The omni-channel concept is no longer an emerging trend or a topic of debate among marketers, digital strategists and other professionals similarly in tune with the state of electronic — and physical —outreach. It’s now a widely recognized strategy for successfully engaging with prospects and current clients, gathering feedback, promoting new offerings and much more. Let’s look at the key components of omnichannel marketing strategy in the world of edtech, and how this concept continues to be important for marketers in today’s world.
Social media
“YouTube and Facebook are the two most popular social networks by far.”
Social media is often inescapable. The many popular networks available and the general acceptance of these services means they will likely only grow more common. The Pew Research Center found that, as of early 2019, social media use has remained mostly the same among U.S. adults. The two most popular networks are YouTube, with a 73% share of users among all adults in the country, and Facebook, with 69%. Neither has seen significant growth in use from 2018 to 2019. These two networks drastically outpace the rest of the pack. Instagram is growing over time, with 37% of adults using it, but the rest of the most recognizable social networks and platforms are relatively steady at use levels between 11-28%.
With so many people and businesses using this communication and community building tool, it shouldn’t be surprising that teachers use these platforms in significant numbers as well. Targeting the clear leaders in the social world, namely Facebook and YouTube, is a good strategy for marketing communications that intend to appeal to a broad audience. Other networks are options as well, but it’s important to be sure the group of educators targeted has a significant presence there before moving forward.
Email
Email is reliable and dependable, a digital tool that has proven its effectiveness over a long period of time and shows no signs of falling by the wayside. Its permanency, audience customization abilities, rich support for various times of content and general usefulness have all contributed to make it an enduring form of digital communication.
While email presents its own challenges in terms of convincing prospects to open a message and read through it, it also offers plenty of advantages:
- Educators and administrators alike use email as part of their day-to-day duties.
- Email offers a sense of exclusivity — in many email clients, when one message is open, it’s the only message directly visible on the screen.
- Email offers a chance to share a variety of content, supplemental information and calls to action, making it effective throughout the marketing funnel.
Email shouldn’t be overlooked as outdated or inferior to other digital marketing methods. It continues to offer long-term value for nearly all EdTech marketers.
Direct mail
An omni-channel strategy isn’t limited to the digital world. Direct mail is even older than email, and there haven’t been major changes to its production and use in some time, but it remains an effective tool for outreach. Direct mail service provider MailShark highlighted four key attributes associated with direct mail: It’s personalized, engaging, trustworthy and tangible.
Direct Mail offers a unique strategy for outreach that simply can’t be recreated through current digital means. Seeing a piece of mail and physically interacting with it is a different experience at its core, and it can have plenty of value for EdTech marketers.
Supporting your omni-channel strategy
No matter the specific channels your organization chooses to use or the size of its campaign, every omni-channel strategy has a better chance of success when accurate, current and complete data is available to identify prospects and ensure marketing messages reach them consistently. To learn how Agile can help, get in touch with our team of data, marketing intelligence and engagement experts today.
