Leveraging inbound marketing for edtech. EdTech is new FinTech, global report predicts EdTech spend to reach $252bn by 2020 (EdTechXGlobal Releases Key Market Drivers in international EdTech). It is one of the fastest growing market segment globally and now is the time to develop a sound marketing strategy that ensures your company is ready to assert a little of that market. Leveraging Inbound Marketing Tactics
Today, no business can stay relevant without transitioning from non digital to digital world, and EdTech is no different. The a rise in education technology as a results of additional digital minded students, technology in education is growing and is changing education system to accommodate people who like learning tools and systems that deviate from ancient schoolroom learning.
As an academic technology service supplier, you’re faced with the challenge of connecting with prospects in this fast growing, competitive landscape. The fact this being one of most fragmented sector, end users are not the decision makers, and in most scenarios there are multiple stakeholders, further complicates things for those who are building educational businesses.
There may not be an ideal formula for creating your marketing strategy to gain the highest visibility among faculties across the country and round the world, however a strong Inbound marketing can be a good starting point.
Table of Contents
Even though, Inbound Marketing is a marketing approach adopted by major businesses worldwide, it is a method of attracting, engaging, and delighting its target audiences by educating, providing value and building trust. Even though most marketers have inbound marketing strategy in place, most of the EdTech companies are somewhat slow in adoption. For businesses to get started with inbound marketing they need to develop a sound inbound marketing strategy comprising these areas
1) Traditional Marketing vs Inbound Marketing
Inbound is different from traditional marketing, in way it doesn't seek out buyers by chasing them in conferences & trade shows, colding calling, ads, email blast or bulk SMS. Instead it revolves around buyers persona & buyer's journey. It focuses buyers persona & assisting them at every step of their journey to convert them from top of the funnel to the bottom of the funnel, using multiple reticulate elements, including websites, content marketing, lead nurturing, emails, offers & more.
2) Buyer journey
Assisting buyers journey with targeted content including an e-book, articles, white paper, educational video combined with some enticing offers including free trial, demo trials, comparison case studies etc will generate desired results.
3) Buyers Persona
Education marketing being so fragmented and unconventional, that it is important you define your ideal buyers persona and develop targeted content keeping your persona in mind. Take for example a teacher, who comes across your video, likes it and shares his connects with you. It may not help to move him or her to consideration stage or bottom of the funnel, if you are targeting school districts. You may have to get buy-in from district officials and administrators before going after teachers, students & parents. While developing your ideal buyers persona, it's important to take into account key decision makers and influencers.
4) Video Marketing
Video marketing is the new rage and it's effective, according to Cisco by end of 2019, 80% of global internet consumer traffic will be video's. Facebook in near future will be mostly video’s, according to his head of ad product Ted Zagat. And it is no surprise, Brian Halligan of Vidyard ( premier video platform provider & Hubspot partner) feel's “50% of your content mixture shouldn’t be text. It should be videos. ”
ROI for B2B marketers is especially high, 73% of B2B marketers see significant results on their investment. Video marketing doesn't always entails viral or commercial quality videos. One of the most successful EdTech company utilizes power of video for online learning to drive millions to it learning platform. And inspired by it's success one of the largest financial institution in the country created their own video marketing campaign to help people build financial literacy and positive brand image.
5) Segmentation
Segmentation will help you get buy-in from different stakeholders. You'll need to develop appropriate content keeping in mind your persona's pain points and showcase it at appropriate opportunity. You need to segment them in such a way, that they get to see content & offers relevant to their requirement. Most of us are skeptical and averse to change and teachers are no exception. Instead of highlighting advantages of your product you need to show them how it will solve their problems.
6) Social Media
No B2B business today can ignore social media, and for EdTech it's quintessential to have an up-to-date and active social media presence. Your competition is using social media to develop brand image and drive loyalty. Your potential customers are looking for tech-savvy business to help them understand value of education application in their use case. A well planned and well executed social media strategy can be game changer for EdTech start-up's.
7) Blogging
Blogging combined with SEO, helps you attract audiences at the hour of their need in non-invasive and effective manner. Your website provides details of your offerings , blogs provide educational and advisory information to your visitors. They are more likely to engage with your brand and find when they aren't looking for you. Blogging helps you generate followers and brand advocates.
8) PPC - Pay-per-click
Advertising campaigns using pay-per-click are effect tool, provided used in conjunction with other inbound marketing techniques listed above and your offerings include products and services that don't need a big financial commitment or has free trial. A low commitment tool for students or parents can be a great channel to get their attention.
9) SEO - Search-engine-optimization
Stuffing your post or page with keywords will no longer help you rank higher, Google might penalize you for deception. You need to develop authority in your chosen field and have helpful topic clusters, pilliar pages and backlinks connecting you to industry thought leaders, analysts & advisors. A full blown, well executed SEO strategy will help you rank higher with search engines and stay relevant.
10) WebSite
Your website is your No # 1 door and window to the world. A responsive and well designed website can assure an excellent online presence and speed up achievement of business goals.
Feeling overpowered by the impact digital assets will wear your edtech selling strategy?