Nine years ago, I started Leoni Consulting Group. Since then, the pace of change in education has accelerated faster than at any point I’ve seen in this industry.
Artificial intelligence has rapidly reshaped the edtech landscape. Cell phones, once celebrated for expanding access and accelerating 1:1 learning, are now widely restricted or banned.
The pandemic triggered the largest wave of investment education technology has ever seen. Districts adopted tools in months that previously would have taken years. Then the cycle shifted. Venture investment slowed, ESSER funds expired, and district budgets became more volatile as federal education policy changed and funding streams moved away from the Department of Education toward states and other agencies.
At the same time, districts are reevaluating large technology stacks as interoperability needs, AI capabilities, and tighter budgets push schools toward fewer tools that do more.
The past nine years have brought more dramatic change to education than we’ve seen in generations.
And yet, when it comes to marketing in this sector, certain patterns keep showing up.
The tools change. The platforms evolve. The funding cycles rise and fall. But the fundamentals of how marketing works in education remain remarkably consistent.
After nine years working with more than 50 education and EdTech organizations at LCG, we continue to see the same patterns in the marketing strategies and practices that still hold true today. Here are nine that still hold up.
1. Education Is a Complex Marketing Environment
Education is one of the most complex environments a marketer can work in.
Decision-making is layered. Purchasing cycles are long. Funding moves through federal, state, and district channels. And there is an added weight to all of it, because this work ultimately touches learning, opportunity, and what our next generation carries forward.
That complexity shapes everything about how marketing works. Short-term campaigns rarely move the needle on their own. Education marketing requires patience, consistency, and a clear understanding of how decisions actually get made. It also requires close alignment with sales, because marketing does not operate separately from the buying process.
The organizations that succeed in this space respect the complexity of the system rather than trying to shortcut it.
2. Determine Your Primary and Secondary Audience and Build Your Marketing Mix Around Them
Strong education marketing starts with clarity about who you are trying to reach and the role each audience plays.
For most B2B edtech companies, two audiences matter. First, the buyers and decision-makers responsible for budgets and approvals. Second, the people who will actually use the product every day.
Both influence success, but they engage with brands differently.
Decision-makers are evaluating outcomes, implementation, and long-term value. Users want to see how a product fits into their daily work, saves time, or supports learning. When organizations try to speak to both groups in the same way, the message usually weakens.
The strongest marketing mixes account for this. Some channels naturally lean toward users, while others focus on buyers. For example, a platform like Instagram might primarily engage educators, while thought leadership, events, or case studies may speak more directly to decision-makers. The key is designing a mix where each channel plays a clear role while the overall strategy still prioritizes the primary buyer.
3. Marketing Doesn’t Stop When the Contract Is Signed
In education, the contract is not the finish line. It is the beginning of the real work.
Implementation matters. A product can look great in a demo, but the real test is what happens once educators and staff begin using it in real environments with real constraints on time and attention.
This is where marketing, product marketing, and customer success all play important roles. Webinars, professional learning events, community conversations, conference sessions, and helpful content help users understand the full product, discover features they may not have realized existed, and use the tool with fidelity.
That matters more than many organizations realize. When renewal conversations happen, district leaders often look closely at usage. Are educators actively using the product? Are they using the full set of capabilities, or only a small fraction of what the platform offers?
When marketing helps users understand the product and supports meaningful implementation, it strengthens both outcomes and long-term partnerships.
4. Evidence and Real Education Stories Build Trust
Education leaders want evidence that something works. But numbers alone rarely tell the full story.
The strongest marketing pairs meaningful data with authentic stories from real districts, schools, and classrooms. Data helps demonstrate outcomes and scale. Stories show what that impact actually looks like in practice.
Both matter.
Education leaders often look for examples that resemble their own context. Similar district sizes, similar student populations, similar challenges. When they see results from places that feel familiar, the work becomes easier to trust.
Strong case studies do this well. They show the challenge a district, school, or classroom faced, what was implemented, and what changed as a result. Over time, consistently sharing these stories builds credibility and helps other educators imagine what success could look like in their own environment.
5. Trust Grows When Results Appear Across Different Contexts
One story is helpful. Many different stories are far more powerful.
Education leaders want to see how something works across a range of environments. Large districts. Small districts. Urban systems. Rural communities. Different student populations, different challenges, and different starting points.
The more diverse those examples are, the more likely it is that someone reading them sees a district, school, or classroom that feels familiar.
That moment matters.
When leaders recognize an environment that looks like their own, the story becomes more believable. They can picture how the work might translate into their own system. And that often changes the conversation from curiosity to serious consideration.
For marketers and sales teams alike, a library of diverse stories becomes incredibly valuable. It allows teams to speak directly to different contexts and show leaders examples of people like them already using the product.
6. Marketing Helps Drive Meaningful Product Use
In education, adoption matters far more than awareness.
A district may purchase a product, but the real question is what happens after implementation. Are educators actually using it? Are they using it consistently? Are they using the full capabilities of the platform or just a small portion of what it offers?
This is where product marketing, marketing, and customer success often work together.
Webinars, professional learning, thought leadership events, and helpful content help educators understand the full product, discover features they may not have realized existed, and use the tool with fidelity.
That matters more than many organizations realize. During renewal conversations, district leaders often look closely at usage. Meaningful product use strengthens outcomes, supports long-term partnerships, and ultimately drives stability for organizations in this industry.
7. Marketing Channels Rise and Fall, but Owned Channels Endure
Marketing trends come and go. Platforms rise quickly, promise massive reach, and then change their algorithms or fall out of favor. Over time, marketers in every industry experience the same cycle of excitement, saturation, and adjustment.
Education marketing is no different.
One of the most consistent lessons over the years is the importance of channels you actually control. Newsletters, blogs, podcasts, and other owned platforms create a direct relationship with your audience that doesn’t depend on the rules of a social network.
Interestingly, some of the oldest tools are becoming new again. Newsletters in particular are experiencing a resurgence, fueled by platforms like LinkedIn and Substack.
The lesson isn’t to abandon social platforms. They still play an important role. But strong marketing strategies balance rented channels with owned ones so organizations can build lasting relationships with their audience.
8. Content and Search Still Work Best Together
Great content and strong search strategy have always reinforced each other. That hasn’t changed, even as search itself evolves.
Educators and district leaders are constantly looking for answers to real questions. Helpful content that addresses those questions remains one of the most effective ways to build visibility and trust.
What has changed is how that content gets discovered.
Traditional SEO still matters, but search is expanding beyond keywords into AI-driven discovery. Large language models, answer engines, and recommendation-based search are reshaping how people find information. Increasingly, visibility depends on whether your content shows up not just in search results, but in AI-generated responses and recommendations.
That shift makes strong content ecosystems even more important.
When organizations consistently publish thoughtful resources and connect them through internal links, case studies, webinars, and research, they create a body of work that search engines and AI systems alike can reference and recommend.
The platforms may change, but the underlying principle remains the same: useful content, organized well, helps educators and leaders find the information they need to make decisions and take the next step.
9. Relationships Still Drive Many Decisions in Education
For all the changes in technology, platforms, and marketing tactics, one thing about education has remained remarkably consistent.
Relationships still matter.
There is constant movement across the sector. Leaders move districts, take on new roles, or step into larger systems. With that movement comes trust that travels with them. A district may decide to work with an organization because someone they trust has already had a positive experience.
Those relationships are rarely built overnight. They grow through years of conversations, shared work, conferences, partnerships, and collaboration across the field.
Marketing can support those relationships, but it cannot manufacture them. Trust builds over time as organizations show up consistently, support educators and leaders doing the work, and contribute meaningfully to the broader conversation in education.
At LCG, we would not have lasted a year, let alone nine, without the relationships we’ve built with so many thoughtful and inspiring people across this industry. Those connections are what make this work possible.
Stepping back from these nine lessons, what strikes me most is how human this work really is.
Education marketing is not just about campaigns, channels, or tactics. At its core, it’s about people. The educators doing the work every day. The leaders trying to make thoughtful decisions for their communities. The teams inside organizations working hard to build things that genuinely help.
Nine years into building LCG, I feel incredibly privileged to work alongside so many inspiring and selfless people across this field. The educators, leaders, and organizations we partner with continue to remind me why this work matters.
What gives me even more confidence is that the things LCG cares most about are the same things this sector thrives on: deep connection, community, shared learning, and collaboration around complex challenges.
The best marketing in education reflects those values. It helps people find one another. It builds trust. It accelerates relationships that might otherwise take years to form.
At heart, I’m still an Edcamper. Those unconference gatherings for educators were built around a simple belief: we are better together. If that idea still holds true twenty years from now, I’m confident we’ll be able to navigate whatever comes next. And make no mistake, there will be a lot.
But if this field keeps showing up the way it always has, learning together, helping one another, and building trust along the way, I’m optimistic about where we’re headed.
