Edtech Marketing Ideas for Multiple School District Stakeholders

One of the challenges of selling education technology (edtech) into school districts is that all the stakeholders must be convinced.

Besides the CTO you’re probably talking to, there’s the superintendent, principals, teachers, parents, and students. Some will be active in the purchase, and others will influence the decision. These sales can take forever, or worse yet, the CTO might decide to do nothing.

From a marketing perspective, there’s ways to avoid that trap.

1.      Build a strong brand. Please see my blog for resources like how to conduct a brand audit and this branding worksheet. Having a strong brand helps people already have awareness and a connection with your product or service.

2.     “Leverage your network,” says SAIT Corporate Training’s Craig Hess. Use social media to create and build connections with all sorts of stakeholders.

3.     Create a value proposition for each stakeholder. Once you have identified all stakeholders, determine what they want, what they need, and why they need it. Describe the value your edtech provides for each stakeholder’s problem and provide evidence with testimonials or outcomes.

4.     Help people find your web site with search engine optimization (SEO). Choose keywords and key phrases that tie to your brand. It helps to wear the stakeholder’s hat to think about what they might search, for example, a parent might search “best reading apps for 3rd grade boys.”

5.     Create awareness of, and strengthen, your edtech’s brand with content marketing. This is a long-term strategy to engage people and provide them with valuable and interesting reading. Staying on the reading app example, content might be about the importance of knowing how to read by 3rd grade or it might be about the importance of having relevant, age-appropriate books at home.

6.    Consider a Google ad and landing page for each stakeholder. If a particular stakeholder isn’t going to make the actual purchase, but can influence the purchase, adjust the call to action. Maybe for a parent, for example, it’s better to create awareness with a quick video demo.

7.     Have a post-sales plan on stakeholder management which will include ongoing social media, training, direct emails/calls, and so on to keep people invested and using your edtech.

Creating clear lines of communication to all stakeholders not only creates better relationships, it helps people benefit from your edtech solution.

If you’d like to chat further on this, please contact me.