Marketing to schools – 4 things you should know

There is a common myth that selling to schools is a closed book, that the annual education budget is spread amongst the few larger organisations lucky enough to be “in” with UK schools, and that breaking into this closed group is not possible without investing vast amounts of time and budget.

Well, you’ve guessed it, this is a downright myth! Hundreds of businesses manage to successfully market their products and services to UK schools on a daily basis. Marketing to schools is no different to marketing to any other sector of the UK economy. For marketers, the basic rules are still the same. However, those that succeed in marketing their wares to schools pay particular attention to the intricacies of the marketplace itself. So, if you are serious about obtaining some of the £83bn school budget, you must take heed of these 4 golden nuggets of marketing advice.

1. School buyers are lazy. Ok, cue scores of teachers telling us this is ridiculous, they work 80 hours a week, they work holidays, and all the other things our teacher friends tell us when we mock them for having long holidays! Well this isn’t quite what I mean. School buyers are often teachers. Teachers who have been to college and university and been taught how to teach. There is a big gap between a teacher and a professional buyer, and it is important to sympathise with this notion. Keeping your marketing simple, succinct, and to the point will attract a lot more school buyers than something which has been overthought and oversold.

2. Teacher’s time is restricted. Picture the scenario of the professional buyer. He comes to work, he may have a few meetings, he may have a report to write, he may have a presentation to prepare. Whatever, he spends plenty of time at his desk. Now picture the teacher. He has a desk, often an office to call his own. But, the majority of his time is spent in the classroom, teaching. Not one classroom, often 5 or 6 different ones every day. Contacting teachers isn’t necessarily harder than contacting buyers in other sectors, it is just really important to time your communications effectively, to ensure the teachers see it. (Early morning is often best!)

3. Teachers have budgets. Sure you already know this, but if you are going to get serious about marketing to schools, don’t forget how the buying process in schools works. Schools don’t buy to make a physical return on investment, they buy to satisfy the demands of their staff and pupils, and to make cost savings. Marketing to schools by hammering away about ROI’s and KPI’s will almost certainly get you nowhere. Outline the benefits, remember your goal is to get them to allocate budget to you, not to dig deep into their pockets and justify a purchasing decision.

4. School buyers like repetition. This may seem obvious, but look at the first 3 pieces of advice we have shared here. Lazy buyers, little time, strict budgets. Anyone suiting these traits will surely not enjoy the buying process right? Well whether they do or not, the combination of these three factors generally leads to repetition. Schools and teachers will always look to reorder if the price and service were right. This is important for 2 reasons. Firstly, when you are marketing to schools, always consider telling them that there is a long term relationship in it for them. Schools love this. Secondly, give a good service. The easiest way to market to any business is to offer a good service which makes them want to come back time after time.

And most importantly, stay in touch with the schools you have done work for! This could be telephone contact, email, even a Christmas card. It doesn’t matter, saying hello will build your brand in schools and make you an expert at marketing to schools. Good luck.

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This release was published on openPR.