Why K-12 Authors and Speakers Need a Marketing Strategy—And How to Create Yours!
The K-12 market is buzzing with professional learning publishers and companies who are selling professional development (PD) solutions to schools and districts around the country. These companies are often backed by large marketing teams who strategically think through every part of their outreach plans with sizeable marketing budgets at hand.
In addition to these organizations, thousands of authors and speakers are out in the world selling themselves and self-promoting their speaking business as well as books, courses, coaching, and more. While some of these thought leaders have a strong social media presence or a network of fans or, dare we say, “groupies,” many others are navigating the self-promotion space with little direction.
The Solution? Start with a Plan
Authors and speakers need to develop a strategic marketing plan to guide outreach efforts. This plan should support your individual goals or needs, and it should represent the channels or outlets that you want to utilize. For example, if you hate social media, don’t make it the cornerstone of your marketing strategy. If podcasts make you cringe, don’t reach out to hosts to secure guest appearances.
A marketing strategy or plan serves as a roadmap. When tied to your individual goals, it allows you to ensure that your marketing has a purpose. It’s no longer about making sure to tweet or fitting in the next email newsletter when you have time, but instead it becomes strategic with actual tactics and activities that help you meet your goals. And no, not every tactic on your plan will result in sales, but the plan keeps your efforts on track and will allow you to optimize your strategy as you go.
Before You Craft Your K-12 Marketing Plan
While the idea of sitting down and putting pen to paper might be a nice idea, it’s more important to have a true understanding of your offering and your place in the market before you begin. Let’s take a look at how to do this:
1. Identify Your Audience (And Know Where to Find Them)
While all educators may be your potential audience, there are likely segments or groups who make up your true audience. For example, if you are a K-5 math author or service provider, your core audience is likely elementary math teachers, math leadership roles within the school and district, school leadership, and people involved in instructional leadership decisions. But let’s dig deeper. If your goal is to book ten speaking days, are math teachers your true audience? They may physically be present in your speaking audience, but they often aren’t making the decisions around booking your consulting services or buying your product.
Now that you’ve defined your audience, think about where they spend their time. Where do they get content? Which conferences do they attend? Are they following other speakers on social media? Once you can understand where you can find them, you can start thinking through your plan to put yourself in front of them. For example, if they are Directors of Curriculum & Instruction who attend ASCD’s Annual Conference, make sure you are submitting proposals to speak at that event. Or if they are Directors of PD and likely engaged with Learning Forward, look into submitting an article or blog post to member publications or engage with similar organizations actively on Twitter.
Check out our free Audience Persona Planner to get started with this exercise.
2. Define Your Brand Message (And Know Which Problems You Solve)
Your brand message is an internal understanding of what you are selling and how it is unique. It helps you define the “what” and gives you clarity if you’re in a situation where you may be selling more than one area of expertise.
Can you clearly articulate answers to the following questions?
What is your expertise?
Why should anyone hire YOU?
What can you do that no one else can?
How do your other specialty areas connect to your "core offering"?
One problem that many K-12 consultants have is that they are unable to distinguish themselves from other market players. There may be 500 other speakers who consult on similar topics, and so you need to identify what you do differently that can help you stand out from the crowd.
For example, if your expertise is student engagement, start to think about the details that can define your brand and differentiate you from others. Do you have significant experience in rural settings? Do you focus on engagement with ELL or SPED students? Has your expertise been more successful within secondary settings?
Once you’ve identified the “what,” you must think about your audience and why they need this service. Instead of focusing on the what, focus on “how” your service or product solves your audience’s problems. Instead of stating that you sell consulting services on improving student engagement for secondary students, reframe this as your focus on student engagement helps secondary schools increase student attendance and achievement, resulting in higher graduation rates and more students being accepted to four-year colleges.
3. Understand the Market (And Where You Fit In)
The last part of starting with a marketing strategy is understanding the market and where you fit within it. Explore PD companies, publishers, other authors and speakers, and education associations in the same space as yours.
One way to start is to:
Follow them on social media, read their books, sign up for their emails, attend webinars and conferences, and listen to podcasts.
Identify what you like and don’t like about their messaging.
Determine if there are any strategies you want to replicate.
Understand what is missing—and what you can do better!
After beginning with this initial research, it’s time to develop your marketing plan. At Ed2Market, we’re here to help you get started! Get in touch today and let’s strategize.