Best way to target schools through education marketing
13/02/2013
Creating promotions as part of an education marketing strategy can a difficult task. Many businesses try to target teachers and for good reason, they are the catalyst to many major buying decisions, from choice of stationery and equipment to text books and more. The nature of the teacher’s jobs means that targeting them often proves difficult. But what are the best ways to target teachers? Will traditional marketing methods work?
Sales meeting
Trying to set up a sales meeting with a teacher is virtually impossible. As teachers will tell you, they have no time and are constantly rushing around. They are usually either dedicated their time to teaching students (and rightly so) or planning lessons (they would not want to be disturbed) or at home outside of traditional business hours. Salesmen will have a tough time finding the time to deliver a pitch so alternative methods need to be arranged.
Direct marketing
Direct marketing used to be a great way targeting teachers and still has its benefits today. It’s a measurable method of marketing as you can measure the response rate. The downside of this is that mailing can be very inefficient and is not very cost effective. It is also time consuming and not environmentally friendly. Unless you know a reputable education marketing company who know exactly how to target individuals in schools, the mail often doesn’t get past the gatekeeper or receptions. The jury is still out on this form of education marketing as it does have success in some cases.
Using the internet
As with most people, an increasing amount of teachers use the internet to browse for education resources and equipment. Make sure you invest in on-going SEO services so that you can give yourself the best chance in the search engines by having a high ranking site. Engaging content is the way to grab the reader’s attention - in most cases, content is king. This strategy must form part of your education marketing plan.
