How to use Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP)

to develop marketing strategies in EDTECH INDUSTRY:

Online education market in India: Increased penetration of internet and

smart phones in India:

With digitization, the adoption of the internet and smart phones in India is increasing. High
internet penetration has led to the creation of more tentative customer base for companies
operating in the e-learning market to acquire and monetize this opportunity. As the traditional
education system in India is insufficient in providing services to all the segments of the
education and skill development market, prospective learners are looking for alternative sources,
leading to the growth of online education market in India.

Online education market in India: Segmentation analysis:

The online education market in India research report provides market segmentation by product
(content and services) and by end-user (higher education segment and K-12 segment). It provides
an in-depth analysis of the prominent factors influencing the market, including drivers,
opportunities, trends, and industry-specific challenges.
Of the two major products, the content segment held the largest market share in 2017,
contributing to over 64% of the market. This product segment will dominate the global market
throughout the forecast period.

The higher education segment held the largest share of the market in 2017, accounting for more
than 77% share. The higher education segment caters to the undergraduate and postgraduate
students while the K-12 segment caters to students in grades kindergarten to 12th. Both of these
segments include students that opt for the online education for test preparation, skill,
development, and language learning.

Because education companies have so many different stakeholders involved, it’s important to
segment your audience properly so that each group only sees content that’s relevant to them.
For example, a school administrator might not have much interest in an algebra tutorial video
that’s aimed at delighting students, and students won’t care about the case studies and
whitepapers that you have created to persuade administrators to buy.

Here’s a simple way that Khan Academy segments their content between teachers and parents:

Depending on which option users click, they will be shown different types of content that fits
their specific needs and situation.

Segmentation is a valuable tool for EdTech marketers who need to create content for different
stakeholders to get buy-in from them.

Produce Targeted Content:

Education is a very fragmented industry, which means that it can be hard to reach the right
person at the right time.

For example, if a teacher comes across one of your online videos, enjoys it, and enters her e-mail
address, it may not do you much good to try to move her to the bottom of your funnel if you’re
targeting school districts.

That’s why it’s important to produce content with your target buyer personas in mind.
You might have to get a buy-in from teachers and students before going after parents or school
districts. Or if you’re selling a tool to parents, you might have to get buy-in from students first.
Because you have so many different stakeholders involved, you’ll have to create the right type of
content to guide each of them along their decision making process.
For instance, you could create blog posts, videos, and other top-of-the-funnel content to attract
your initial customers. Then, as they begin to spread the word “up the ladder” to your final
customers, you’ll want to make sure that they have different types of content to see, such as case
studies, white papers, and proof that you can deliver on the metrics that they care about.

Paid Traffic:
Paid traffic can work well for products that don’t require a huge financial commitment to
purchase.

If your product is a low commitment tool for parents or students to use, then paid traffic could be
a great channel to get their attention. For example, Chegg (a textbook rental company) used
Facebook ads to promote their business to price sensitive students

Even if you’re selling a high-ticket tool to school districts, paid traffic could still be a good
option to target your initial set of customers (students or teachers) — 80% of K-12 teachers use
social media personally and professionally.
 Positioning:

If you’re running an education company, then chances are you have multiple stakeholders that
you have to worry about. School district leaders, teachers, parents, and students all have different
needs, but they all need to be satisfied for a sale to go through.
How do you market to all of them?

According to the EdTech Handbook, the first thing to think about is who your initial customer is.
For example, you might start off by targeting teachers, but your ultimate goal is to close a deal
with a school district. You might begin by offering free plans to teachers and students, but your
objective is to sell a paid version to parents. Or you might go directly to your target market, even
if they’re a massive entity.
Whatever the case, first focus on making your initial target users happy. This way, you can
ensure that they’ll turn into advocates for your business, and help you get more customers and
users through referrals.

In addition to this, there are a few sector-specific things to consider when marketing your
product in EdTech:
 There’s usually a difference between users and buyers, unless you’re going directly to your
target market. If this is the case, you’ll need to produce content at each stage of the funnel that
hits the pain points of each stakeholder.

 Sales cycles with larger entities like school districts can take up to 9-18 months.

 Schools and teachers are, generally speaking, averse to change.

 Teachers are largely skeptical of trying out new technology because of poor technology that has
been forced on them in the past. Instead of telling them why your product is better than
everything else’s out there, show them how your product will solve their problems in the
classroom.

 Even free products aren’t easy to sell. When adopting a new product into the classroom
workflow, there often needs to be some sort of training involved, and there’s usually a short
period of lost productivity right after the tool is introduced.

Product – Core competencies:

Teachers and employers across the globe have at least one belief in common when it comes to
educating our society: 21st century skills are no longer a luxury but a necessity.
“The skills that are easiest to teach and easiest to test are now also the skills that are easiest to
automate, digitize, and outsource,” writes Vivien Stewart for the Asia Society’s Global Cities
Education Network. “Because of this shift, schools are directing their attention to developing so-
called 21st century skills and competencies for all students.”
These competencies include the cognitive skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, knowledge
application, and creativity; the interpersonal skills of communication and collaboration,
leadership, and global and cross-cultural awareness; and intrapersonal skills like self-direction,
motivation, and learning how to learn.

Institutions in different parts of the globe are currently experimenting with different ways of
integrating and measuring 21st century skills. Hong Kong, Stewart says, is one of a number of
cities introducing project-based assessments, which “require students to apply their knowledge to
new problems.” Shanghai now uses PISA-type tests of problem-solving as a way to “shift the
curriculum in the direction of modern skills and pedagogy.” Toronto’s curriculum standards
explicitly emphasize the need to assess learning skills and work habits as well as content
knowledge. Both Toronto and Seattle are “interested in ways to assess student’s global
competence–whether they can apply 21st century skills in a global context.”

Singapore, in particular, exemplifies what successful adoption of such standards might look like.

“First, new skills are being integrated throughout the school curriculum as well as teacher
preparation and professional development,” Stewart explains. “Different pedagogies are being
encouraged, including greater use of inquiry-based learning, information and communications
technology, cooperative group learning, and problem-solving routines, among others.

“Next, the national examination system is being revised to incorporate higher level thinking
skills through different modes of assessment including open-ended and source-based questions
as well as Singapore’s traditional essay format.”

Some skills are being assessed primarily at the school level, Stewart says, such as students’ skills
in planning and performing experiments in science and in carrying out projects and design work
in other curriculum areas. “In primary schools, assessment and reports to parents are more
holistic, going beyond academic achievement to other areas of student development. And the
competencies expected of graduating teachers are being changed to match these outcome goals
for students.”

Institutions differ in exactly which competencies and skills they choose to adopt, and at what
grade level, but they generally fall within those three primary categories mentioned above:
cognitive competencies, interpersonal skills, and intrapersonal skills.
 Critical skills for students to master:

1. Learning How to Learn. Being part of a formal learning environment is like building the
scaffolding for a house. Once you enter the “real world,” the frame disappears and it’s up to you
to stay standing. Knowing how to teach yourself and having a willingness to do so–is the only
way to build a lasting foundation.
2. Gaining Empathy. “The first step in effective design is gaining empathy for the ‘user,'” writes
education guru Weezie Yancey-Siegel on her Eduventurist blog. “Whether you work in
sustainable development, healthcare, education, business, or technology, designing or re-
designing a service, system, or product requires the ability to tap into the mindset and
perspective of your customer, patient, student, or community. Think of how many times you’ve
heard someone say, ‘Now, why would they build it like this? That doesn’t make sense.’ The
designer probably wasn’t too skilled in this area.”
3. Creativity. This competency is a big part of problem solving, especially in a time of limited
resources. Schools are doing a lot to inspire creativity in students, but even more than that, we
need to make sure our students understand why it’s important.
4. Foresight. Trend-spotting and recognition of patterns fall under this category. As social
entrepreneur David Bornstein has said, “Intelligence is the ability to predict the future.”
5. Digital Literacy/Programming. Although there is a big emphasis on becoming bilingual in our
internationalized world, another key language to learn is computer programming. You can save
money and have a lot more freedom to get your work done (and marketed) if you can work well
with computers.
6. Curating information. We may complain about information overload, but the trick is to see it as
an opportunity. If you are able to handle the flood of data and filter it all to find what’s truly
valuable and useful, you’ll be ahead of the curve in a highly employable way.
7. Being able to navigate diverse perspectives. Being well-rounded not only means having a
breadth of knowledge but also having the ability to participate in various discourses. Think
interdisciplinary curricula and connected learning.
8. Being entrepreneurial. We all have great ideas from time to time, but can we implement them?
Acting on creative impulses is ultimately what separates true innovators from all the rest.
9. Being a group facilitator. Learn how to bring the best out of a team by facilitating its
collaboration. Not everyone has to lead–being a facilitator just means making it easier for
creative things to happen.
10. Staying up-to-date. If you don’t read the news, start. Your skills will become rusty if you can’t
readily see how they should be applied.
 How to provide these competencies:

Teaching 21st-century skills can be challenging. Educators tend to disagree on which of them
should be prioritized over others given curricular and time restrictions, and assessing them is no
easier. So what can we do to help ourselves stay on track?

1. Create scenarios that test skill transfer, not just skills. Students need to develop the ability to
apply skills, concepts, knowledge, attitudes and/or strategies they develop in one context to
another, both instinctively and after deliberate thought and analysis.
2. Take time to point out the bigger picture. Students need to comprehend relationships between
given variables and how to apply this understanding to different contexts. Plus, the relevance of
learning specific knowledge and skills is much clearer to students—and much more
motivating—if they understand how a given topic fits into “the big picture,” or a meaningful
context.
3. Treat technology as a natural part of learning. It’s time to face the truth: today’s students will
have very little concept of life without technology. So stop talking about integrating technology
into learning and start talking about integrating learning into technology.
4. Make your lessons interdisciplinary. Students develop their 21st century skills and knowledge as
they learn why each academic discipline is important, how experts create new knowledge, and
how they communicate about it.
5. Teach students to learn to learn (met cognition). Since there is a limit to how much students learn
through formal schooling, they also must learn to learn on their own.
6. Address misunderstandings directly. People have many misunderstandings about how the world
works that persist until they have the opportunity to develop alternative explanations.
7. Promote teamwork as a process and outcome. The ability to work collaboratively is an important
21st century skill, not to mention an important condition for optimal learning of other key skills.
8. Start a maker culture. Innovation requires creativity to be effective, and creativity requires
innovation to be effected. See our post on creating a culture society.
9. Let students try out different roles within a group. Sometimes they can be the ‘manager’ and at
other times they can be an ‘organizer’ or a ‘graphic designer’. There are many different roles that
students can fill during a project with their peers that allows them to work with others in a more
collaborative way than just breaking apart a project and then putting it back together in the end.
10. Teach digital literacy. Students have access to unimaginable amounts of information today.
Students need to be taught how to sift through the millions of web pages available on a topic,
find what they need, and recognize the difference between factual information and factual-
sounding opinions