Aligning Your Content Strategy to the Education Buying Process, Part 1

As we head into the new school year, many EdTech companies are crafting their sales and marketing strategies. It is critical to consider the customer’s perspective during your planning process. There is a clear sales cycle in the education buying process informed by major milestones that occur throughout the school calendar year.

While schools and classrooms may purchase off-cycle, most district purchases occur once per year. This is especially true when using school operating funds or other competitive state or federal funding to make the purchases. It is important to understand the district sales cycle and build a marketing and sales plan to support these customer milestones.

• May-August: Needs assessment

• June-October: Goal setting

• November-February: Gathering information on new products to research

• February-April: Research new products; engage with sales representatives

• May-July: Purchasing decisions are made

Let’s dive into each milestone above to learn more about a district’s customer journey throughout the calendar year:

Late Spring/Summer: Needs assessment

• During this time, districts conduct needs assessments to understand what support is required to increase student and teacher outcomes. EdTech providers should share information about the pain points and the problems for which they can help.

Summer/Early Fall: Goal setting

• During this time, districts are setting goals for the outcomes they want to achieve during the upcoming school year or years. When setting district plans, they decide on investments they need to achieve their goals. When doing so, they may put together rubrics or outline their must-haves in a solution so that when they move to the next stage of gathering information, they can effectively compare potential solutions. EdTech providers should research district accounts to prioritize outreach. After they identify priority accounts, they can align their sales pitch to emphasize key messages for how they can support the district or school’s plan.

Late Fall/Winter: Gathering information on new products to research

• During this time, districts are conducting research on new products or solutions. EdTech providers should create content and campaigns that tie pain points directly to how their solution helps solve them. This is also an important time to meet potential customers where they already are to share these key messages. If they are attending events, webinars, or tradeshows to get more information, you want to ensure you are present, so they include your company during the information-gathering stage.

Winter/Early Spring: Research new products/Engage with sales representatives

• During this time, districts have narrowed down their list of products/providers after researching and are interested in having more in-depth conversations with sales representatives. EdTech companies want to create and share decision-stage content such as evaluation tools and proof points, and sales representatives want to be prepared for demo conversations and proposals. This is also a good time for EdTech providers to educate districts about ways to fund their purchases.

Late Spring/Early Summer: Purchasing decisions are made

• Most purchasing decisions are made during this time. Districts are committing funds from their operating budget and making plans for allocating state and federal funds. This is a good time for EdTech providers to share funding grants or other means for districts and schools to purchase solutions.

While keeping in mind the sales cycle, companies should not forget to create content across every stage of the buyer’s journey.

• Awareness Stage

• Consideration Stage

• Decision Stage

In part two of this series, we will dive deeper into the types of content EdTech companies can create during the awareness, consideration, and decision stages.

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If you need help mapping your overarching marketing strategy to a robust content and campaign strategy, I can help. Contact me to learn more about my experience working with EdTech companies to outline marketing program recommendations.

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