Our next #FinnemoreFireside chat is essential listening for everyone who owns or leads an edtech business as it’s with marketing and PR guru, Catherine Lane.

Cath is Co-founder and Head of PR & Content at The Influence Crowd who work with some of the most well-known brands in education, including Juniper Education, Lexplore Analytics, Teach Active, SIMS BlueSky Education, GL Assessment, and Historic Royal Palaces.

The Influence Crowd implements highly targeted, integrated PR campaigns that prove their value through incoming leads and changed opinions. Using knowledge and relationships built up over 15 years in this sector, they engage and delight audiences through great coverage, shareable social content and by getting the key influencers behind edtech businesses.

This is an audio-only fireside chat (unfortunately the video tech got the better of us on the day 😕) and in it Nick and Cath discuss:

• Why selling to teachers is so hard, and why speaking the right language is so important
• Understanding your target audience
• How Covid has affected schools and the way they use edtech
• People buy from people- it’s not all about the product – and how the pandemic exposed the need for PR and marketing
• How edtech companies have become more experimental in the face of Covid challenges, which improves learning, marketing and messaging
• Cath’s advice for raising your profile as an edtech business in the sector
• How to approach getting national coverage with a whole package
• The importance of timing in creating a story and making the most of newsjacking
• Interpreting data to make it more digestible, gain investment, and help with messaging from day one
• How creating loyalty help with bumps in the road when it comes to reputation management
• Three things people should have in mind if they want to embark on a successful marketing and PR campaign
• What’s next for The Influence Crowd?

Enjoy!

The ability to communicate well is an important skill for any Product or Business Development Manager. This means, among other things, that you should be able to present about your solution fluently and to different stakeholders, who will require a different level of information.

A persuasive presentation not only requires thorough preparation of content, but also good style. It takes considerable skill to come across coherently for any particular audience and to stay in control of the situation. For this purpose, the following 7 tips may offer some guidance to help you on the way to delivering a memorable presentation.

1. Show your Passion and Connect with your Audience

But time and again, the great presenters say that the most important thing is to connect with your audience, and the best way to do this is to let passion for your solution shine through.

Be enthusiastic and honest, and the audience will respond.

2. Focus on your Stakeholders Needs

As you prepare the presentation, you always need to bear in mind what your stakeholders need and what they want to know, not what you can tell them.

Don’t show your homework, just because it makes you feel good.

3. Keep it Simple: Concentrate on your Core Message

You should be able to communicate that key message very succinctly.

Always have in mind what are the core three points I want to get across?

4. Start Strongly you have 3 minutes to impress

The first three minutes, as when you first meet someone, is so important to a presentation. So smile, make eye contact and make sure the first 3 minutes of the presentation holds the stakeholders attention. Make them laugh!!

Think of a story that is relevant at the start of the presentation which will hold the audience.

5. Don’t use the presentation as a script

Don’t bore the audience by ‘Death by Powerpoint’. By all means use the presentation as a reminder, but do this in as fewer words as possible and use images if you can.

Remember you want your stakeholders to listen to you, not be deciphering what the slides are saying.

6. Tell stories

The best presenters are raconteurs , who can tell a story about the subject and keep an audiences attention. We all relate to stories, we also remember things better through stories.

Make your story funny and about you.

7. Relax and enjoy

Many people find it hard to relax and enjoy a presentation, but your body language and the speed you speak will have a major effect on the stakeholders perception if you know your subject and also if you can get a message across. Breath, and slow your delivery of the presentation down.

Remember you know more about your solution than your stakeholders

Everyone knows that to look credible and professional your business should have a website.  However, when you’re first starting out it’s difficult to know what to include so I’ve created the list below of website essentials – things you MUST include from the beginning to get your business going:

 1. Overview of the product/service itself – this is an obvious one but it needs to be really clear from the outset what it is your product or service does and the benefits users can expect.  There also needs to be a very clear and easy way to make a purchase.

2. Contact details – how many times have you been on a website but can’t find a number to call them on for love nor money? You’ll need to include a company phone number and company email address to field any enquiries and make is as easy as possible for your customers to engage with you.  People prefer to call landline numbers but if you don’t have a business landline there are lots of companies who provide virtual landline numbers for a few quid per month.  You should also make sure that your website has links to your social media platforms so people can easily follow you; be sure to include your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other details across the website.

3. Customer stories/case studies – any feedback you get from the people using your product or experiencing your service is hugely valuable.  Try to capture as much in writing (or video/voice recording) as possible and request permission to use it on the website and marketing.  Peer recommendations are so important so you will want to use positive feedback as much as you can.

4. About Us – you use an area like this to provide some reassurance around the fact that this company knows what it’s doing!  It’s here where you can talk about your background and experience and position yourself as a leader in the field.  You can also add links to press and publications if you wish.

5. Blog – this is an area you should use to write about topics which are interesting to your target market, and then post links on social media and in email newsletters.  The objective here is to drive extra visitors to your website who may then buy.

6. A way of collecting contact information – once you’ve encouraged visitors to your site, you need to find a way of capturing their data so you can build a list of leads. You should include a sign up box for a newsletter and maybe offer a free resource such as an ebook in exchange for contact details.  There are all sorts of options using pop-up boxes so you should explore and find the one which works best for you.

There are lots of free website building resources out there so you can have a practise run on a variety of platforms; the main thing is to make sure the website gets across exactly what your customers need to hear.

Creating your first business and first website can be intimidating but if you follow the guidelines above you’ll include everything you need to launch.  Your website is a key element of your overall marketing strategy as it’s your shop window for potential customers – it’s worth spending time getting the content right.