By: Julia Brolin
Your customers are your salespeople’s best friends, and here’s why.
Educators won’t invest their time or energy in a company or product they don’t trust. Educators are savvy, do their research, and rely on testimonials or efficacy-based case studies from their peers for validation. This is why more and more ed tech companies are generating leads by showcasing their customers’ success stories through company blogs and on social media. On the flip side, when an educator shares his or her success after using your product, others take notice, which brings immediate credibility to your solution and your brand.
When companies share personal testimonials, potential customers start to think, “If this product worked for their school, then it might work for me!” The more stories you have, the wider the audience you are able to reach, making your pool of potential leads massive.
How a Brand Champion Can Work for You
Recently, PR with Panache! met Anthony Johnson, a 5th-grade science and social studies teacher at Isenberg Elementary in Salisbury, NC. After a 30-minute conversation, the PRP team secured multiple articles in ed tech publications that featured his unique work in the classroom, which he calls “Johnsonville.” In a matter of six months, Anthony’s story went viral. Through various analytics tools, our team was able to track 200+ new leads that were generated for our client as a result of earned media placements in education publications.
So how do you find your “Anthony Johnson”?
Willingness to Share
When educators find an awesome tool or resource that improves student learning, they want to shout it from the rooftops! To start, look for an educator who is interacting with you on social media. These folks are often tech-savvy, forward-thinkers who make it a priority to stay in tune with current teaching and learning best practices. If they’re posting about their classrooms online, you know they’re already open to sharing their story with the masses.
Start by asking if they’d like to be featured on your company blog, or chat with your fabulous ed tech PR and/or marketing team. Provide them with a bigger stage and wider social media reach to share their positive experience. From there, you’ll be able to identify if theirs is a “good” story, and build a plan to promote their success (and generate new leads) through marketing campaigns and/or social media.
Educators love it when a company recognizes the innovative work they’re doing. Many of them will jump at any opportunity they get to share best practices and help other educators. Reaching out to hear their story, and then sharing it within the industry, shows that you are listening and you care about improving all educators, not just the ones who use your product.
Relationship-building
While some educators prefer a phone call, others may like to communicate via email or even through social media. When working to create Anthony’s story, we frequently emailed back and forth to finalize stories. He was always quick to respond and turned around articles in less than 24 hours. Because we communicated so well, we were able to feature him in many publications, including those with tight deadlines.
After his first article was published, Anthony and his students were ecstatic. As the number of articles increased, so did the enthusiasm. I would get weekly emails from Anthony and his students about all the wonderful projects that were happening in his classroom. With every email, I would get a new idea about how we could feature their classroom in a new publication. We were working together to find new ways to showcase his work, and still have a solid and collaborative relationship. (PRP actually landed Anthony another interview this morning.)
Return on Investment
After the articles were published, educators across the country and abroad contacted Anthony looking for advice on how to recreate his classroom model. He signed on as a TEDeducator, and was a North Carolina Teacher of the Year finalist. In November 2016, he won a trip to Disneyland, where The Learning Counsel showcased his work. Today, Anthony say he is eternally thankful for the PR and storytelling surrounding his success in the classroom. He actively showcases the solutions that have made Johnsonville possible, and explains to others how the tools he uses have become the keys to his students’ success.
The process of working together made Anthony loyal to our client’s brand, allowed his voice to be heard by thousands of educators, and brought much-deserved attention to both. Our client is humbled to be associated with such an amazing educator and Anthony, their customer, couldn’t be happier about his role as their brand champion. Everybody wins!
Now get out there and find your next brand champion!
Julia Brolin is a Storyteller on the PRP team.
Thank you for sharing!