs, Gloria Verver (1-800-252-9488, or email to gloria@trafficeducation.net). If she can't assist directly, she can refer you to someone in the organization who can help.



We hope that these suggestions and the tips we'll provide in the posts to follow will help you to boost your business. TSC is your partner, and we're always here to help!

Welcome, New Jersey Affiliates!

We at Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., would like to take this opportunity to welcome our New Jersey affiliates to the TSC Affiliate News Weblog/Newsletter. We’ll be posting periodically to keep you up-to-date on new products and developments at TSC headquarters, to offer helpful suggestions on managing and marketing your traffic school, and to inform you of industry related information that could affect you and your operations.

Because the blog is ultimately intended as a means to disseminate useful information to you, our affiliates, we’re open to your input. Feel free to add a comment to any article you see here (comments are moderated). If there are topics that you would like to see covered here, or if you would like to contribute a post to a future edition of TSC Affiliate News, please feel free to email Rick Ehlers with your ideas and suggestions.

New Laws for New Jersey - 2010

Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) routinely updates its curricula to account for changes to the regulations governing drivers. The following changes have recently gone into effect in New Jersey:

• Provisional licenses are now referred to as probationary licenses.
• Seat belt use is now required for all vehicle occupants—including adults in the rear seat, who were previously exempt when an adult was at the wheel. A seat belt violation is a primary enforcement violation, except for an adult, rear-seat passenger, for whom it is a secondary enforcement violation.
• Drivers must now yield not only to pedestrians already in a crosswalk (or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection), but also to pedestrians waiting to enter a crosswalk where traffic is not regulated by traffic controls.

For affiliates offering TSC's Online Defensive Driving Course, these edits have already been incorporated into the Internet-based curriculum. For those of you who are offering live courses via a classroom, Donna will be contacting you about updating your materials.

The Next Big Thing

The Announcement

At Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) we regard our affiliates as our partners. We recognize that your success is our success. So it is with an eye toward helping you to improve your bottom line that TSC, from time to time, shares useful information about valuable ideas and programs that can help you to grow your traffic school business.

As a TSC affiliate, you're already familiar with ASAP™, our proprietary, online traffic school management tool. You've used it to manage student records, track sales performance, and order supplies. The automation and one-stop functionality have streamlined your administrative duties. Now, you're ready to take the next step.

TSC is proud to announce ASAP™ Marketing. Those who attended our 12-Hour Advanced Driver Improvement demonstration to the Florida DHSMV got a sneak peak at this amazing new application. We're now ready to offer all of our affiliates "the next big thing."

ASAP™ Marketing, a sophisticated targeted mailing module that is integrated seamlessly with the ASAP™ administrative tool, filters counties' lists of traffic offenders by citation. You'll reduce postage costs by mailing postcards only to those prospects most likely to respond and eliminating those citations that don't produce sales. The software tracks your results and provides detailed reports, so you can tweak your filters to further optimize your postcard mailing campaign.

How to Take Advantage

We hope that you're as excited about this great new opportunity as we are. If you're interested in ramping up your business with a new targeted marketing campaign, please contact Donna via email, or phone 1-800-252-9951, for system access and training.