People working in the education industry have an opportunity to substantially improve marketing. With mobile applications, websites and other web-focused methods gaining momentum, it is crucial that companies start to become more purposeful in how to leverage some of the new marketing tools and services available through technology. Marketing has quickly become an important driver in relation to education management with the rapid shift to on-line and virtual training trends. To storm ahead of competitors, establish a strategy that leverages a Marketing automation tool to create targeted tracks for specific learning paths and outcomes.
Alignment of Sales and Marketing
Before you start monitoring particular marketing methods, you must perform some market research. To ensure your outsourced sales, education sales and contract sales are at an all-time high, it is vital that you incorporate elements of learning administration into your research. This process needs not be expensive or time-consuming. In fact, simple surveys and questions can shed a little light on the status of your marketing tracks.
Once target markets are identified, it’s time to start promoting and making sales. Setting up proper reporting and tracking metrics is crucial to determine the ROI you are getting on your marketing efforts. Trying various activities (Webinars, Events, Free training snippets, and campaigns with proper AB testing to name a few). If you are not converting sales from certain campaigns, move onto new ones. Improve results with the following tips:
- Highlight your competitive advantage
- Establish an image in the education field
- Spend money on activities that drive outcomes
- Test advertisements in advance
- Leverage your digital activities
Benefits of dedicated marketing for Education
Sales will get a boost by having a tailor-made marketing plan for your education business. Whether you want to build a position globally or within a targeted geographical region, be sure you establish a plan and cadence to get the attention that education deserves. Benefits of educated users include:
- Increased renewal rates
- Creating product champions
- Decreased operational support costs
- Increased user satisfaction
- Better usage/consumption rates
Targeting user needs
To start your dedicated marketing campaign, outline goals that align with your education strategy. Are you a P/L or Cost Center? Trying to drive revenue or product adoption? These types of questions are crucial at an executive level – tough to give away too much training if you are evaluated on top line revenue gains.
- Conducting surveys
- Narrowing your niche market
- Engaging with users
- Solving basic problems
Marketing automation
User response is the key to success with learning administration. You may lack the time to respond to each user individually, which is why you should consider marketing automation. This software is designed to simplify the process and it can be used as a very effective tool that can help create an ongoing digital relationship with not only new prospects, but also current product users. Some of the challenges these tools address for an education division include:
- Track and act on digital behavior
- Measure and report on marketing ROI
- Support branding and positioning of products or services
- Improve efficiency and productivity
Most Marketing Automation tools can help with many more areas than those listed. If your company already has software being used mainly for “corporate marketing” just be sure education has a dedicated marketing resource actively representing your interests.