Seven Ways Digital is Changing the Education Market (and why you can’t afford to ignore them!)

Chris Ziemnicki, VP, Product Development, MDR

There’s no question that the education market is volatile. Funding and budget issues, legislation changes, and the constant push for educators to do more with less are all creating a rapid landscape change.

Smart marketers need to stay on top of these changes and make sure that they are evolving in response to market need. The rapid-fire industry transition to digital—and its ramifications for the education market—is a critical issue.

Here are seven ways that the digital transition is changing the market, and the reasons that education marketers can’t afford to ignore them.

1. Less than 30% of most schools’ content is digital, but replacing textbooks with online resources is a priority for 85% of districts.

This is huge! If your business hasn’t taken the print to digital transition to heart, now is the time. The majority of districts are prioritizing the switch, and they’re going to need vendors who can help them through it with the products and services they need. How will you fit into the new model?

2. 79% of education marketers are now using social networking to engage educators. In 2011, this was equal to the 79% of marketers using direct mail! Teachers are using social networking sites for both professional and personal use, so it makes sense that social networking is a critical part of an education marketer’s arsenal.

Is your business social yet? If not, you’re already behind the curve, so it’s time to commit to this still-growing digital marketing channel…especially since I suspect that by this time next year, it will be more widely used than direct mail.

3. 40% of teachers use their smartphones to access online content, and 27% of teachers use a tablet. More specifically, 41% of teachers (up from 23% last year) access their school email from a wireless mobile device. Meanwhile, the education app market is in a full-out sprint.

Where is your business in this movement to mobile? Considerations include optimizing both your website and your email campaigns for mobile viewing, and possibly even entering the app market if you haven’t already, because we expect these numbers to continue to increase. (Need more information on mobile best practices? Download MDR’s Guide to Mobile Email Marketing!)

4. Last year, online ad buys surpassed traditional print as a direct marketing activity utilized by education marketers.

This shift in marketing focus—yet another iteration of the print-to-digital transition—once again emphasizes how critical it is for education businesses to invest in digital marketing to reach educators.

5. Revenue generated from digital marketing channels is growing, while print-generated revenue is in decline. Revenue from direct mail in 2012 was only half what it was in 2009, and revenues from print advertising and catalogs dropped by four percentage points each.

On the other side of the ledger, significant revenue increases were reported for search engine marketing, which jumped up 8 percentage points from 2009. Sales force lead generation also increased significantly—from 6% to 12%. Smaller increases were recorded for web banner ads and social network marketing, but I predict these numbers will only continue to rise based on the current trend.

Increased revenue from all digital marketing channels: what more compelling argument do you need to make the transition?

6. The digital marketing realm provides thousands of opportunities to connect with educators, and these multiple digital touches allow us to categorize and segment our educator audience online with the same precision that we do offline. These amazing targeting capabilities provide marketers with new opportunities to reach their exact prospects through email, web advertising and viral marketing programs.

The best way to make your campaigns relevant is by ensuring you’re delivering them to the right targets. The more relevant your messaging, the better your ROI. Precise targeting capabilities—now achieved digitally—are a great motivator to move your marketing efforts online.

7. Whoever said email is dead was dead wrong. It is changing, though, and education marketers need to adjust their strategies accordingly. Here’s what the numbers show: last year, the number of prospecting email campaigns deployed was the highest it has ever been, but open and click through rates show a continued steady decline. At the same time, nearly 100% of teachers check their email daily and many are doing so from their mobile devices and home computers.

How does this data inform best practices, then? The bottom line is that email is alive and well in our market, but personalization and relevancy is key! In fact, open rates practically doubled when an email was personalized with a teachers’ last name. So email as a channel is still one of the best ways to connect with educators, but make sure your targeting is spot on to maximize your results.

Education companies can stay competitive by keeping up with the transition to digital. How is your company moving to digital marketing solutions? Let me know in the comments, or reach me at cziemnicki@dnb.com.