12 Shocking Secrets. When Selling to Schools. Sprint The 12 Shocking Secrets When Selling to Schools

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1 12 Shocking Secrets When Selling to Schools Sprint Education is part of Sprint Media Limited Duddage Manor Business Park, Tewkesbury, GL20 6BY 1

2 HOW TO SELL TO SCHOOLS Transform your whole education marketing strategy into one powerful selling machine. STRATEGY Direct /postal contact with teachers Foster awareness and drive conversions Analyse, measure, and improve EDUCATION DATA ANALYTICS GET IN TOUCH SEMINARS POST 2

3 The 12 Shocking Marketing Secrets When Selling to Schools By Jackie O Shea A Google certified marketing expert and seasoned manager of over 2,000 school marketing campaigns Jackie is the straight talking marketing specialist you should be calling upon to make a difference to your school selling strategy. Get in touch: jackie@sprint-education.co.uk 3

4 Now is The year of shocks and surprises. Let s be honest up until now marketing to schools and teachers has been pretty straightforward. But now things are about to be shaken up, so prepare to be rocked to your core, and forget everything you thought you knew about marketing to schools. So why not jump aboard our ship for your marketing to schools so you don t sink. With our help, that ship could quickly become a speedboat propelling you towards higher sales and a sturdier market position. 4

5 Shock #1 FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR FUNNEL Trying to sell to a teacher at the top of your sales funnel (i.e. at first contact) is the equivalent of moving in for a smooch on a first date in the 1950 s; sometimes you ll get lucky, but mostly you ll be sent packing! Take the time to get to know the teachers, and build trust by providing them with some value for free. Why not firstly position yourself as a thought leader by sending them a free report or inviting them to a free webinar? 5

6 Start creating content for each stage of your funnel, i.e. educational blog posts / reports for the top of the funnel, case studies for middle-of-the-funnel prospects, and buyer s guides and executive value guides for the bottom of the funnel. Jackie O Shea Sprint Education If you are not already focusing on it, study and understand your own company s sales funnel. By doing so you will begin to move different teachers at different stages of the buying cycle through the funnel at a speed that suits them. Meaning your marketing can be segmented for maximum efficiency, and then provide a steady high-quality flow of leads for your sales team to reel in. 6

7 Shock #2 TEACHERS LOVE VIDEOS Video has been used in marketing for years, but short punchy video blogs that will engage with teachers on a new level can work. Whether on YouTube, Vimeo, you re your own website/blog, video will allow you to put a memorable human face to your company, and nowadays the face (or people) within your company are far more important than just a pretty logo. THREE FACTS ABOUT VIDEO: 1. Include the word video in your subject line to increase open rates by 13% 2. Embed a video in your to increase click-throughs by 96% 3. Include videos on your landing pages to increase conversions by 86% 7

8 Shock #3 TEACHERS ARE MOBILE I remember when I was at school my phone had to be kept hidden away at all times. Well times have changed since then, as now even teachers access their s on mobiles. We estimate up to 44% of s are opened on mobiles. Sophie our Head Designer is an expert in creating mobile responsive s. Sophie Scott-Lewis Sprint Education Mobile is massive! If s are not mobile compatible then 80% are deleted instantly. Ask your designer if they are creating mobile compatible s for you. If not send them to bed early without pudding, because that is not good enough! 8

9 Shock #4 BUDGETS ARE ON THE UP, AGAIN! School budgets continue to grow by 1.5%. So if you were thinking of delaying your marketing, think again. Teachers have an estimated total budget of 88.6 billion! So why not spend it with you? Estimated Education Budget ( billion) Year 2004 Year 2005 Year 2006 Year 2007 Year 2008 Year 2009 Year 2010 Year 2011 Year 2012 Year 2013 Year

10 Shock #5 IN THE AFTERNOON IT WORKS! Sending your in the afternoon goes against every marketing to schools textbook that s ever been written. However the continuing rise in s being opened on mobile devices means that sending after 3pm might actually help your dodge the morning inbox logjam. A recent we broadcast to schools at 4pm actually saw an open rate 9% higher than the industry average. What s more the received a click-through rate of 3.2% which backs up recent industry reports that clickthrough rates are higher on mobile devices. 10

11 Shock #6 PINTEREST IS BETTER THAN TWITTER I love social media. It s essential in your marketing mix that s for sure, but I do struggle to see the benefit of Twitter outside of personal tweeting. When it comes to business why not be brave and set up a Pinterest (or Instagram) account instead? Pinterest allows you to upload photos that represent your brand, ethos, your team members, and product shots. John Smith Sprint Education If I sold training workshops to schools what would be more powerful, a Tweet saying come to our next workshop, or a selection of photos visually showing how engaging and exciting previous workshops have been? 11

12 Shock #7 PROMOTE SOCIAL SHARING Okay social media is not really a shock but still, this is too important a point not to highlight to you include social sharing buttons on your landing pages. Landing pages containing social sharing buttons will improve your average click-through rate from 2.4% to 6.2%. That equates to a 158% increase in your click-through rates, and if the teacher then chooses to Like or Follow you, you ve got a new channel of communication opened up for you. 12

13 Shock #8 FREE SHOULD NEVER BE FREE By giving teachers something valuable (whether it be a free product to test, or a free lesson plan) you are building confidence and trust in your brand. However, even though your freebee should not cost anything you should be asking for something else in exchange and that is information on each individual teacher s persona. Ben Lewis Sprint Education Ask for information that will drive your future marketing strategies. Not just their name and , but more qualitative data such as job role, budget to spend, what would make their job easier, and what times of the year they might be interested in your services. 13

14 Shock #9 WORK OUT YOUR MARKETING BLUEPRINT It is different for each company, but you all have a blueprint for success when it comes to winning prospective clients over. I could go on and on about this but I won t as it is already covered extensively in a whitepaper we wrote recently which you can read at the link below: /assets/uploads/reports/pdf/blueprint-for-success.pdf 14

15 Shock #10 THROW AWAY YOUR MARKETING PLAN At the heart of Agile Marketing is the belief that there is no longer a place for a marketing plan in your marketing plan. Does that make sense? In simple terms; your most effective marketing activities will be those that respond quickly to topical news stories or events, and not those that can be planned in advance. At Sprint we ve been harping on about how important it is to be aware of all the mini events and celebrations in the school calendar for quite some time now. But reacting quickly to topical news stories within the education sector should also be an essential part of your marketing to schools strategy. Social media also gives you the opportunity to react almost instantly to breaking news stories and ride on the back of popular trends, and it is still very relevant to marketing. 15

16 Shock #11 DON T ALWAYS CONTACT THE HEAD The Deputy Head will move above the Head Teacher as the key contact when promoting services that improve the school in some way. Deputy Heads receive less marketing than Heads, plus most Deputy Heads aspire to be Head Teachers so they re often looking for a project to distinguish themselves. If you can provide them with such an opportunity they will bite! Guy Lewis Sprint Education These teachers are some of the most powerful, yet commonly forgotten teachers in the education sector. We have 23,557 named Deputy and Assistant Head Teachers in our Education Database ready for you to contact directly. 16

17 Shock #12 CONTENT IS KING Back in 2013 we championed the rise of inbound marketing to schools and this method will only become more important if you want to grow your business. The key to this is well-written, personable and relevant copy. By offering teachers quality content that meets their challenges whilst teaching, finds better solutions, and makes their life easier, you will be on to a winner. Jackie O Shea Sprint Education We ve nurtured our copywriting skills to teachers carefully over the years of selling to schools, and it s fair to say that if one of our creative team writes and designs your marketing, your results will improve. 17

18 This year make your marketing Remarkable Together we can revolutionise your marketing to schools and teachers in, and make the year ahead your best yet. This will only be attainable by moving forward continually with your marketing strategies and concepts. Just remember at any point of the year, if your enthusiasm or the time that you can commit to your schools marketing begins to wane, call on Sprint Education to give your sales that much needed boost. See us as a can of red bull, or a shot of caffeine for your marketing this year. Good luck! Jackie O Shea Head of Client Success Sprint Education 18

19 T: I E: info@sprint-education.co.uk I W: Sprint Education is part of Sprint Media Limited, Duddage Manor Business Park, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 6BY Sprint Media Limited registered in England and Wales, no: VAT reg. no: