EdTech Buying Groups: Bringing Them Together

A Latent Need

This is where most EdTechs are.

When an educational institution has a big problem on their hands, they go to the market to try and solve it.

The problem EdTechs have here is: institutions are looking at all your competitors.

They will request a demo (YAY!), but they’re also requesting from everyone else.

The most likely scenario, in this situation, is a top-down, pre-made decision of vendor.

So, if you’re just waiting for leads to come by, you’re part of the “get me 3 quotes” process.

Let’s hope you’re the vendor of preference.

Rising Internal Demand

Before a problem becomes “latent” to admins, it has to affect a lot of people for a long time.

These people don’t have the authority for a purchase. Therefore, they will not request a demo.

But here’s where the fun begins.

Non-decisor people will still look for solutions – either out of curiosity or because they can bring them up the ladder to admins.

That’s where you want to be: early in the buying process.

Most EdTechs go through this stage, but they either:

• Ignore it because “it’s not an MQL”; or

• Don’t have any idea they’re in there.

When you know you’re in an early research process, you can:

1. Uncover how far in the research they are;

2. Uncover who the decision-maker is;

3. Steer the purchase your way.

Your job is to get the trust of the decision-influencers by helping them with the right information.

An Enticing Opportunity

Enticing opportunities go both ways. They could be:

• Grants and rebates;

• Ease of integration and adoption;

• Compliance and deadlines.

However, this information cannot get to the decision-maker too late.

It’s your job to bring clarity to the influencers early on, making their path easier.

How to do this?

• DemandGen blog posts; and

• Frictionless digital assets

You need to enable both influencers and decisors with information that makes your solution different from any other right away – and it’s not just about how you solve their problem.

It’s about how easy-to-adopt your solution is.

Bringing the Buying Group Up-to-Speed

The sure way to reach, inform, and get the buying group at the same level is using Account-Based Retargeting.

With ABR, you retarget specific institutions and roles that have a rising demand to solve a problem.

But how to know which institutions to target?

You need to:

• Identify people and institutions – with or without form submits

• Have them indicate they have a problem you solve

• Measure their interactions with your campaign assets and key pages

With these at hand, you’re ready to contextualize, enrich, and source key contacts to your SDRs to outreach and start close relationships with the targets.

Now, you’ve full on an Inbound-Led Outbound Strategy.

I-LO connects marketing signals with sales action – enabling your team to start warm, relevant conversations and steer purchases.

Bridge demand generation and outbound sales.

• Turn early intent into real pipeline in under 90 days

• Align Sales and Marketing around warm, relevant signals

• Use content, clicks, downloads, and ad engagement to trigger outreach

I created an entire guide so you understand how it works and how to apply it to your EdTech marketing.

Download the Strategy Guide

Hi, I’m Rod 👋
I share marketing and sales strategies for EdTech leaders.

Scale your pipeline and drive more demos and trials – no extra hires.

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