ARE YOU A NEW PARTNER?
Here’s how to get your Partner Program rolling!
INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR PARTNER PROGRAM
Here you’ll learn what you need to do so we can promote you… refer back to it for a refresher if needed. Or if you have questions, please call 763-402-0849 or contact JoAnn@MNfieldtriplibrary.org.
And remember, the BACK OFFICE with Partner links is located at the bottom of every webpage on our website.
INSTRUCTIONS:
STEP 1 - IT’S TIME TO CREATE YOUR PARTNER WEBPAGE ON OUR WEBSITE
With 200,000 visits to MNFieldTripLibrary.org by Planners last year, it’s important that you get on our website ASAP!
All Partners – and that now includes you – get a PARTNER WEBPAGE on our website.
We will create your Partner Webpage using the content you give us.
FORMATTING YOUR PARTNER WEBPAGE
Take a look at how we have formatted the Partner Webpage to see how your Partner Webpage content will look. All Partner Webpages are formatted in the same manner.
You can also see live Partner Webpages by going to the MENUS in the blue bar on all webpages. Scroll up toward the top of this webpage now and look at some. As a Partner, you will be displayed in these Menus, too.
To get started with your Partner Webpage, go to the Back Office > Partner Forms #1 & #2.
• Fill out Partner Form #1 – LET’S GET STARTED with written content (copy, contact info, links, etc). Please also use this form when sending in revised or new written content & links in the future.
• Use Partner Form #2 – IMAGES & UPDATES for uploading graphic elements to us (photos, logos, etc). Then during your Partnership use this form when sending in new Guide ads, new photos and other graphics.
After we finish creating your Partner Webpage, we email you the link for you to approve it. Once approved, your Partner Webpage will be published on our website.
WE’LL THEN GET YOU IN THE MENUS, TOO.
We will then also place you in the Menus you have indicated in Partner Form #1. The Menus are located on every webpage of our website.
STEP 2 - GET YOUR EMAIL & SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING GOING
After your Partner Webpage is published, you can start your email marketing.
Our email and social media outreach is the core of your marketing with us. It will be a major part of your Partner Program for your entire Partnership year.
With every email announcement you do, you also get that same announcement on our website homepage, in our website blog, and posted to 3 social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and “X”).
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First, go to the Back Office > Partner Program Pricing
• Confirm the number of monthly emails included in your Partner Program. See your invoice for your Partner Program.
• Your Partner Program continues for a full year from start date to end date. These dates show on your invoice. - Go to the Back Office > About Email Alerts
• Learn how we engage group planners with email and social media marketing. - Go to the Back Office > 2024 Alert Schedule
• Select the Group Markets you want to send into each month for your year.
• You can send into different markets each month based on seasons, school year, when the planners are booking, etc. - Create your Email Alert Plan for the current year using the 2024 Alert Schedule.
• Partners often create a schedule that ranges from month-month, to quarterly, to a full year. Whatever works for you, Just so you make your announcements.
• We send out reminder emails so you won’t forget it’s time to get your Submission Form to us. - Ready to submit your announcement(s)?
- Go to the Back Office > Alert Submission Form
• Complete a separate ALERT SUBMISSION FORM for each Email Alert.
IMPORTANT: Customize each announcement for each unique market.
• After your email announcement has been sent out, it will also be posted on our website’s homepage announcement carousel, and also in your Partner Blog on our website.
• You don’t have to send in content for Social Media posts.
• Each of your announcements will be separately posted on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (now “X”) using the content of each email Alert you submit.
Suggestion #1
Announcements work the best (NOT ads for brand advertising). Announcements can vary, and include relevant topics like “Teacher Open House”, Homeschool Week, a new program, or new group sales representative, etc.
Suggestion #2
We suggest that you do NOT run the same announcement month after month. Planners will stop paying attention to you. The means few bookings, and that is NOT a good thing to happen.
STEP 3 - MAKE YOUR AD FOR THE 2024 GUIDE
PLANNERS TAKE THESE TO THEIR MEETINGS!
First, please read through the current 2023 Guide.
The due date for 2024 Guide ads is June 1, 2024.
PRODUCING YOUR AD FOR THE 2024 GUIDE
- Go to the BACK OFFICE > Partner Program Pricing
• Confirm your Partner Program includes a full page ad.
• If an ad is NOT included in your Partner Program, pricing for ads is displayed in the ALA CARTE PRICING section.
• NOTE: You can upgrade to additional pages, premium positions or the cover at discounted rates for Partners. Non-Partners get Ala Carte Pricing ad rates (no discounts.) - Go to the BACK OFFICE > About the GUIDE
• Here you will find AD SPECS & necessary information for producing your ad. - Finished with your ad? It’s time to send it in.
• We’ve created a special way to send it in…
• Again, go to the BACK OFFICE > Partner Form #2 – IMAGES & UPDATES.
• Upload and submit your Guide ad by June 1, 2024.
STEP 4 - EXHIBITING AT THE EXPO & THE SUMMER RESOURCE FAIR
YOU CAN’T BEAT IN-PERSON ENGAGEMENT!
Go to the Back Office > Partner Program Pricing
• Confirm your Partner Program includes one or both of these in-person events (no extra charge).
• If it does not, you can purchase one or both at a discount rate for Partners (see the ALA CARTED PRICING).
Set the date & locations in your calendar:
• MN Field Trip Expo – Tuesday, August 13, 2024 at CHS Field.
• MN Summer Resource Fair – January, 2025 (specific date TBD) at Base Camp by Fort Snelling.
REGISTER TO EXHIBIT
- Go to the BACK OFFICE > 2024 EXPO Exhibitor Info, or
- Go to the • BACK OFFICE > 2025 SRF Exhibitor Info
• There is a link to the exhibitor registration form for both events on their respective information webpages.
• All Partners and Non-Partners must register for each event.
• When registration opens (and we will tell you by email), submit your exhibitor registration.
• We will update you with timely news and information regarding either event prior to that event.
EXPO & SRF BONUS…
PARTNERS GET THE FULL ATTENDEE LIST FROM BOTH EVENTS.
STEP 5 - GETTING YOUR PRESS RELEASE(S) SENT OUT
Go to the Back Office > Partner Program Pricing
• Confirm how many press releases are included annually in your Partner Program.
WRITING YOUR PRESS RELEASE
- Go to the Back Office > PR SERVICE
• Read about our unique service for Partners.
• Determine when you want your Press Release to go out, and what you want to announce. - Next, go to the Back Office > PRESS RELEASE FORM
• Here you’ll find information about best writing practices. Or we can help you write it (see Ala Carte Pricing).
• Complete the content for your Press Release and submit it.
• We will prepare the your PR with your content (we may edit), and send you a final copy via email.
• After you approve the final copy, we will send it out.
STEP 6 - BONUS SERVICES for Full, Premium & Platinum Partners
To participate in any of the following, please contact JoAnn@MNfieldtriplibrary.org or call 763-402-0849.
- ANNUAL PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCES – for Platinum Partners
The MN Field Trip Library exhibited at 12 professional annual conferences in 2023, including MESPA, MnStA, MCEA, MnAEYC, and more. We have been exhibiting – and bringing Partners with us either in person or with the GUIDE/Partner literature – at these events since 2010. This has proven to be a very productive marketing activity.
• Platinum Partners can join us in-person at a conference (limited space on a first-come first-served basis).
• Post-Conference Drawings have valuable prizes provided by Full, Premium & Platinum Partners – (about 10-12 new drawings at each conference). Each participating Partner gets to contact their winner to award the prize. See the winners HERE on our website (refreshed after each conference). - SPECIAL OUTREACH
• Exclusive Alerts – An email for one Partner at a time. See your Partner discount rate that reduces the Ala Carte price – example: one Exclusive Alert Ala Carte price is $495 (with your choice of group markets). If you are a Platinum Partner, your 30% discount lowers your price to $346.50!). Check your Partner discount HERE.
• Special Promotional Events – Such as a “Meal Pack PLUS” at Feed My Starving Children. - ADDITIONAL EVENT & ONLINE DRAWINGS – see the winners HERE on our website.
• Partners can offer a prize for each drawing at a variety of events- Conference Drawings (new at each conference) – more than 100 Planners won in 2023.
- EXPO Grand Prize Drawings (5 winners)
- SRF Grand Prize Drawings (5 winners)
- Exhibitor Drawings at both events (managed by each exhibitor at the EXPO and/or SRF)
- Website Drawings (as requested by Platinum Partners)
Partner Programs Brochure
