Improve Conversions by Being a Trusted Resource
When I see Education Technology (Edtech) organizations only talk about their features and benefits, I feel bad for them. That’s only one dimension of the edtech’s personality (the slightly boring dimension). It’s hard for people to tell the organization apart from its competitors. They say they’re solving a problem, but their competition makes the same claim. So how is a person to know the difference between one edtech solution from another?
School district IT managers, principals, superintendents review different edtech solutions all the time, and it’s not a cheap or easy decision. Pre-K12 spending on software was reaching $8.3 billion in 2015, according to an estimate from the Software and Information Industry Association.
“Education leaders, developers, and philanthropists are convinced their edtech products will help. But when they are wrong, it is our children who pay the price. Particularly for vulnerable students, every hour of instructional time counts. If schools invest resources and time into a software that isn't working, some students may not have a second chance.”
-How Do We Know if Ed Tech Even Works, Britt Neuhaus, Philip Oreopoulos, & Thomas J. Kane Education Week June 5, 2018
With that kind of concern, it’s hard for edtechs to get their solutions into schools. That’s where becoming a trusted resource with content marketing comes in.
Why Being a Trusted Resource is Worth the Effort
People buy from those that they know, like and trust. Content marketing helps companies build relationships with potential and existing clients.
By becoming a trusted resource, people will get to know, like and trust you and the organization. Being a trusted resource also helps to:
· build brand reputation
· increase traffic to the web site
· build social media networks
· set you apart from the competition
Looking for more ideas to make the most of your edtech marketing?
The most important thing to remember is this:
Content marketing is educational and non-promotional.
Content marketing contributes to the conversation about an organization’s purpose and helps build relationships with others who have the same goals.
Content marketing provides value and strengthens the brand. It’ll help you be seen as the expert that you are, and it’ll help others gain expertise, too.
Strategy & Tactics for Becoming a Trusted Resource
1. What is the education problem you’re solving? Whether you’re helping kids with reading or helping teachers track lesson progress, the technology was created with a passion to fix something. This is what you’ll talk about.
2. Who else is talking about the problem? Follow them on social media. Like and share their articles with your followers.
3. Provide fresh content, after all, you are an expert. You’ve spent more time solving this problem than most people because you’ve created a product or service specifically for this problem. If you’re stuck on a topic, think about questions people ask you or you see being asked on social media.
4. Determine the online media you want to use, for example, YouTube, Instagram, or written blogs.
5. Make an editorial calendar that’s realistic so that it’s easier to start writing or recording when you have time. Having to come up with a topic every day, week, or month can be daunting and buzz-killing.
This will help you become a trusted resource. Not everyone who reads your blogs or watches your videos will buy from you, however, many people will. The benefit to you is that it’ll be an easier sell because they already know, like and trust you.
