2025 K-12 Marketing Benchmarks Are In: How Does Your Strategy Stack Up?
If you market products or services to the K-12 education space, you already know: this sector is different.
From long buying cycles and budget-driven decisions to a crowded vendor landscape and limited access to key decision-makers, marketing to schools takes more than luck or a flashy ad. Tack on shifting federal funding and you’ve got yourself a tall order for effective marketing. For your marketing efforts to work in the K-12 education space, it takes data-backed decisions, channel-specific expertise, and ongoing performance evaluation.
That’s exactly why we created the 2025 K-12 Marketing Benchmarks Report—your go-to guide for knowing what “good” looks like in this complex market. Based on trusted sources like HubSpot, GetResponse, and Hootsuite, this resource cuts through the noise and tells you where your metrics should be to stay competitive.
Download the full 2025 K-12 Marketing Benchmarks Report here.
Why Benchmarks Matter More Than Ever in K-12 Marketing
It’s not enough to just launch a campaign anymore. You need to track, compare, and optimize against performance data—especially in the education sector, where marketing budgets are under constant scrutiny.
Without benchmarks, marketers are flying blind, unable to assess what’s working or worth the investment. In K-12, where timing, trust, and tailored messaging are everything, that risk is even greater.
Plus, with competition at an all-time high, staying informed helps you outpace similar companies targeting the same districts, schools, and decision-makers.
The Numbers: 2025 Email, Social, and Paid Media Benchmarks in Education
Here’s a snapshot of what this year’s marketing data is telling us:
Email Marketing in K-12 Education
Open Rate: 37.35%
Click-Through Rate: 2.56%
Click-to-Open Rate: 6.76%
Unsubscribe Rate: 0.18%
Education Marketing Tip: Education audiences do open email—but they don’t always act. Test more specific subject lines (avoid vague terms like “update” or “announcement”), use preview text strategically, and keep content short with one clear CTA.
How Ed2Market Helps: For one of our K-12 certification partners, we helped boost their email CTR to 12.56% (far exceeding the industry goal of 3+%) with targeted campaigns by tightening message structure, using audience segmentation, and improving CTA clarity.
Google Ads in Education B2B
CTR (Search): 3.78%
CPC (Search): $2.40
Cost Per Lead (Search): $72.70
CTR (Display): 0.53%
CPC or “Cost Per Click” (Display): $0.47
CPL or “Cost Per Lead” (Display): $143.36
Education Marketing Tip: Lower your CPL by refining keyword intent. Use negative keywords to eliminate unqualified traffic and test ad copy that speaks directly to pain points—like school safety, learning loss, or behavior support.
Ed2Market in Action: A targeted PPC ad strategy, with ongoing testing and refinement, has continually achieved exceptional results for one of our curriculum provider partners. In Q1 2025, one campaign achieved a notably high 41.31% click-through rate (CTR), significantly increased lead generation, and provided valuable insights into audience content preferences.
Organic and Paid Social Media in the Education Sector
LinkedIn Engagement Rate: 1.8%
Instagram Engagement Rate: 4.7%
Facebook Engagement Rate: 3.6%
LinkedIn Ad CTR: 8.49%
LinkedIn Ad CPL: $64
Instagram Ad CTR (feed): 0.22%
Cost Per Click (Facebook Ads): $2.03
Education Marketing Tip: Use platform-specific creative. Carousel posts, reels, and video clips perform best across most channels. For ads, keep copy short, include testimonials or outcomes, and target roles like Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, and School Psychologists based on pain points.
Ed2Market Success Story: For a curriculum provider targeting school and district leaders, we launched an organic social initiative using graphics, carousels, and reels/videos, supported by strategic post boosting. This resulted in major increases in post engagement across channels: +622.4% on Facebook, +6037.5% on Instagram, and +239.3% on LinkedIn.
5 Tips for Using This Data to Strengthen Your K-12 Marketing Strategy
Benchmark Every Channel Monthly
Track your own CTRs, CPLs, open rates, and engagement alongside these industry averages. Tools like HubSpot or Google Analytics make it easy to keep tabs. Seeing how you measure up will help you identify weak spots and shift budget to what works.
Segment and Personalize
You can’t send the same message to a Superintendent as you would to a School Counselor. Micro-segmentation leads to higher engagement and lower CPLs. Personalized content shows decision-makers that you understand their needs.
Reallocate Budgets Based on Performance, Not Trends
Just because everyone’s investing in Instagram doesn’t mean you should. If LinkedIn is producing better leads at a lower cost, double down. Benchmarks help guide smarter spend allocation.
Map Campaigns to the School Year and State
Remember, education purchasing is seasonal and every state has different needs and requirements. Q1 and Q3 often see slower engagement, while summer and fall are prime decision-making periods. Tailor your messaging and media spend accordingly.
Test, Learn, Optimize—Repeat
Use benchmarks to guide A/B testing. Try subject line variants, different ad formats, or CTA placements. A small tweak can yield major performance improvements.
Partner with Ed2Market: Your K-12 Marketing Growth Partner
Benchmarks are just the beginning. The real magic happens when you translate those numbers into strategies that work—and that’s where Ed2Market comes in.
From email and paid media to organic social and district outreach, we help K-12 education companies:
Optimize campaigns to exceed industry standards
Build credibility with school decision-makers
Generate leads that convert into long-term partnerships
We’ve helped edtech brands, PD providers, curriculum developers, and nonprofit education organizations improve marketing performance, boost ROI, and achieve their goals with smarter strategies and more efficient execution.
Download the 2025 Marketing Benchmarks Report now to see where you stand—and where you could go with Ed2Market in your corner.
Ready to stop guessing and start growing? Let’s talk about how we can help your next campaign crush the benchmarks. Contact us today.
Author Name: Katie Stoddard
Katie Stoddard is the President and Founder of Ed2Market. With a background in teaching and 15+ years in education marketing, she helps brands connect with schools and educators.