Decoding the School Purchasing Cycle
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Learn how to tailor your message for where your audience is in the buying cycle, and what channels work best during different times of the school year.
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Decoding the School Purchasing Cycle
- 1. Decoding the School Purchasing Cycle Chris Spearing & Sean McCloud | February 28, 2019
- 2. Agenda • The School Purchasing Cycle Calendar • Overview of Each Phase • Aligning your Marketing Plan: Content, Messaging, and Channels • Q&A
- 3. Laying the Groundwork for the School Purchasing Cycle Your marketing strategy will dictate your approach to the calendar. Taking the initial steps to define your high level targets and goals will help inform how you use the school purchasing cycle for your own marketing. • Customer matching or profiling • Market research • Account Based Marketing (ABM)
- 4. Poll Question How many phases are in the school buying cycle?
- 5. The School Buying Cycle
- 6. Annual Engagement by Channel
- 7. Poll Question Which channels are you currently using in your marketing?
- 8. Goal Setting & Needs Assessment May – October
- 9. Goal Setting and Needs Assessment (May-October) Districts are evaluating existing programs, discussing priorities, and conducting needs assessment. Principals begin gathering input to prepare their budget for the coming school year considering projected staffing needs, instructional initiatives, and more.
- 10. Types of Content: • Blog posts/articles • Social media posts • Infographics • Ebooks/whitepapers Messaging: • Help improve reading in your classroom using the XYZ tool. • Math teachers found students succeeding with ABC App. Suggest how your product or service can help your audience achieve their goals during this phase. Goal Setting and Needs Assessment (May-October)
- 11. Goal Setting and Needs Assessment (May-October)
- 12. Teachers as Influencers Outside-In Model Teachers can and do influence buying decisions. Principals do not make decision s in a vacuum.
- 13. More than 90% of districts use committees made up of teachers and administrators to evaluate products being considered for purchase. * * State of the K-12 Market 2018: Teachers Talk Technology Report
- 14. Information Gathering & Research November – April
- 15. Information Gathering and Research (Nov – April) Districts will be exploring products and instructional initiatives that address the needs they have defined. • Requesting samples and free trials • Reviewing online content • Exploring professional development
- 16. Types of Content: • Free trials, giveaways, sampling • Webinars • Free downloadable content • Discount coupons Messaging: • Speak to the value your product or service brings to a teacher, school, or district. • Thought leadership can help you become a trusted source for those researching solutions. Demonstrate capabilities through educational content to generate qualified leads. Information Gathering and Research (Nov – April)
- 17. Free Downloadable Content Thought Leadership Content Free Sample/Giveaway Information Gathering and Research (Nov – April)
- 19. Purchasing Decisions Made (April – May) • Most districts have decided what they want to purchase by April or May. • Purchases will start to be made as funding becomes available, typically at start of the fiscal year – July 1. • Districts and schools will be looking for more info about their recently purchased products in preparation for the new school year.
- 20. Types of Content: • Demo/free trial • Customer story/case studies • Product spec sheets • Discount coupons • Webinars/events Messaging: • Remind district admins and principals of your value proposition. • Demonstrate capability to support the sale. Reemphasize the value of your solution. Use data driven marketing to target primary decision makers. Purchasing Decisions Made (April – May)
- 21. Free trial offer Customer case study video Coupon/discount offer Purchasing Decisions Made (April – May)
- 22. Overlaps and Variations to the Cycle Remember that school purchasing cycles can overlap. • Orders are placed for the upcoming school year as planning for the next year begins. • While the majority of purchases for all types of services and materials take place over the summer, smaller purchases will be made throughout the whole school year.
- 23. Next Year, Next Cycle • Refresh your targeting based on purchases that were made in the previous buying cycle. • Review your new customers to inform your targeting for the next buying cycle. • Review your past year. What has worked and what has not? What messaging drove the most conversion? Your marketing funnel should be more like an assembly line, always pushing your leads to the next station.
- 24. …but what if I don’t have a huge marketing budget? All of these recommendations can scale. • Use Account (District) Based Marketing to make sure you are focusing resources on winnable accounts. • Use market research to inform your strategy to increase your marketing efficiency based on what your audience has told you. • If your market research shows your brand is well established, then focus more on lead generation. • It’s not what channel you use, it’s the story you are telling.
- 25. QUESTIONS?
- 26. Upcoming Webinars & Resources Upcoming and Past Webinars https://mdreducation.com/education-marketing-free-webinars Digital Marketing Trends Report https://mdreducation.com/reports/digital-marketing-trends-in-the-education- market/ K-12 Education Landscape Report https://mdreducation.com/reports/the-k-12-education-landscape/
- 27. Thank You! Chris Spearing Sales Leader, MDR SpearingC@DNB.com 203-225-4743 Sean McCloud Digital Product Manager, MDR McCloudS@DNB.com 203-225-4622 MDR is a full-service school and community engagement partner. A division of Dun & Bradstreet, MDR is a different kind of integrated marketing services agency that combines rich data with unique digital, creative, and branding capabilities. We’ve been connecting brands through data and marketing services to educators, youth and parents for 50 years. Reach targeted audiences through our database and digital communities SchoolData, WeAreTeachers, WeAreParents and School Leaders Now. To learn more about MDR solutions, call us at 800-333-8802 or visit MDReducation.com
- 29. Customer Matching/ Profiling Matching customer files to a validated third-party database to gather more information and actionable intelligence. Knowing more about your customers can help inform who your best prospects are. Using your customer data to predict who your next targets should be a foundational step in Account Based Marketing (ABM).
- 30. Account Based Marketing (ABM) Also known as District or School Based Marketing Identifying key accounts (or districts) based on your customer profiling and lead funnel and focusing your messaging to them based on that information. An alternative B2B strategy that concentrates resources on a clearly defined set of target accounts within a market and employs campaigns designed to engage each account.
- 31. Influencer Marketing Outside-In Model Teachers as Influencers Decision makers seek information and support from outside committees and task forces
- 32. Sales Enablement Any information, service, or action that supports increased success for your sales efforts and empowers sales with actionable data. For example: Accurate firmographics on a school or district Reporting on the e-mail and content that decision makers have engaged with. 1-1 sales outreach working hand-in-hand with marketing promotions Lead scoring, data access, and a smooth processes are paramount for sales enablement
- 33. The 24 Hour Cycle Facebook Ad Engagement Email Unique Opens Email Unique Clicks Facebook Ad Reach Percent of Total 0 % 2 % 4 % 6 % 8 % 10% 12% 14% 16% 10:00pm 11:00am
Editor's Notes
- First we will give an overview of the school purchasing cycle calendar Then we’ll go through each of the phases of the cycle and explain what’s happening within schools during that time, and how you can align your marketing plan to the buying cycle Then we’ll take a look at some engagement rates on different digital channels and which channels educators are using during different times of the year and even broken down by times of day. Then we’ll leave some time at the end for questions.
- Your marketing strategy will dictate your approach to the calendar. Preparation such as customer matching or profiling, conducting market research, and identifying Account Based Marketing (ABM) targets will inform your efforts throughout the buying cycle. The initial steps to define your high level targets and goals will help inform how you utilize the School Buying cycle for your own marketing.
- We have a quick poll question for you: How many phases do you think are in the school buying cycle? We’ll give you about 30 seconds to answer. 2 3 5 8
- Demonstrates that the school buying cycle is a year round cycle, engagement may vary on different channels throughout the year, but you should be marketing all year long across several channels. Because that is where educators and education leaders are spending their time We’ve identified 3 key parts to the school purchasing cycle through our many years of research, they are: Goal Setting & Needs Assessment Information Gathering & Research Purchasing Decisions Made This chart is overlaid with educator engagement data from key channels – email, web ads, and social engagements We will be breaking down each part of the cycle to talk about what is going on within schools and how to tailor your marketing plan and messaging during each phase. Key point here is that specific messaging should be sensitive to the schedule. That does not mean to ignore your key advantages. If cost savings is key to your value you need to keep that in your messaging at all times but emphasize it more during the part of the cycle where it will be most noticed (possibly September-March). If you change outcomes in a specific area of curriculum that needs to be more forward during Goal setting and needs assessment, then a different tone... to remind buyers why they are considering you in the purchasing process.
- Before we get into the first stage for the buying cycle, we want to ask another poll question to get a sense of what types of marketing you all are currently doing – we want to know what channels and marketing tactics are part of your marketing plans this year? You can check as many answers as you want. Paid Social Ads Paid Search Display/Web Ads Retargeting Ads Email Marketing Direct Mail Content Marketing Account Based Marketing
- This phase of the cycle is about filling gaps in the current environment or establishing aspirations. Goals may be related to Academic outcomes, Technology needs, or tasks that are burdensome or unattainable.
- Knowing districts are discussing priorities and principals are gathering input can help guide how we talk to the K-12 audience during this period. Proposing goals to an audience discussing them can be well timed messaging. This is also a great opportunity to demonstrate value. What messages work best here? Goal Setting and Needs assessment hits the key points: Improving Outcomes, Reducing Costs, Integrating, (..............) ? these are all high level Qualifying in and Qualifying out considerations. You should allow follow up to deeper details if the recipient is interested but don't overwhelm with details.
- Be where your audience is online (educators are on pinterest) !! Examples of display ads that address specific goals Pinterest feed shows examples of pins for classroom activities and ideas for teachers, mixed in with targeted display ads (furniture) Transition: Speaking of knowing your audience...
- An important aspect of the Goal Setting and Needs Assessment stage is that principals gather input from their staff when constructing their budgets. Decision makers likely will solicit input from their educator population about what is most important. While influencer marketing has many definitions today we want to focus on the reality that teachers wield great influence in school buying decisions. While the term Top Down Bottom Up has been common in education, we would like to introduce an Outside In Model. The school buying cycle includes unseen dotted lines of powerful influence where decision makers seek information, knowledge, support and validation for their decisions they make. This includes committees and task forces and less obvious hallway conversations among specialized seasoned veterans and innovative newly minted educators.
- Teachers’ opinions have weight in the selection of their schools’ learning management systems and student information systems. Teachers are, or should be, a large part of the selection process. Multiple people across a district exert influence over purchasing decisions. Teachers’ Role in Choosing an LMS: “Teachers’ opinions have weight in the selection of their schools’ learning management systems and student information systems, and they are often the ones who must use these programs to organize their student data day after day. Teachers are, or should be, a large part of the selection process, and it’s important to keep teacher needs in mind when selling platforms like an LMS or SIS to schools. Multiple people across a district exert influence over purchasing decisions, and according to prior MDR research, more than 90% of districts use committees made up of teachers and administrators to evaluate products being considered for purchase. Making a teacher a stakeholder in a product’s success requires ongoing professional development training for any feature changes, less confusion about how to store, access, and utilize student data, and more vendor transparency.”
- Your best leads should get your most focused message As this period winds down districts may ask a select few vendors for product demos and measuring product performance in the classroom.
- We want to make sure that your product is brought up in the committee and vetted through research and testing. This is also an important time to make sure everyone in that committee knows your brand. (Build familiarity with everyone in the purchasing committee)
- Orders can be expected over the summer implementation strategies, rubrics, lesson plans, and detailed FAQs Add a note about this being a time to realign your funnel along account or district criteria. Include an educator focus in your implementation strategy…Market via social to educators who will be adopting?
- Messaging should be focused around why yours is the best product/service for their needs Leading into purchasing decisions it is great time to Refresh Recollection. This is a great time for hyper focus and using clear data driven marketing to push the sale and reach out primarily to the buyer.
- Keep these larger goals of the purchasing cycle in mind when planning your communication with schools, who will undoubtedly appreciate your knowledge of this process
- After you have worked through the matched data and scored leads, it is important to refresh your targeting as purchases are made and a district moves through your marketing funnel.
- Use your budget to inform scale of each effort
- Questions?
- A strong ABM strategy is founded is accurate and robust data. Not only contact and targeting data, but customer data and market data will give you a boost as well. An important note here is that ABM messaging can overlap based on position in the funnel. We have all by now heard of ABM. Our domain mastery within education has lead Sean to coin the practice of "District and School Based Marketing". While not required to define an ABM campaign we generally view ABM as a method advancing leads through the funnel. We will cover more about how we do this later in the session.
- While influencer marketing has many definitions today we want to focus on the reality that teachers wield great influence in school buying decisions. While the term Top Down Bottom Up has been common in education, we would like to introduce an Outside In Model. The school buying cycle includes unseen dotted lines of powerful influence where decision makers seek information, knowledge, support and validation for their decisions they make. This includes committees and task forces and less obvious hallway conversations among specialized seasoned veterans and innovative newly minted educators.
- Sales Enablement for us is any information, service or action that supports increased success for your sales efforts. Examples stretch from accurate firmographics on a school or district to reporting on the e-mail and content that decision makers have engaged with. Lay a runway for sales team with your promotion
- To support the point that its not what channels you use, it’s the story you’re telling… Here’s a chart showing a typical day in the life of an educator – how they interact with email and social media throughout the day As you can see they are online throughout the day, checking different channels at different times, you need to be on all of them if you want them to see your messages