August 30, 2013

Is Your Education Database Up to Date?

  • Administrators in the district change every minute,
  • Teachers change jobs and roles every month,
  • A new school opens every month,
  • A school shuts down every year.

Are you up to date with this information?

Every new detail of information you add to your database will increase the chances of improving your connection with your market.

Analytics and decision making heavily rely on data, and it will have a huge impact on business if it is not updated or accurate. Data appending is what ensures that the length, depth and breadth of your data to facilitate conversion and increase in revenues. By not appending your database regularly, it invariably results in hard bounce emails and cold leads.

We are sure you do not use just tele-calling to reach your prospects. You would also rely on email marketing, social media marketing and traditional, direct marketing. For that, we understand you require complete contact details for each contact on your database. Contact details which are updated, credible and relevant.

For those marketers who use a multi-channel approach
Optimize your existing database

August 29, 2013

Be Active on Social Media to Connect with Education Experts

“78 percent of Internet users look online for information about a service or product they are thinking of buying”, according to the Pew Research Center. 

Like everyone, even educators go online to find information about educational products. They read digital publications and are active on social networking sites. There is an emerging trend of ‘edu-bloggers’ who write personal blogs and about their experience and interactions with education marketing companies and the use of products. 

This group of education experts, education technologists and passionate teachers are nowadays actively blogging, podcasting and conducting webinars. 

Why you need to connect with this group?
  • These social communities provide a huge opportunity to communicate, interact and listen to this strategic group of decision makers.
  • Educators are more likely to buy products that are recommended by other educators about those organizations that understand and support their needs.
  • This is a good avenue to build public relations and gain brand visibility through word-of-mouth advertising.

You need to observe online conversations
You need to share product information through various channels
You need to participate and connect with you audience through social media
If you want your brand voice to be heard by education decision makers.

At K12 Lists, we have social media information of exclusive contacts in the education industry.

August 28, 2013

PTAs & PTOs – School Buying Decisions Are Influenced by Parents. Connect With Them!

Even been to a school bake sale lately?

These enthusiast groups of parents play more than just a role of distributing cookies. They now are strong influencers in the decisions schools make and in the development of education marketing plans.

The responsibility of decision making which was once reserved for paid staff of administrators and teachers is now taken over by parents. Dollars spent by schools on education and teaching material are now predominantly decided by parent groups such as Parent Teachers Associations and Parent Teacher Organizations (PTO).

Why you need to engage and connect with PTAs and PTOs?

Consider this:
  • Most of 80,000+ K-8 schools in the US have a parent group in form or the other.
  • 77% of these K-8 groups are independent PTOs working at schools their kids are enrolled in.
  • Approximately $2 billion is amount they generate yearly mainly from fundraising events, donations and auctions at schools. 
  • And this $2 billion is spent on school equipment, curriculum material and education software. 

This is a huge opportunity for education marketers and connecting with this group influencers in the education market is as important as targeting administrators and educators.

So, How to Sell to PTAs and PTOs?

When selling to PTAs and PTOs, marketers need to have a slightly different approach.
  • The product should be lower priced than those sold to school administrations.
  • There should be a commitment to providing support in order to make selling easier and profitable.
  • The products should be designed such that it’s easily consumable and is made for frequent purchase.
The important aspect in selling to PTS and PTOs is to address a pain-point and provide a solution. Marketers can easily generate sales from schools provided they have a relevant products and a well defined marketing and support plan. 

Make parent groups as an ally
Provide valuable resources
Make them look good in their community
And they will more likely promote your marketing messages


Connect With Education Thought Leaders via Social Media

Like any other sector, the education industry is also driven by social media. And those marketers not in the network are surely missing out on opportunities to engage and connect with education thought leaders and decisions makers.

In a recent discussion between Glen McCandless, Founder and President of Focus Marketing and Charlene Blohm, Founder & President, C. Blohm & Associates, they discussed social media channels used by educators and how educators can join these networks to connect with thought leaders in the education industry.

Here are the key takeaways:

http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

As the use of social media by educators and school administrators continues to increase, marketers need to be up to date and present at the right place and right time in order to be heard. They need to use the power of social media to connect with and engage their target market relevantly.

Wish you had a list of exclusive contacts of educators, administrators or principals with complete details of social media handles? At K12 Lists, our database is integrated with social media details of each and every contact. 
Listen to your audience
Participate in their conversations
Connect with your market in the Socialsphere


August 26, 2013

90% of School Administrators Prefer Conversations. Are You Listening?

  • Finding it tough to get the attention of district administrators and school principals? The ones who approve budgets?
  • Don’t you think they are tired of sales presentations about the same message of company history, customer satisfaction, features, reliability and benefits?
  • And when it comes to making a decision, administrators find it difficult to differentiate between one products or service from another.

According to industry experts,
  • 90% of decision makers mentioned they prefer having a conversation over watching a slide show.
  • 67% of them stated they preferred buying from companies that created a “buying experience." 

As students are more responsive to new learning methods, decision makers in the education market too are more responsive to new buying experiences. If you want to capture the attention of key contacts in the education market, here’s a simple formula:


Keep it simple
Keep it interesting
Keep it engaging
Keep it powerful
Make it an experience that administrators are likely to remember, when making that important decision.

http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

August 23, 2013

R.S.V.P. – Get to Know Where Senior Executives of the Education Industry Meet

Wished you could interact with senior executives in the education industry?

There are specific events where you can meet leaders of education institutions, interact with K-12 industry consultants and analysts, and discuss new market trends and education technology developments.
Some of these events include:
  • EdNet - is a yearly meeting of industry executives specialized in educational technology conducted by Market Data Retrieval. The event provides updates on market trends, funding sources, new technologies and networking opportunities.
  • Education Industry Investment Forum – Is an event where industry analysts, managers and venture capital companies related to education industry congregate. It is conducted by the Institute for International Research (IIR).
  • SIIA Industry Forums – Is an event to bring together sales and marketing professionals and senior executives involved in digital services and publishing of educational material for the K-12 industry.

Now, we understand that not all of you may be able to RSVP on events like these. That’s why we provide you with contacts of these senior executives in the education industry, that you could contact had you attended the event.

Why spend on travelling to San Francisco or New York,
When you can network in just ONE CLICK


August 22, 2013

Is Technology Replacing Teachers, Or Enhancing Education?

Many people categorize the education industry in the non-profit sector. However that’s not the reality. 

The K-12 space has had ‘for profit’ organizations or institutions from the beginning. Whether it was the people who built schools, the textbook publishers or the people for supplied the infrastructure. So, it shouldn’t come by surprise when marketers today talk about education investment in areas such as eLearning or new software and hardware technology that will enhance the learning experience.

More than the perceiving education institutions as for profit or non-profit, what is more important is to understand the value new technology brings to advance the educational experience. A helpful way to market education marketing products is know how technology is used and perceived in schools.
  • Use of Technology Just Because It’s There – Many K-12 schools use technology just because its present in the room. It’s used mainly as an add-on and has no particular impact on the learning experience.
  • Use of Technology to Do Old Things - Many teachers and students now use technology to do old things such as writing, presenting and finding information. For instance, instead of writing, students now use Word Processors; instead of presenting on chalk boards, teachers use LCD projectors; and instead of searching for information in encyclopedias, they browse the Internet.
  • Use of Technology to Do New Things – Schools are realizing that education technology provide endless possibilities in enabling new ways of learning. For instance, students with new communication technologies can learn from people anywhere in the world, making it a seamless platform for knowledge-exchange. Students can choose what learning and information they wish to get, making it more relevant and meaningful to their journey of learning and development. 

Technology is fairly accepted among schools today. It is not stigmatized as a replacement for teachers; instead it’s considered to be a tool that provides a nurturing eco-system to enable new ways of learning, growth and development of students, teachers and the whole schooling system.

Let Educators Know How Technology Will Help Them 




August 21, 2013

Wouldn't You Want to Know What Education Decision Makers are Doing?

Wouldn't you like to know what Superintendents are doing?
What information they are searching for?
What education material they plan to invest in?

After all, they are considered to be the CEOs of institutions. Superintendents are the most sought after profiles in the education industry. As they decide how money is invested, they approve annual operating budgets and they would be the most likely person who would be interested in what you have to offer to an institution.

K12 Lists provides customized Education Marketing Databases that allow you to select customized data based on your business requirement. Our marketing database tracks prospect activity, gathers leads and enables nurturing by sending campaigns. Here’s what you gain from our education marketing databases:
  • It provides prospect intelligence including lead activity.
  • It provides information on the life cycle of the lead from when initial contact is made.
  • It enables segmentation of buyer groups to enable targeted communication.

Databases from K12 Lists helps you nurture a lead up to a conversion point, after which your sales team can take over. 

Our targeted databases can be selected based on school calendars, sizes of institutes, programs offered, technologies being used, student enrolment figures and certifications available.  You can adopt a multi-channel marketing approach to connect with relevant prospects through various channels, using detailed information from our databases.

Market to education decision makers with customer-centric eyes. 


August 20, 2013

Strategize Around the Need of Institutional Decision Makers

  • You think SIC-based databases adequately define institutions?
  • Does sales volume determine the buying power in schools?
Schools and institutions are different from businesses. Schools need to be targeted not by their sales volume, but by wealth score, grade level or subject. Before developing an institutional marketing strategy, B2B marketers need to understand the basic difference between institutions and businesses.

Guidelines to build strategies specific to institutional decision makers
  • Revolve Around Your Customer’s Mission – Institutions make purchase decision based on their missions. Therefore creating your marketing message around their mission will help in resonating with their needs.
  • Keep an Eye on Fiscal Year-End Dates – Marketers can capitalize on the ‘use it or lose it’ budget system in institutions. Three months before the fiscal year end is the golden moment for marketers to gain from ‘clean-up’ spending that usually takes place in institutions. Keep in mind the typical fiscal year end dates of institutions, June 30th, September 30th and December 31st.
  • Segment Your Customer Base – To identify the results of your marketing efforts, identify individual institutions by categorizing your customer base into actionable segments.
How to identify decision makers in institutions

Compared to business structures, institutions have a different decision making process and various job titles. Contacts of decision makers are not easily found on response databases or on purchase orders. Buying decisions are most often made by experience and highly-trained front line staff such as office mangers, professors, teachers and local administrators.

You need to consider the difference in marketing to businesses and institutions.
All you have to worry about is creating a relevant marketing strategy.
We will take care of finding the right institutional decision maker.



August 19, 2013

Keep Your Data Current…Connect With Key People in the Education Industry

  • Superintendents and key people in the education industry are changing jobs by the day
  • The people responsible for making buying decisions change frequently
If you do not have an updated database on contacts in the education industry today, it is more likely your marketing message is reaching the wrong person. Like any other B2B business, the quality of your data determines the outcome of your campaigns and the strategic decisions your business makes.

Data Cleansing is almost a ritual at K12 Lists. Here’s the rigorous quality process we follow to ensure your data is current, relevant, accurate and complete.
    http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/
  1. Identification of non working fields
  2. Replacement of this data with current information
  3. Replacement of addresses using NCOA
  4. Identification of undelivered emails
  5. Replacement of undeliverable emails using ECOA
  6. Verification and validation of domains
  7. Identification of dead domains
  8. Identification of incorrect syntax in emails
  9. Identification of invalid email ids
  10. Check on data values in compliance with defined standards and parameters
  11. De-duping and ensuring data is accurate
  12. Manual consolidation and verification of data

With a comprehensive data quality process, you can be sure the education marketing database you obtain from us is clean, green and optimized to provide you with desired results.

Connecting With Key Executives Couldn’t Get Any Better
http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

August 17, 2013

When Was The Last Time You Appended Your Database?

  • Did you know that the average lifespan of data is not more than few months? 
  • 36% of your data goes stale ever year

http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/Constant appending is necessary to ensure that you can maintain a fresh database and keep it relevant. With Data Appending, you can identify and define your audience to implement a target-based approach. 

Every new piece of information added to your database, whether it is marketing or demographic data, will increase the chances of improving your connection with your customers. With Data Appending Services from K12 Lists, you can maintain an accurate and updated database, which will improve the success of your marketing campaigns.

Data Appending ensures data quality and accuracy which is necessary for smart decision making and analytics. 


The length, breadth and depth of your data translate to leads and revenue.

http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

August 16, 2013

'When' You Market Is As Important What You Market in the Education Industry

  • 180,000 K-12 public schools in Hawaii opened on August 5th
  • 1.1 million K-12 schools in New York will not be open until September 9th

This big difference in time zones, demographics and geography should have a huge impact on how you need to strategize your marketing plans.
http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

As marketers, campaigns have been customized based on customer behavior and buying patterns, such as holiday campaigns for Cyber Monday or Black Friday. You think this would work the same in the education industry? Where you can have campaigns for specific seasons, like the ‘back to school’ season or the summer vacation season?

You need to time your marketing messages to be relevant to when the market is ready and willing to buy. For instance,
  • 2.7 percent of parents shop during the first week of school
  • 3.2 percent of parents shop after school has started
  • 72 percent of parents typically shop I week to 1 month before school begins!

This gives you a big window of opportunity to understand when the right time is to market to parents, schools and institutions. 
There is a budget kept aside for investment in education
You just need to know the right time to market
And to whom to market
Here’s where K12 Lists helps you in connecting with relevant contacts in the education industry.

http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

August 15, 2013

Market Technology in the Education Industry with K12 Lists

There is an increased use of technology in the education industry. Institutions have planned to set aside budgets to invest in new technology from tablets, eReaders to whiteboards. From a recent education industry survey here are some interesting results of technology usage:

http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/
  • More than 90% of schools use electronic white boards.
  • 64% of districts have wireless internet access, of which 75% of schools use wireless internet access. 
  • 61% of education districts use document cameras.
  • 54% use eReaders or tablets and 10% of districts plan to purchase tablets or eReaders in the next year.
  • 47% of schools use Distance Learning.
With schools and districts increasing technology usage and spending,
Now is the best time to market new technology, products and services.
http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

August 14, 2013

Use K12 Lists to Connect with Key Decision Makers

Many schools and institutions have real dollars and fiscal year-end spending at their disposal. Education marketers have a huge opportunity to impact spending of K-12 schools and institutions. 

K12 Lists provides exclusive education marketing databases. With access to contact details of key people in the education industry, marketers can implement multi-channel marketing initiatives through email, telemarketing, social media and targeted geo-specific campaigns.

Connecting with the right decision maker at the right time in the right location is essential in ensuring marketing campaigns succeed.

Choose from our extensive list of Education Marketing Databases:
Public Secondary Schools Database
Public Elementary Schools Database
Public School Districts Database
Christian Schools Database
Catholic Schools Database
Private Schools Database
Religious Schools Database
Non-Public Schools Database
Elementary Schools Database
Middle Schools Database
http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/ Junior High Schools Database
High/Senior High Schools Database
K-12 Schools Database
Charter Schools Database
School Administrators Database
Colleges Database
Public College Database
Private College Database
Dental Schools Database
Medical Schools Database
Nursing Schools Database
Vocational/Technical College Database
Aviation College Database
Universities Database
Libraries Database
Teachers Database


Connect with your target market in the B2i Industry
http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

August 13, 2013

Why You Need to Know How Selling to Schools Has Evolved

For companies developing products for the education industry, the greatest challenges have been distribution and finding the right person to market your product. To build a strong distribution system, you need to understand the definition of important K-12 channel partners:

  • Independent K-12 Sales Reps – Are representatives who sell to a particular geographic region and market only one or two products. They are responsible for building customer relationships and securing customers and retaining them.
  • Education Resellers – They represent businesses with a wider geographic region and have multiple sales representatives. Typically, they buy products from publishers and resell it to schools and education institutions.

Marketing to schools has evolved over the years:

  • Superintendents remained in their districts for years and were not required to justify their decisions.
  • With key people in the district changing jobs frequently, relationships that would earlier develop over the years now have a life span of months. 
  • Resellers’ relationships with top executive were enough to influence decisions. Today, buying decisions need to accounted and defended.
  • The process of decision making has evolved from traditional, relationship-based systems to a more formal and organized approach.

Without knowing how to sell to schools
It will be difficult to market your product 
Moreover, getting in touch with key people is essential


August 5, 2013

“Use It or Lose It” K-12 Spending – Education Marketers Act Now or Never!

In a recent webinar by Annie Galvin Teich, Independent Writer, Researcher and Education Marketing Consultant with over 25 years of K-12 experience; she speaks about how education marketers today need to act fast and capitalize on a small window of opportunity of the “Use It or Lose It” K-12 spending trend.
Based on the survey results, here are some interesting observations…





Based on this survey, it clearly indicates that most K-12 institutions will want to spend their budget before the end of the fiscal year that’s prior to June 30th. And they like offers…year end offers…

75% of them cannot carry forward their budget, so there’s a window of opportunity for marketers to helps these decision makers wisely spend their funds. 

Plan it well…
Contact decision makers at the right time…
But first, get your exclusive list of key people in the B2i industry…


August 2, 2013

How K-12 Institution Spend Funds and Who Decides…

It is very useful to get a glimpse into how institution funding is spent, the sources and who are the key decision makers. Here are some of the ways on how institution funds are typically spent:
http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

  • On technology to provide personalized learning avenues for students
  • On opportunities beyond traditional methods and environment to provide students with better learning techniques
  • On supporting students transition from school to college and career development
  • On partnering with communities to provide students with social services
  • On providing professional development to widen the scope of learning in fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

By knowing how institutions source funds, plan their investments and their focus areas of development, it is possible for education database marketers to identify opportunities to position their products and services.

Know how institutions choose to spend their money
Give them a reason to invest

August 1, 2013

Get to Know Your Market Before You Market – Use K12 Education Marketing Databases

As education database marketers, it is important to know the email habits of educational decision makers. In a recent survey by Market Research Institute, Inc., an interesting observation was made on the email habits, behavior and preferences of K-12 educators towards email promotions and marketing. Take a look:
  • Majority of educators were email savvy. 
  • 71% of teachers explored new products and services online at school.
  • 8 out 10 teachers followed their school emails even during summer breaks.
  • 51% of educators said they were more likely to purchase or request for educational material over the summer for the upcoming school year.
  • Buying habits - There is an increase in spending power by most educators and the timing of institutional investments is more flexible than earlier.
  • 82% teachers stated they use personal funds to purchase educational products, and 62% said they use school budgets.
  • 60% said they approximately spend less than $500 on educational products
http://k12educationlists.wufoo.com/forms/i-am-interested/

Source: MCH Strategic Data and School Market Research Institute, Inc. (SMRI)

In order to resonate with the target market, what education database marketers need to write about should be related to information about their work, tips on how to motivate students, how to be a better educator, how to involve parents and how to impress school administrators.

Connect with affluent schools
Contact key decision making educators 
Get better results from email campaigns