Follow our 6 step marketing strategy to plan your marketing to schools for the year ahead.
From the best way to push your marketing campaign out, to reviewing your success, our 6 step strategy covers it all.
In fact, we’ve been marketing to schools for over 20 years and we still always follow these steps to help our clients get the best engagement rates.
Plus, our top tips and key insights will enhance your marketing and boost your engagement rates.
Step 1: Segment your data
Decision makers
There are over 30,000 educational establishments in the UK, and within those, hundreds of thousands of decision makers. Think about who is most likely to buy your product OR who can speak to the person that is likely to buy.
Area
You can segment your data by UK country, county, postcode radius and more. You could even test different areas of the UK to see which get the highest engagement rates and best sales figures for you.
School size
When it comes to the schools you’d like to target, consider whether your product or service is based on a per pupil pricing system. You can decide whether to target big or small schools. The good news is, we can help you to see how many pupils are on roll in any school across the country.
School type
Take a look at our UK schools guide to see the type of schools you can target. Think about whether your product or service is aimed at a particular age group, or who it would benefit more.
Top tip: Think about who can use your product or service before deciding who to target. You’ll be able to run a more effective and successful marketing campaign.
Step 2: Identify the best time to send your campaign
The best time to send your marketing campaign will depend on your product or service. Think about what you’re offering. Does it tie in with a particular time of year, school event or holiday?
At Buzz Education, we know that campaigns sent at the start of term always get good engagement.
This is because schools are looking to find new resources and products for their pupils before they come back to start the year.
The weeks leading up to the start of the new financial year are also a great time to run your marketing campaign.
Key insight: 80% of schools start budget planning at least 3 to 6 months before the start of the new financial year.
Step 3: Choose your marketing channel
Choosing the right marketing channel is key to helping you get the success that you’re hoping for. We’ve broken it down, so you can find the strategy that works best for you:
Email marketing
Email marketing is the best form of direct marketing there is. It’s the cheapest and quickest way to reach your target whilst getting great engagement and a wide reach. In our 2021 Schools Survey, we found that 68% of teachers like to hear about new teaching resources by email.
Postal marketing
Every school has a postal address, so by using postal marketing you’d be targeting the schools directly and delivering important information about your product or service straight to the intended audience. Schools receive less postal mail these days, so it’s a good way to stand out from the crowd.
Top tip: Whichever marketing channel you decide on, make sure to focus your strategy on building a connection with schools.
Step 4: Create your campaign
Here comes the fun part, creating the campaign. At Buzz Education, we’ve got content writers and designers to help our clients create the best campaigns.
First, you should decide on an aim for your campaign. Think about what you’re trying to achieve and what action you want teachers to take. Do you want them to:
- Request more information?
- Sign-up (for a newsletter or free trial)?
- Book a demo?
Once you’ve got a clear aim, it’ll be much easier to write the content.
Your content should then make it easy for teachers to take the desired action. You should:
- Understand their existing problem and offer a solution.
- Clearly state the benefits of your product or service.
- Offer value to schools and teachers.
We also know that using names and job titles to personalise emails is a great way to increase engagement rates so remember to include named decision makers in your mailing list.
Top tip: Offer the reader something for free. Our research shows that campaigns with free trials raise engagement rates by 30%.
Need some inspiration?
Look at some of our email creations.
Step 5: Review what you’ve done
Take the time to review the results of your campaign. You can judge the success in a number of ways:
Review your 7-day analytics
Waiting 7 days to take a look at your open and click-through rates is helpful. It gives teachers time to open and engage with the email, and ultimately, time for them to make a decision.
Work with your campaign manager
Looking over the campaign, analytics and campaign report with a campaign manager is important and their expertise means you’ll get all the best tips.
Check your stats
This is vital to help you judge how successful the campaign was. You’ll be able to see if the campaign boosted your website visits, enquiries or sales.
Top tip: Make reviewing the campaign analytics part of your marketing strategy. It’ll point out strengths and weaknesses in your campaigns.
Step 6: Refine the process
Make sure you keep the cycle going, over and over again.
Broadcast → Review → Refine
Gathering and reviewing your campaign data and analytics helps when you come to refine your marketing campaign process. You’ll be able to see what’s worked for you and what hasn’t.
Continually testing, refining and improving your campaign will help you find a successful marketing strategy that works for you.
Need any help getting started with your marketing strategy?
From writing and designing email campaigns to helping you segment your data, our friendly team will work with you to develop a marketing strategy that works for you.
Email info@buzz-education.com or call us on 01257 460036 to learn more about how we can help with your marketing to schools strategy.
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