When Budgets Are Tight: Top 3 Marketing Strategies for Edtech Companies
Budgets are tight for both emerging and established edtech companies, and the infamous education funding fiscal cliff of 2024 is no help. Facing the classic paradox of needing to spend more money to make money, many companies grapple with unclear marketing strategies that lead to inefficiencies and unnecessary expenses.
The good news is that using data analytics and market research removes guesswork, enabling better audience engagement and yielding stronger return on investments with time and money. Read on for three strategic marketing techniques that effectively reach K-12 district administrators without breaking the bank.
How to Build an Edtech Content Marketing Plan on a Shoestring Budget
Creating a strategic edtech content marketing plan on a budget will maximize initial reach and engagement without exhausting resources. But, it's also important to consider how these strategies fit into your company's scaling goals. Edtech companies often aim for omnipresence in the market, but it's crucial to recognize that fast growth has its own challenges. While big investments in sales and marketing can help market share, they can strain budgets, especially when up to 60% of revenue goes to these areas. Also, scaling too quickly can stretch your company beyond its capacity, often harming service quality and leading to unfulfilled promises.
Marketers need to adopt an affordable strategy that focuses on expanding reach and provides infrastructure, support, and service quality to grow proportionately. Here are three strategies for big impact with little overhead:
1. Create Relevant and Helpful Content
Blogs, how-to guides, and instructional videos are a long-term investment in edtech marketing efforts. They require slow, steady action to win over school administrators, aligning perfectly with the procurement process in schools, which is also characterized by its slow and steady nature. As a result, a consistent effort in content creation closely mirrors how districts acquire edtech solutions.
Edtech Marketing Action Step #1: Focus on DIY content creation tools and strategies to maximize reach with minimal expenditure.
Best Practices for DIY Content Creation:
Perform market research by joining social media groups with your target audience to better understand their pain points, motivations, and needs.
Write long-form blogs of at least 1500 or more words.
Use keywords in headlines, blog copy, meta descriptions, and title tags to optimize Google rankings. Just beware of keyword stuffing.
Leverage generative AI as a first draft but never as a publishable piece on the first go.
2. Use Social Media and Community Building Tactics
Organic social media engagement is a powerful marketing tactic for edtech companies. It's free to use and the potential to build inbound leads is vast. Platforms like X, LinkedIn, and Facebook have bustling social groups, meeting a pervasive need for educators: less isolation and more communities of practice.
Edtech Marketing Action Step #2: Build an online presence on social media platforms where your target audience goes to receive help and guidance.
EdWeek Market Brief highlights that Facebook and YouTube are the go-to resources for K-12 leaders, often using these platforms to find best practices and user reviews of education products they're considering. Millennial teachers draw inspiration from Pinterest, a free advertising platform edtech companies can use, as well as Instagram. Gen Z educators typically use TikTok. Every time there is a published blog, how-to guide, or instructional video, create 1-3 pins linking to this content. If you find your target audience is showing up more on platforms like Linkedin or Facebook, for example, create 1-3 posts that link to every published piece of content. Be sure to use tracking links to help you identify which social media platform generates purposeful engagement and organic traffic. Then, focus most of your energy on the channel that fosters the most traffic until it has grown significantly. Once your brand is well established on one platform, consider branching out to others.
Best Practices for DIY Social Media Strategy:
Use 2-3 relevant hashtags per post.
Show up consistently. Determine how often you can post regularly without burning yourself out. Even posting 2-3 times a week is helpful with building a community and following.
Stay human. People crave connection and genuine interaction. While it may be tempting to use AI to help with your content, it's much more powerful and effective to use your humanity to engage.
3. Make Your Edtech Email List the Ultimate Destination
Email marketing remains one of the most cost-efficient methods of engaging directly with your audience. It can be personalized, measured, and directly tied to your sales or engagement goals. If there's one way to develop a cost-effective marketing strategy, email is still the best option. Make sure your content and social media consistently encourage your target audience to join your email list. And the best way to do that is through helpful, value-packed lead magnets.
Need help finding lead magnet inspiration? Refer back to your market research and find the questions and areas of struggle. Create resources based on what your target audience needs help with. Then, they'll subscribe to your email list and get the guide. Now, you can develop a series of emails in a welcome sequence that helps your target audience get to know your company.
Edtech Marketing Action Step #3: Build your email list by offering value upfront.
Offer email subscribers exclusive content, early access to new features, and educational resources. Use tools that offer email marketing automation to manage and segment your list effectively and ensure your messages are targeted and relevant.
Best Practices for Edtech Email Marketing:
Optimize subject lines to encourage higher open rates.
Deliver personalized content by segmenting your audience based on their interests or behaviors.
Analyze open rates, click-through rates, and conversions against edtech email marketing industry standards to continuously improve your email strategy.
Level Up Your Edtech Marketing: 3 Advanced Strategies for Growth
Consistent content, social media, and email marketing support growth and build momentum without breaking the bank. The following strategies are sure to strengthen your edtech marketing strategy and foster a more targeted approach. However, for a bit more of an investment, several other methods exist to increase your marketing enablement.
1. Build Brand Partnerships and Collaborations
In the edtech space, partnering with educational providers significantly amplifies your reach without needing a large budget. These partnerships allow for co-marketing initiatives, benefiting both parties from the shared audience. Start by identifying potential partners who align with your mission and have a mutual audience but are not directly competing with your edtech solution. Attend edtech conferences, webinars, and networking events to meet these potential partners.
Action Step: Contact partners to see if they're interested in building a partnership with you.
Incentivize this partnership by creating a desirable paid sponsorship. Any time the partner refers your target audience to your company and they buy, the brand partner receives a commission or financial compensation. This incentive motivates partners to actively promote your services, effectively expanding your reach and enhancing your market presence. Structuring the partnership with clear rewards for successful referrals ensures mutual benefits and fosters long-term collaboration.
Best Practices for Brand Partnerships:
Establish clear objectives and goals for alignment.
Create a formal agreement.
Develop co-branded marketing materials, educational content, webinars, or events highlighting your brands' synergy.
Track and monitor the performance of the partnership against your objectives.
2. Gather Customer Testimonials and Create Case Studies
Customer testimonials and case studies are powerful tools to build trust and demonstrate the value of your product or service. They serve as social proof and product efficacy that can sway school administrators.
Action Step: Actively and continuously collect feedback and success stories from your users.
This can be done through surveys, direct interviews, or incentivized requests. Once collected, showcase these testimonials and case studies on your website, your marketing materials, and social media platforms.
Best Practices for Testimonials and Case Studies:
Choose real stories that highlight specific benefits of your product or service.
Apart from written testimonials, consider video testimonials or case study webinars for a more engaging approach.
Focus on the results and outcomes achieved by your customers, as these are most relevant to potential users.
Link case studies in email sequences to nurture leads and provide concrete evidence of efficacy.
Hire or use an in-house graphic designer to make case studies visually appealing (like this example from our client Advanced Collaborative Solutions).
3. Leverage Search Engine Optimization Tools for More Visibility
Optimizing your online content for search engines makes your edtech solution easily discoverable. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) significantly increases your website's visibility, drives more organic traffic, and generates leads without substantial investment. There are subscription-based SEO tools available to help increase your rankings, like:
Action Step: Conduct keyword research to understand the terms and phrases your target audience uses when searching for edtech solutions like yours.
Use these insights to create and optimize website content, blog posts, and marketing assets. Additionally, ensure that your site structure, speed, and mobile usability are optimized for the best user experience, as these factors influence your search engine ranking.
Best Practices for SEO:
Focus on creating valuable, informative content that addresses the needs and questions of your audience.
Regularly update your content to keep it fresh and relevant.
Use internal and external links wisely to boost your site's authority and help users find more in-depth information.
Monitor your SEO performance using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to understand what works and where there's room for improvement.
Integrate social media sharing options to increase the visibility of your content and encourage engagement.
Strengthen Your Edtech Marketing Plan with a Budget-Friendly Approach
Effective edtech marketing doesn't require a hefty budget. Strategic content marketing, social media engagement, and email marketing support substantial growth for edtech companies. The key is to be consistent, authentic, and strategic. Focus on genuine problems faced by educators and administrators, and you’ll position your company as an indispensable partner. The additional layer of advanced strategies, including brand partnerships, customer testimonials, and SEO optimization, serves to augment the foundational pillars of edtech marketing.
By adopting these cost-effective strategies, you’ll reach your target audience, build meaningful relationships, and significantly impact school districts. Check out our free resources to begin strengthening your edtech marketing strategy today.