Updated!

Since publishing this article I have amended the details of next year’s Summit slightly. If you have already read this, just skip to the end for the updated details.

Opening remarks

Getting into schools is hard. When I was a teacher, and then head of a local authority ed tech provision, my approach to dealing with marketing letters was to throw them away, and I never took phone calls from companies because I didn’t have the time — unless by some stroke of fortune a company with exactly the kind of product I was looking for happened to get in touch just at that time. Now that I know what it’s like on the other side of the fence, I feel quite guilty —although, of course, I shouldn’t. Let’s face it, with five “free” periods a week to lead and manage a Computing department comprising 5 teachers, prepare lessons, mark work, observe others’ lessons and so on and so on, how could I have justified responding to cold calls?

The Marketing to schools summit was the Bee Digital Education Marketing Agency’s attempt to help companies get their products and services into schools. That’s what I’m reviewing here.

Before embarking on this review I think I should tell you three things. First, I’m quite cynical. Back in the 1980s there was a spate of courses and seminars on the subject of how to attract money into your life. I always felt that perhaps the best way of doing so would be to run a course or a seminar on the subject of…. So when I was told about the Marketing to Schools Summit, I thought, “Oh yeah?”

However, two factors inspired me to attend. The first is that I’ve known Bryan Plumb, the CEO, for many years, and as far as I’m concerned he is as trustworthy as the day is long. (Yeah, I know the days are getting shorter in the northern hemisphere now, but please belt up!) The second is that although I’ve long given up believing in silver bullets, a part of me thinks that, well you never know. As I said to one of the speakers before the conference started, “We’re all here epitomising Dr Johnson’s observation of the triumph of hope over experience.”.

The second thing I should tell you is although I think of myself as a visionary, and although I am no longer a full-time teacher, I still think in a very down-to-earth way when it comes to conferences. To put it boldly, in every presentation I am thinking, “This is great, but how will it help me with class 4B on Friday afternoon?”

Thirdly, I was offered a free place at the conference. However, that has not affected my write-up of the event.

Let’s look at the three manifestations of my frame of mind before attending, namely:

Cynicism: was this just a way of generating money for a marketing agency?
Silver bullets.
Practicality.

Cynicism

My cynicism was misplaced. Both the presenters and participants were there in the spirit of helping the community. All of the presentations I saw shared useful information, much of which would usually be regarded as a company secret. I thought it was very generous of them.

Silver bullets

As one of the participants said to me, we all came hoping for a silver bullet even though we know there is no such thing; but it’s good to be reminded of things we’d forgotten.

A good example of this for me was something that Jodie Lopez said: the quality of your lead magnet (free giveaway) should be as good as the actual product. Funnily enough, I’ve been working on a new lead magnet for my newsletter, Digital Education, and a few weeks ago resolved to commission a professional cover for it. But in the last week or so I’d been thinking that that would just delay issuing it, so why not just make it available with a plain cover and be done with it? But Jodie’s comment set me back on track.

Practicality

Just three examples: Laura McInerney shared some very interesting and useful data about teachers’ social media habits, garnered from Teacher Tapp. Anna Pedroza, who runs the eponymous PR agency Pedroza Communications, gave us the lowdown on how to contact editors. I found her advice very valuable, and indeed used it with some success today — and I’ve been pitching ideas to editors for years. Bryan Plumb told us the 9 word email he uses to re-engage disengaged newsletter subscribers. And Jade Parkinson-Hill inspired us by relating her live-streaming journey to what was to become STEAM School.

Wish list

There are a few things I should have liked to see. (Note: I had to leave at lunchtime, and haven’t looked at all the presentations yet, so perhaps these were covered.)

I’d like to have heard more about word-of-mouth and other organic forms of marketing. Is organic marketing dead? I certainly have the impression that these days in order to sell books and get loads of people signed up to a mailing list you have to advertise, but is that perception correct?
Possibly not the time and place, but Bryan very rightly said that if one of your customers writes a better manual than your own, why not pay them for it or commission them to write one? I’d like to suggest, as he didn’t, that even if teachers don’t specifically ask for this, you should offer author-friendly terms, ones that are in keeping with the Society of Authors’ guidelines. If you’re not sure what they are, read the advice to educational authors who have been approached by publishers.
Although I came away with several actionable ideas, I don’t have a huge company, and it will take me a while to implement them. As an almost one-man-band I have to balance immediate income against marketing for the future. What’s the advice for getting into schools for micro-businesses such as mine? Facebook ads?
What about advice for those of us who are, shall we say, introvert marketers? I’ve been successfully independent since 2004, and I’ve largely avoided networking events, crowing about my achievements on social media, or even listing my clients on my website. Yet to borrow from Elton John, I’m still standing. So what can people like me do to gain even more clients without going against our principles or having to become something we’re not? (By the way, introverted does not equal shy: I’m very happy to speak in front of hundreds of people, I just don’t like speaking about myself.)

Conclusion

Would I go again? Yes. Would I recommend it to others? Definitely. And fortunately, this was not a one-off event. The next one is taking place in London in October 2020. You can see the agenda for the one just gone on the conference website. As I’m not sure if that will still be the website for next year’s summit, I suggest you keep tabs on the main Bee Digital website for announcements.

And in the meantime, put it in your diary.