The federal government is providing hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus funds for institutions including local governments, schools, and healthcare systems to spend with America's businesses. MCH has prepared detailed guidance on eleven specific areas of funding of interest to B2B marketers on our Stimulus Marketing website.

The recommendations are designed to help you target your sales and marketing efforts to the recipients of this windfall funding. Each recommendation addresses key questions that marketers have, including:

• When will the money be available? 
• Who will decide what to purchase? 
• What will they be buying? 
• What does this mean for your business?

In addition to the recommendations, we've created our own stimulus package for our clients. For a limited time, MCH is offering a discount on new data orders. You can read the details of the offer here.

by John F. Hood, MCH President

MCH has been talking about the advantages of B2i, the recession resistant institutional sector of the economy, for years. According to recent newspaper headlines the institutional sector is getting hit as hard as businesses. But it is not. It's the bad news that gets attention and readership and the headlines and news stories are biased accordingly.

Here are some recent examples:

• Cape May Herald.com (New Jersey) "February Unemployment Rate Jumps to 8.2 Percent" 
• The Daily Astorian (Oregon) "Unemployment rises with economic tide" 
• DAILY HERALD (Utah) "Utah's job losses hit new high" 
• The Detroit News (Michigan) "State jobless rate up to 12%"

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by Michael Tull, Director, MCH Response Lab

MCH would like to remind our customers that effective May 11th, several postal price changes take effect. For almost all classes of mail, prices are going up. The single-piece First Class price will increase by 2 cents. Details on the price changes are available at the USPS website.

If you're planning to have MCH presort a mailing that will drop on or after May 11, please let your MCH Sales representative know your mail entry date when you are placing your order. The MCH Response Lab will need to know your mail entry date to be sure that the presort is done with the correct rates.

Lisa Schmucki, Founder and CEO of edWeb, presented a 60-minute session on how social media marketing can help marketers extend their outreach to educators, build stronger relationships with customers, deliver ongoing professional development, and get valuable product and marketing feedback.

The key takeaways from the webinar are:

• Social networking/media is in its infancy in the education market. 
• Early adopters, as with any new technology, tend to benefit the most. 
• There is a tremendous need for systemic cooperation and improvement in education. 
• ARRA funding for education totals $100 billion over 2 years. Much of that funding has been designated for innovative technology solutions to help improve education for all stakeholders. 
• 75% of teachers learn about new products by word of mouth.

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MCH has created a Stimulus Marketing group on LinkedIn. Join in discussions with other B2B marketers regarding the opportunities presented by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We'll all profit by sharing news and views regarding what's working and what's note. Take a few minutes today to share your news and views.  

Click here to visit the new Stimulus Marketing website.
Click here to join the LinkedIn group.

If you're an education marketer and you missed our special email blast on March 31st, click here to read John Hood's blog "Money for Schools is on the Way!" NOW is the time to get in front of decision makers and schools and district offices. Don't miss a single opportunity to capitalize on 'out of the blue' funding that has been dropped on education institutions.

The Human Resources Director is an important decision maker and should be a key component of your next B2i campaign. When you consider that the average institution is almost twice as large as the average business based on number of employees, the person responsible for those employees is someone you don't want to miss. HR Directors have broad responsibilities relating to daily operations and their purchasing decisions can span everything from office equipment and supplies to professional development materials. Be sure you include this key decision maker in your next campaign.

Click here to review datacards that are suitable for marketers of financial outsourcing products and services then call your MCH sales representative to get a count on those "why didn't I think of that?" institutions you may have missed.

MCH Webinar
B2B Growth Markets for 2009
Learn why institutions are the key to profit in today's economy!
MCH Presenters: John F. Hood, President & Kirk Chritton, Director of Marketing & Product Development
Tuesday, April 21st at 10:00 AM Central
Click here to register now!

Click here to request a quote for any of MCH's institutional databases and services.