School management services are one of the most popular services promoted to the UK education sector, so being straight-up honest with you, you’ve got a battle on your hands to make sure your company stands out head and shoulders above the school management crowd.

Having designed and completed hundreds of marketing campaigns promoting school management services to the education sector we know what will work.

That is what this report is all about, helping you to delve into the belly of the beast of marketing to schools, so you can make a huge difference to the number of schools, teachers, and students benefitting from your top-notch school management services.

Insight #1: Quantities of decision-makers

You lucky devils! When it comes to a target audience, you guys are pretty spoilt for choice. Not only will you want to target the more obvious decision makers like the Head Teachers, CEOs, and Governors, but you’ve also got a whole host of other teacher types that will have an interest in you depending on your own specific service.

There are over 450,000 teachers within UK educational establishments, of which we have over 400,000 named teachers across 31,000 establishments within our Education Database. The vast majority of these will be involved one way or another with school management, and we can contact them for you.

Insight #2: Don’t neglect the Deputy Heads!

If you’re promoting a product or service that will enable the SMT to manage their school more efficiently, and offer time and money savings, then the key contact for you is the Deputy Head.

Not only does the Deputy Head receive significantly less marketing than the Head Teacher or Bursar, but they are also more receptive to marketing that offers them an opportunity to distinguish themselves with a school improvement project.

Don’t forget that many of these people aspire to be Head Teachers so are always on the lookout for an innovative way of improving the management of their school.

Insight #3: Highlight direct inspection evidence

It may seem obvious but the SMT are judged by how their school is rated by their inspection board. These people are held accountable for their school’s performance so you need to demonstrate clearly how your offering is going to help them meet the key criteria.

You can do this in a variety of ways; using quantitative case studies of previous clients, highlighting recent relevant inspection reports, or referring to specific criteria that your service helps them to meet.

Insight #4: Become a thought leader

When promoting a service that is going to change the way a school is managed, it’s crucial that you position yourself as a thought leader and go that extra mile to demonstrate your expertise.

Send them an industry whitepaper to provide them with some real value and showcase your knowledge before you start selling to them.

By doing so, you’ll take a huge leap in front of your competitors. In our edu-business survey, only 15.1% of companies had integrated free eBooks, whitepapers, and reports into their 2020 marketing strategy. Yet, in our accompanying teacher survey, 61.6% of schools wanted businesses to share free resources to better support and serve schools.

Don your creative caps, put together an insightful, high-quality free whitepaper, and await your stream of fresh-hot leads who now see you as one of the top dogs in your industry!

Insight #5: Quantify time and money savings

If you’re offering a product or service that is going to help the SMT manage their school more efficiently, then it’s really important to quantify why teachers should buy from you.

Instead of making vague assertions about the benefits you can offer, give an example of a school that has adopted your product or service, and illustrate in an eye catching way the savings that they were able to make.

And don’t just express the cost savings or earnings as a percentage. Make sure you show teachers the value in £££ so that they can visualise where they could spend this extra money!

Insight #6: Education-specific landing pages

For some providers, particularly careers and tutoring businesses, the education sector may not be your sole focus. Your software may have different versions for other businesses and industries, or simply different focuses for parents/carers, students, and school types.

There’s obviously nothing wrong with that. However, the companies that strike gold are those that can show they are experts in the education sector.

There is no better way of showing this than by creating an education-specific landing page on your website, showcasing the range of services that you have provided to existing school clients. Ensuring teachers click from an education-focused email to a matching landing page will ensure the smoothest journey possible. There’ll be no confusion, teachers can read the information relevant to them in as few clicks as possible, and you’ll reassure them that you know your stuff when it comes to their industry.

Insight #7: Your audience is (very) mobile

Our last email analytics study revealed that 59% of emails are now opened on mobile.

That’s a 10% growth since our last study, and it’s likely that percentage is growing on a daily basis.

Creating mobile-compatible emails is particularly important for you guys. Your email send lists might include some of the more tech-savvy members of staff, who’ll be the audience most likely to be reading emails on their mobile devices. They’re also the most likely to have a negative reaction to emails that render poorly; up to 80% delete emails instantly if they do not render correctly.

If you’re wanting to convince teachers your school management system is high-quality, bullet-proof, and compatible with a wide range of other technology products, you’ll need to make sure your emails not only look visually stunning, but work correctly on a multitude of devices.

Insight #8: Monitor regulation changes

In the vast majority of schools, the chameleon-like Senior Management Team have to double up as an array of different people – Recruitment Officers, Human Resource Managers, Health and Safety Inspectors, Legal Experts... the list goes on.

The SMT have to react constantly to new and changing guidelines and regulations. The implications for the SMT can be massive, and anything you can offer to help facilitate the change and reduce the headache is going to be received with open arms.

Insight #9: Offer a face-to-face meeting

Many SMS providers are not willing to offer a face to face meeting as part of their marketing strategy; and that’s great news for the rest of you! Not only is the meeting invitation the best way of generating a high number of leads, but the meeting itself offers you the best possible conversion rate.

Your people are your company’s greatest marketing asset. No matter how good your SMS is, it’s the relationships that they are able to build that will encourage interested teachers to take that final step and the best way to start forming those relationships is to meet in person.

Insight #10: Focus on the change process

Change is daunting. Especially when it’s potentially affecting so many people (the leadership team, teaching staff, pupils, parents, governors).

If your offering has far-reaching implications for the wider school community then it’s essential that you focus on how you are going to help them manage the change process so that their stakeholders get the support they need, when they need it.

If you can make the SMT’s life easier then they will be more inclined to invest their budgets with you!

What next?

Get in touch and ask us about what we can do for you!

Our number is 01684 297374, or you can email info@sprint-education.co.uk.

That way, we can talk specifically about your offer and see how we can boost your marketing effort to schools quickly and effectively.

Tags
Education Marketing How to Sell to Schools How to Sell to Teachers Marketing to Education Marketing to Schools Marketing to Teachers

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