Portfolio > Activate Learning

Growing web traffic by 80% with the power of print

Activate Learning is a pioneering education group which combines secondary, further and higher education, with apprenticeship and workforce training, consultancy, commercial business and social enterprise. These organisations are united by a common purpose – to transform lives through learning.

The problem

As a large college group with multiple campuses across 3 counties, Activate Learning was looking to grow the number of casual, fee-paying learners on evening and weekend part-time courses.

In the past the group had spread the word via leaflets and brochures distributed in local shops, cafes and businesses via local distribution networks. Whilst this was a reasonably cheap way to get word out, it was hard for the business to precisely target prospects and difficult to measure the effectiveness of campaigns.

Following the launch of a new website, which would allow learners to book and pay for classes online, the business was keen to use print to drive learners online. Door drops and direct mail had previously been abandoned and deemed too expensive to pursue. Group head of marketing Mark Robinson got in contact to discuss how door drops could be used to target more individuals without increasing the budgets.

The solution

Palina began by looking at the volumes and the format limits imposed by Royal Mail to ensure Activate Learning could maximise the weight and thickness of the brochure. 

Taking the legacy publication, we re-engineered the specification to make the product suitable for high volume printing, before reducing the paper weight to bring down both the weight per copy and the thickness of the brochure.

Firstly this allowed Activate Learning to increase the pagination without compromising their distribution costs, secondly it reduced the cost per copy, meaning the group could print more and increase their area of coverage.

Palina began by looking at the volumes and the format limits imposed by Royal Mail to ensure Activate Learning could maximise the weight and thickness of the brochure. Taking the legacy publication, we re-engineered the specification to make the product suitable for high volume printing, before reducing the paper weight to bring down both the weight per copy and the thickness of the brochure.

Reducing the cost per copy, meant the group could print more and increase their area of coverage.

The results

By reformatting the product we reduced the clients print cost by almost 40%, enabling them to increase coverage by 560% without increasing the total campaign budget. They discovered that the cost of door drops were more economical than local distribution and had the benefit of tracking leads to local postcode areas.

As an added benefit, our experience of working with Royal Mail walk bundle centres also meant we could find a few extra days in the schedule and managed the production right through to delivery.

By reformatting the product we reduced the clients print cost by almost 40%, enabling them to increase coverage by 560% without increasing the total campaign budget.

Palina were great to work with, they provided mock-ups and paper samples to ease our designers’ worries. Worked closely with Royal Mail to ensure deliveries got to the depot over the busy Christmas period and ultimately allowed us to target and reach more prospects and enjoy an 80% increase in web traffic for the campaign.

Mark Robinson
Group Head of Marketing, Activate Learning