Judy Winn
Professor & Comm. Specialist
Texas Agricultural Extension Service

Background

This is the story of how a team of editors, artists and typesetters in Texas A&M University's Agricultural Communications unit produced and successfully marketed an educational product for the retail market. While we are certainly experienced in editing and designing publications to appeal to lay audiences, we were novices both at retail product design and at marketing.

When we began talking about such a project, we were motivated by the desire to:

• get Extension information into new markets and broaden the general awareness of Extension as a source of educational information;
  
• stretch our creative muscles to present educational information in a more exciting way than is usually possible with our publications; and
  
• make money
  

Designing the Product

After several brainstorming sessions, we settled on the subject of butterflies and butterfly identification. Then we considered various product options, such as posters, booklets and note cards. We thought it would be a good idea to know what kinds of butterfly products were already in the marketplace, so we did some market research by visiting the gift shop managers at the Brazos Valley Museum (a small, local natural history museum) and at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, where there is a famous butterfly center. They were most helpful. In Houston we learned how the manager makes buying decisions from the hundreds of samples, order forms and descriptions of products he receives in the mail. On a tour through the gift shop he pointed out products that sell well and products that don't, explained the importance of packaging, and gave us some tips on how to price our product to appeal both to the wholesale buyer and the retail customer.

The research confirmed our belief that the commercial marketplace is a natural outlet for Extension information, so long as we produce retail products that are attractive, educational, accurate, and reflect Extension's reputation for high quality.

We still weren't sure what kind of product to create. At first we considered a poster, but there are a number of butterfly posters on the market and we worried about the competition, as well the difficulties of retail display and the costs of mailing posters. There are also a lot of butterfly field guides -- far more comprehensive and expensive items than we could afford to produce. Then one of our team members spotted a hummingbird identification wheel in the catalog of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and ordered one for us to look at. We liked it immediately, and decided to use it as the model for a butterfly wheel. The design of the wheel makes it easy to showcase a number of common butterflies and identify them easily. It's colorful and interactive, with a die-cut opening to show each butterfly's larva and larval food plants. The back contains a wealth of information in a small space. We felt the design would fit well in the niche market we were trying to reach, and that the wheel would appeal to folks of all ages who are interested in nature, gardening, and the outdoors.

Into Production

In the fall of 1998 we got to work on a preliminary design, and once we had that we were ready to find a manufacturer and get bids. We tracked down the company that had produced the hummingbird wheel and a couple of other companies doing similar products. When the bids came in, however, they were far higher than we could afford -- about $15,000. As a long shot, we decided to send bid requests to the five or six printers who print most of our regular publications. Although this product is far different from most of the work they do, three of those printers were willing to produce a wheel and returned bids. This time the price was acceptable. The low bid was $3300 for 1,000 copies.

To capitalize on the reputation of the Extension Service as a source of solid, research-based information, and to make sure the information on our wheel was technically correct, we asked an Extension entomologist to be our technical adviser on the project. He selected the 16 common species he thought we should work with, and arranged for us to photograph specimens in Texas A&M's collection. He also provided the resources we used in developing the text, and helped us with proofing.

The production work on the wheel had to be done as time permitted. With about 300 publications in our production schedule each year, there were often long stretches when no one had time to do much about the wheel project. But we kept it going as best we could by having almost everyone on the team involved. All the editors and artists contributed, so that whoever had a little time could work on it. By late summer of 1999, we were ready to go to press.

The Marketing Plan

During this time the team continued brainstorming about the product itself and how to market it. A lot of synergy, enthusiasm and great ideas came from these discussions. But enthusiasm is no substitute for knowing what you're doing. No one in our Agricultural Communications unit had experience with product marketing, so we were on our own to learn how. Our unit head encouraged us to write a formal marketing plan as a guide. We didn't even know how to do that until we'd first done some research. Eventually, though, we put together a very ambitious plan.

The plan defines our sales objective, which was to break even within one year. We divided our sales efforts into two tiers. In the first tier we would spend as little money as possible on marketing. We would sell either in person or by mail to wholesale outlets such as gift shops in museums, zoos, botanical gardens and state parks; and to retail shops such as Wild Birds Unlimited, local Hallmark stores and book stores, and the local Producer's Co-op. To stimulate individual retail sales, we would rely heavily on press releases to state newspapers and our own Web site. We would send order forms to county Extension offices and ask agents to let their clients know about the wheel. To get as much free publicity as possible, we planned to send a copy of the wheel to the garden editors of the three largest newspapers in the state, and to Neil Sperry's Gardens magazine. We planned to ask one of our Extension horticulturists to give it a plug on his early morning TV show. We also planned to have order forms in a booth at the state science teachers' conference, and to sell the wheels at the annual butterfly festival in Mission, Texas.

In the second tier marketing effort, we would have to incur greater costs. We planned to include the wheel, along with other publications, in a special catalog mailed to school teachers. We also planned to purchase mailing lists of appropriate gift shops from the state Department of Economic Development (at a cost of $50 to $200, depending on the size of the lists). We didn't want to incur any marketing or advertising costs beyond these, so we passed on the idea of paid advertising and the opportunity to have our product displayed on the major butterfly Web site (which would have cost $250 per year).

In our marketing plan we also addressed merchandising and pricing. The packaging we chose is for easy display on peg racks in shops. Luckily, the product itself is colorful enough to attract shoppers, so our packaging could be a simple clear bag with a punched tent tag. We set the retail price of the wheel at $10.95, based on advice from the Houston museum shop manager and the price of the similar hummingbird wheel. The wholesale price is $5.50, or $4.95 for orders of twelve or more.

By this time we knew that our production costs were going to be $3.28 each for 1,000 copies of the wheel, and that postage would be $0.77 to mail one copy and $1.58 to mail twelve. We had to purchase six of the larvae photos, at a cost of $300. Other expenses would include printing small order forms, postage for direct mail sales, and travel costs for personal sales calls. In all, we had about $4,000 invested in the project.

If the entire stock sold, we estimated our net income would be between $2,200 and $7,600, excluding marketing costs.

Into High Gear

The third week of September the butterfly wheel arrived from the printer and it was time for us to "hit the streets" with it, so to speak. It was a little frightening to realize we'd made quite an investment and now it was up to us to turn that into profit. But with the marketing plan as our guide, we simply divided up responsibility and plunged in. Some of us took samples and order forms and began to call on local businesses, as well as gift shops at museums, zoos and botanical gardens within a 100-mile radius. We planned informal "scripts" ahead of time so we'd be sure to cover important selling points. A press release was posted on our Ag N More Web site and picked up by newspapers across the state. A butterfly wheel page went up on our Web site, complete with order form. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had provided us with a list of all state park gift shops, so a mailing went out to them. A sample was sent to the producer of the Texas Parks and Wildlife catalog, which has statewide circulation, and he agreed to put the wheel in the spring 2000 catalog. In addition, the wheel was featured in several local newsletters and will be in a future issue of Texas Aggie, a quarterly university magazine.

During October and November things happened very quickly. Newspapers were calling for more information and requesting photographs to use with features about the wheel. Stores were buying wholesale quantities, and individual sales were increasing as people saw the news stories or found our Web site. A week before the butterfly festival we'd planned to attend, an order for 200 wheels came from a man in that part of the state. On a hunch, we called him to see why he wanted so many. As we'd guessed, he was planning to sell the wheels at the festival. We were happy to sell that many copies at wholesale and save ourselves the travel costs.

Little by little the orders picked up until there was a daily deluge. When the Houston Chronicle ran a feature with color picture early in December, orders started coming in at a rate of 50 or so each day. We were in constant contact with the folks in our distribution warehouse, apologizing for the tremendous increase in their workload and keeping a close eye on remaining inventory.

By mid-December we had sold 274 copies at the wholesale price to 16 different stores, and 457 individual copies at the retail price. It was clear we'd have to reprint very quickly in order to keep up with demand.

But we didn't want to just reprint -- we wanted to revise the wheel to make it even better. With every sales call we were getting feedback about ways to improve it. Many individuals who purchased wheels returned reader reply cards suggesting other information they'd like to have on the wheel. We thought laminating the wheel would make it sturdier. We'd also found a source of better butterfly photos, and decided to use them instead of the originals. So we raced to make revisions before the entire stock was gone. The second printing was completed in early January, paid for with income from the first printing. Cost of the second printing was just $2.77 per copy because the printer already had the die cuts and was familiar with the product.

What We've Learned

This has been a true learning experience for a team of people who had never before produced and marketed their own product. Here are some of most important things we learned.

• A retail product has to stand out among the competition. It should offer something new and be more appealing than other items customers could choose. Research the market ahead of time to find out whether your product can compete.
  
• Develop a product that weds Extension educational information with consumer-oriented design.
  
• When selling, capitalize on the credibility of the Extension Service and the value of the educational material you have to offer.
  
• Pay attention to what customers want -- both wholesale buyers and individual customers. You have to satisfy both.
  
• Price is critical. Make sure your product is neither over- nor under-priced.
  
• Don't expect unrealistic sales. Our initial sales were beyond our wildest dreams, but we know that they aren't likely to continue at that pace. Be prepared to wait awhile for your investment to pay off.
  
• Aim for the highest quality you can afford. Quality counts in the marketplace.
  
• If the first production cost estimates are too high, keep at it until you find a vendor who can do what you want at an affordable price.
• Use every marketing channel that seems reasonable -- especially those that are free.
  
• Be prepared for the time and labor involved in selling your product.
  
• Be prepared for the unexpected costs associated with marketing.
  
• When you have a good idea and want to invest in your own creativity, go for it.
  
• Think about how you'll handle customer feedback. One person who ordered by mail sent back a card saying he thought our product was a rip-off, largely because the copy he received had been assembled off-center. We promptly sent him a new wheel, a refund check, and a stamped, self-addressed envelope so that he could return one or both wheels. He kept the new wheel and sent back the bad one and the check. From that encounter we learned to check each wheel before mailing. About 30 more badly assembled ones were discovered, so that one reply saved us from having 30 more unhappy customers.
  
• Keep a file of comments on what customers like and dislike about your product.
  
• Plan how you will track your sales. We have the distribution warehouse send us copies of all the order forms they receive and we enter customer information into a database. We stamp different identifying marks on batches of order forms going out to particular events, to county offices, etc., so that we can associate an order with a specific promotional effort.
  
• Make sure your information is accurate, and don't rely on just one subject matter expert. We lost one sale to a botanical garden because the scientist there saw that one of the larva host plants on the wheel was incorrect. Our entomology advisor had given us the wrong information.
  
• Capitalize on the resources at hand. At Texas A&M there is a wealth of information about butterflies and we had easy access to it. And, your own expertise in writing and designing material for the general public is one of your most important resources.
  

What the Future Will Bring

Other states are much further into the area of publication marketing than Texas. New York, Florida, Minnesota, Colorado, California and Alaska are actively marketing some or all of their publications, and there may be others. There certainly is widespread interest in publication marketing. At the 1998 ACE conference in California, a day-long workshop on marketing Extension publications drew a record crowd.

However, few states are producing and marketing true "consumer" products developed primarily for the retail trade. With the exception of Alaska, perhaps, none of us has much experience in this arena. We're learning by doing, and by sharing ideas with each other. It seems clear that with the new emphasis on fee-based programming and the generation of earned income that is taking hold in Extension across the country, the marketing of our educational products may be the norm in the future. The potential for creating consumer products from Extension information is great, if we can reshape that information to compete in the commercial world. I believe the creativity within our communication staffs is the catalyst we need for success.

In Texas, we've gained confidence from this first successful venture. Investing in our own creativity has paid off. Will we do it again? Definitely The fire of entrepreneurism has taken hold, and we're already dreaming up our next best seller.