Marketing an edtech product to a college takes time and effort. Colleges are large and have ecosystems within them, especially at universities with multiple colleges or locations. Due to the number of people and processes involved, it can be hard to identify the right buyer and stay patient through a long sales process. Here are some things for edtech leaders to keep in mind when marketing to colleges.
1 - Understand who you're marketing to
Many people are involved in making a purchase for a college, and they each have specialized roles within the university and the buying process. Because of this, your marketing efforts will benefit from targeting multiple people within the institution. Keep in mind that if you're marketing your edtech product to every person at the college with the same content and messages, you'll miss out. A general email won't catch the attention as well as a more specific message tailored to their role and needs.
Work with your sales team and do your own research to understand the day-to-day role of all the people involved in the purchase of your product and their role in the buying process. You will likely be marketing to people who are influencers, internal champions of your product, and decision-makers.
Segment your marketing efforts into groups to make your marketing more relevant. You will have to be reasonable in segmenting based on the capabilities and resources of your marketing team. You might want to identify two to three segments to start with if you have a small marketing team.
For example, if you're marketing a product that helps students with mental health, your segments may be professors who are the influencers since they are on the front line dealing with the students, the directors of student affairs who are the champions who will understand the impact your product could make, and the dean of students who will be the decision-makers and can approve the expense. Your marketing messages and how you reach each segment should be relevant to their needs to get their attention.
2 - Know your competitors
Depending on the price of your edtech product, your sales team may need to go through a procurement process to meet the institution's triple-bid requirements. This is why it helps to find a champion who supports your product over competitors to help guide your sales team in the bidding process.
To help arm your sales team for these conversations, create content that highlights how your edtech product is different from competitors' products. This content could include internal talking points, competitor battle cards, and feature comparison checklists.
For new leads, create content like articles, videos, webinars, and case studies highlighting your product's advantages. Share these on your website, in emails, and through social media to reach people researching your company or already in your system as part of nurture campaigns.
3 - Create an integrated long-term marketing plan
Marketing to colleges is not a quick process. Between underresourced teams within a college, the annual budget cycle, and the number of people involved in a buying decision, it could take three months to three years to make a sale!
When marketing to colleges, don't settle on sending one email or sponsoring one conference. Develop a long-term integrated plan that runs at least six months across various channels so you can reach your target audiences in different ways and stay top of mind.
For example, if you are sponsoring a conference, create surrounding content like a webinar before or after, multiple social media posts, emails from marketing, and personalized emails from sales to get the most out of your conference sponsorship.
4 - Build credibility
While marketing generates and nurtures leads, the marketing activities should also build credibility for your company in the higher education industry. Given the specialized roles people have within a college or university, a goal of your marketing efforts should be to get them to see that you understand their needs and that your company is trusted by other institutions like them. Promoting your authority will help encourage potential buyers to check you out and get behind your company through the lengthy decision-making process.
To build credibility for your edtech company through marketing, feature people and stories in your content marketing to showcase expertise, such as a customer, another trusted company in the higher ed space you partner with, or an expert within your team. Feature them in webinars, workshops, and case studies.
When marketing to colleges, understand that long-term planning will benefit you and try not to let last-minute fires get in the way. It's a long process, and there are many people within the institution that you will need to reach in your marketing. Researching to understand your target audience and competitors will help you develop integrated marketing activities that attract people and keep your company top of mind.
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