We live in a very cynical age. In no area of our lives is this cynicism more evident than in our reactions to marketing and advertising, where we live in a state of constant scepticism; always reluctant to trust anyone or take anyone’s motives for granted.

Teachers in particular have become so used to receiving marketing from companies that they have, to an extent, become immune to it. Success in selling to schools now relies upon you recognising this and taking the necessary steps to ensure your message doesn’t arouse this cynicism.

Easy Tip #1: AVOID HYPERBOLIC LANGUAGE

I’m sure you’re all very familiar with marketing emails that make huge statements about how much they will improve our lives. The trouble with these is that very often your initial reaction is to say “Really? Are you sure?” You really don’t want the first reaction you create to be a negative one or one that creates a divide between you and your audience.

Now I’m not telling you to downplay the benefits of your product or service. However, very often, simple and straightforward language can stimulate a much better reaction.

Easy Tip #2: DON’T CLAIM… DEMONSTRATE!

A great way of avoiding getting teachers’ defences up is to avoid making bold claims about what you can do for them and instead demonstrate how your product or service has improved the lives of some of your existing clients. If possible use their name and the name of their school to flesh them out and show them as a real person who you’ve helped to overcome a real problem.

Teachers will still infer from this whether or not what you’re offering will improve their lives, but you will be promoting your product or service in much more subtle and less pushy manner.

Easy Tip #3: SIZE DOESN’T ALWAYS MATTER!

Sometimes it seems like every marketing email I receive is from a company at the ‘forefront of their industry’ or ‘leading’ something or other. If you have a genuinely renowned brand then yes, it’s a great idea to make the most of that, but it can be equally as effective to celebrate the fact that you are a small, friendly team.

As long as you can offer teachers great benefits they won’t care how big you are or what your annual turnover is. Often people prefer to deal with smaller, more lovable companies (just like Sprint Education for that matter).

Easy Tip #4: ALWAYS STAY TOPICAL AND RELEVANT

We’re all used to receiving arbitrary marketing emails from companies that seem like they are sent out to everyone in the world every 3 months or so. It’s as though they’ve got this email permanently ready to send every time business needs pepping up! Teachers can spot these a mile off and will deal with them mercilessly.

You must pay attention to what’s happening in the world around you (both in your industry and in the lives of the teachers you’re emailing). Sprinkling your marketing with topical references will dispel any notion that your marketing is just an automated message that could be sent at any time.

Easy Tip #5 BE A REAL PERSON

A great way to get your campaign off on the right foot is to ensure your message looks like it’s coming from a real 3-dimensional person. We all prefer to communicate with a fellow human being (just remember what a turn off it is when you phone a customer service hotline only to have your query processed by a machine… Grrr!).

When email marketing, ensure your email is sent from a real person instead of an impersonal company address and try utilising a simple plain text style with a conversational message.

What are you waiting for… go get ‘em!

You can start incorporating these 5 tips right now... they don’t require any extra effort or investment on your part, but they will radically improve your marketing to schools. The marketing world is evolving rapidly and you cannot afford not to evolve with it.

Making your marketing lovable is the biggest challenge you face when selling to schools today. You have to overcome the common perception of marketing as something aggressive and untrustworthy. It might be simple but it will put you streets ahead of the competition!

Good luck!

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Emailing Schools Emailing Teachers

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