In the competitive landscape of education technology and business-to-education (B2E) marketing, understanding the unique customer journey is essential for companies to make an impact. ESSER funding drove an explosion in new education solutions in the past several years, lulling some businesses into a sense that market dynamics had permanently changed. Now that the ESSER tide has receded, education marketers will need to refocus on fundamentals to thrive in a new landscape.
To provide deeper insights into this specialized field, I sat down with our Associate VP Lauren West, who shared her perspective on how education buyers find solutions, the tactics that succeed, and how companies can effectively leverage each phase of the buyer cycle to turn leads into customers.
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Q: How does the education buyer journey differ from traditional B2B purchases?
Lauren: The education buyer journey is unique because it often involves multiple stakeholders across different levels of authority. Education purchases can require buy-in from roles such as teachers, department heads, administrators, IT directors, and school board members. Sometimes even students and parents influence purchasing decisions.
What sets this sector apart is its cyclical nature, and it has a longer buying cycle than many industries. Lead acquisition starts in fall, and prospects must be “kept warm” through winter until spring, when purchase decisions are made. Once a school district’s budget is announced, it’s fairly rigid—especially for big-ticket purchases—since nearly all public school funding comes from federal, state, and local governments.
Increased competition for education products means it is increasingly important to match your marketing message and efforts with the buyer cycle stage. There are more education and edtech companies in the space than ever, more pitches in education leaders’ inboxes, and more booths at education conferences. It’s that much harder to get attention for your product or service, especially if your message isn’t relevant.
Q: What are the most common pain points education buyers face when searching for solutions?
Lauren: Education buyers are constantly balancing limited resources against growing demands. Budget constraints are nearly always the top concern—they’re looking for solutions that offer clear ROI and address specific challenges without breaking their already stretched budgets.
Another significant pain point is implementation difficulty. Schools and districts don’t just need products; they need solutions that can seamlessly integrate with existing systems and can be adopted by users with varying levels of technical proficiency. Solutions that require extensive training or disrupt existing workflows face serious adoption challenges.
Lastly, education buyers need assurance that solutions will deliver measurable outcomes that align with educational goals and standards (i.e., efficacy). They’re under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their purchases directly contribute to student success, teacher effectiveness, or operational efficiency.
Q: How should B2E companies align their marketing efforts with the phases of the school year?
Lauren: Most successful companies in the education sector set up their sales and marketing processes to acquire as many leads as they can in fall (August-December). This lead-generation phase allows for fine-tuning your positioning and messaging. The challenge is that every savvy education company is on the same pitch calendar.
During winter through spring (January-May), the focus shifts to lead nurturing. This is when companies should continue to market to their prospects to secure a large pool of sales-qualified leads for their team to close. Spring is also the conference season. Attending education conferences like FETC, TCEA, and SXSW EDU allows you to put names to faces, build awareness, and generate new leads.
Finally, in the purchase-decision phase (June-July), your marketing should focus on sales enablement. While promoting your product’s efficacy is important throughout the year, evidence that others have had success with your solutions becomes especially powerful during this phase. Provide prospects with materials that anticipate any objections to assure them they can purchase confidently.
Q: What marketing channels should companies optimize during each phase of the education buyer cycle?
Lauren: The P-E-S-O model is a comprehensive approach to keep in mind as you acquire and nurture leads: Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned media work together to effectively engage education buyers throughout their journey. Although we advocate always having a balance of activities to create integrated marketing magic, certain aspects of this model will be more valuable than others at different times of the school year.
During lead generation (August-December), paid media is one of the most effective tools. Options include sponsored articles in education trade publications or emails with gated content deployed through trusted third parties. For earned media, focus on coverage resulting from successful pitches or news releases. With shared media, different channels will resonate with different personas—administrators and decision-makers are more likely to use LinkedIn, while instructors tend to exchange ideas on X and Facebook. For owned media, lean into cornerstone content; foundational assets that can be broken up into different content types across your marketing channels.
During lead nurturing (January-May), leverage ungated paid media options like sponsoring roundtables with your target audience or becoming a sponsored podcast guest. Continue sending regular news releases to targeted media, and utilize conferences for meetings with journalists. Develop sales enablement materials like battle cards, comparison guides, checklists, and FAQs to support your sales team.
In the purchase decision phase (June-July), continue pursuing conference marketing opportunities, especially regional or state-level events if you have a targeted strategy. Share customer success stories on social media; peer endorsements are priceless in the education market. A well-crafted case study highlighting how your product generated better outcomes for students can tip the scales.
Regardless of which phase you are in, remember that content should be optimized for AI since it continues to grow as a popular search channel. Many prospects are doing research with AI on available tools and services, as well as investigating the results from other districts or educators. AI tools use many of the same methods to determine which content to promote—expertise, authority, and trustworthiness—but are less focused on keywords than traditional SEO. AI tools prioritize meaning over exact keyword matches, so your content should provide context and explain the relationship between concepts.
Q: How has the pandemic altered the education buyer journey?
Lauren: The pandemic transformed many aspects of the education buyer journey. Decision-making processes that once relied on in-person demonstrations and relationship-building had to shift to virtual formats. This accelerated the adoption of digital evaluation methods, from virtual product demos to online reference checking.
We also saw a compression of traditional decision timelines during the pandemic. Emergency needs forced faster procurement processes in many cases, though we’re now seeing a return to traditional evaluation periods. However, buyer expectations around accessibility and digital engagement have been elevated and will probably remain.
Perhaps most significantly, the pandemic spotlighted new priorities in education purchasing. Solutions that support remote or hybrid learning, enhance digital equity, address social-emotional needs, or provide flexible assessment options are more important. Companies that can effectively position their offerings in these emerging areas have an advantage in the current landscape.
Q: What are the most common mistakes companies make when marketing to education buyers?
Lauren: The biggest mistake I see is failing to speak the language of education. Using generic business terminology instead of education-specific language signals a lack of sector understanding. Education has its own vocabulary, priorities, and cultural references, and companies that don’t make the effort to learn and use these appropriately often struggle to connect.
Another common misstep is overlooking the collaborative nature of education purchasing. Marketing that targets only senior decision-makers without providing resources for other stakeholders misses the fact that success requires buy-in at multiple levels. The most effective campaigns provide differentiated content for various audiences while telling a cohesive story.
Finally, companies often underestimate the importance of credibility and trust in education marketing. Education buyers are inherently skeptical of vendor claims and highly sensitive to anything that feels like an attempt to profit at the expense of educational outcomes. Building relationships through authentic thought leadership, transparent case studies, and genuine commitment to education improvement is essential for long-term success in this space.
Lauren West is Associate VP at CB&A, A FINN Partners Company, specializing in PR and content marketing for companies serving K-12 and Higher Ed. With over a decade of experience in the education sector, Lauren helps companies effectively connect with education buyers through strategic content and communications.