6 Best Practices for Nurturing Organic Growth in Ed Tech

The ed tech industry in India has been growing since the COVID–19. Post the pandemic, educational institutions and students have adapted to online education because of its flexibility and versatility. In 2020, the ed tech sector was valued at over $2.8 billion in India. The value is estimated to reach $10 billion by 2025.

Amid this growth, several ed tech startups have made their mark over the past couple of years. However, in this fiercely competitive, establishing credibility and fostering trust with the users is crucial for sustainable success.

Adopting an organic growth-based approach offers a way for new business to break through the competition. Organic growth is also a cost–effective and more sustainable method to expand your business.

So, let’s discover the best practices to implement organic growth strategies to help your brand stand out.

1. Creating True Value and Building Trust

Primarily, word–of–mouth marketing will come from the students and educators using your platform/services. Addressing their pain points and generating value–packed content, therefore, is crucial to building trust and credibility.

Solidify this trust and develop credibility by curating resources like e-books and educational modules. Engage actively with your audience, understand their needs, and address their pain points by offering your services.

Focusing on providing real value and support initially is the best organic growth strategy.

2. Focus on SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) helps you rank higher on Google and other search engine result pages. Decision-makers from educational institutions and schools actively search for content related to ed-tech platforms where they can look for courses to upskill.

Having low visibility on the internet means these decision-makers may not find you. Depending on your goals, there are various ways you can make your website SEO-friendly:

Attractive Website Layout

38% of users leave a website due to poor user experience. Ensuring your ed tech website is appealing and easy to navigate can significantly improve the user experience.

Here are a few ways to improve the user experience of your website:

• Main Website Navigation Bar:

Putting a navigational bar on top of your webpage can help boost SEO. If you have the navigation in non-standard places, it becomes difficult for the user to find menus. The aim here is to make your website easier to navigate and find what they are looking for. For inspiration, browse through some ed tech websites on the Internet, such as Coursera and Udemy.
Making the main navigation bar eye-catching and simple goes a long way for SEO.

• Mobile Navigation

Most of the search traffic comes from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Hence, it is vital to have a mobile-friendly website.

Google and other search engines also prefer mobile-friendly websites with good design and navigation. Mobile navigation has been noted as one of the top priorities for SEO by many marketing experts.

• Footers/Sitemaps

A footer is the area found at the end of almost each web page, and are present in many forms, based on the content on your website. This footer helps you link all the important pages throughout your website in a single spot, internally.

A sitemap is the most common link found in footers, linking to the HTML version of the sitemap. The HTML sitemap can help in user navigation for your visitors.

You can make the footer menu extensive and provide all the necessary information to your users.

Keyword Research

SEO demands investment and patience for long-term organic growth. Extensive keyword research is an integral part of SEO. You can use Google’s Keyword Planner or go through other competitor brand’s blogs for this extensive research.

It is noticed that brands that publish blogs frequently get more leads. Such content embedded with the relevant keywords is a fool-proof organic growth strategy.

3. Email Marketing

Email is one of the oldest and most effective organic growth strategies. Especially in ed tech, email marketing helps garner massive engagement rate.

Personalised emails catering to your audience’s interests and pain points usually get positive responses. Email marketing has the following benefits:

• High conversion rates: If done correctly, email marketing can garner high conversion rates. It allows direct communication with interested individuals while guiding them through the sales funnel.

• Cost-effective: The ROI received through email marketing is much more than that of any other method. Ed tech companies can earn $36 for every $1 spent through email marketing. This makes it the most cost-effective way to grow organically.

4. Establishing Thought Leadership Through Content

Establishing thought leadership is another important aspect of organic growth. It helps serve two purposes:

• Drawing in new clients by offering insightful information

• Fosters stronger community advocacy and loyalty

Begin by spotting relevant conversations and topics about your products and services. Leverage this information to develop gamification techniques to attract more users. Gamification includes adding game-like-elements into learning environments to motivate students to engage more in the learning process.

For instance, Khan Academy, an online learning platform, uses gamification elements such as badges, points, and leaderboards to keep the learners engaged.

Paying attention to ongoing trends in ed-tech marketing can help develop authentic content. Using data analytics tools, you can research topics that are of interest and within your expertise. Creating blogs, eBooks and other forms of media can showcase this expertise and establish thought leadership.

5. Leverage Social Media

Social media marketing is a boon for ed tech companies since younger individuals spend a lot of time on these platforms.

These platforms are not just about connecting with people. When done right, social media also builds trust for your company by establishing your company’s social proof and showing you’re an authority in your field. Share content on social media platforms to put your business out there and stand out as a brand.

When potential customers see value-powered and captivating content on your social media, they may engage and visit your website.

6. Measure and Analyse Your Progress

For long-term organic growth, keep improving your strategies. Consistently check your KPIs (key performance indicators) and track them to determine what works for you.

Set attainable targets for small-scale growth at first. For instance, aim to increase the number of new organic visitors by 25% per quarter. These objectives can help you aim higher while taking little steps to reach there.

Connect metrics back to KPIs and determine the actual cost of acquiring customers and leads organically. For example, track content engagement rate, click-through rate, time on page, pages per session, bounce rate, etc.

Wrapping Up

While organic techniques initially demand patience, they provide greater long-term benefits. The user base is often more inclined towards value–driven, trusted content. Leadership and establishing credibility, therefore, are at the forefront for growth. Paid advertising can provide a boost, but only when your organic growth strategy is solid.

With expertise in various nuances of social media and web development, Growth Jockey can help your ed tech startup get the organic boost it needs. Contact us today!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are 3 current trends of digital marketing in ed tech sector?

The three top trends of digital marketing are:

• Gamification of content for merging, education, and entertaining content

• Improved engagement with virtual reality for immersive learning

• AI-power personalised courses and offers for a more interest-focused and precise delivery of services

2. What is the average conversion rate for ed-tech companies?

For ed-tech businesses, the average conversion rate is 2-3%, generating about 3,000 to 3,500 organic leads. Conversion rate refers to the percentage of site visitors that act on the CTA on your website.

For instance, if 500 students visit your website, and only 10 enrol on your e-newsletters, your conversion rate is 2%.

3. What are the 3 Ps of digital marketing?

The 3 Ps of marketing for the classic marketing mix – price, place, and promotion. With the rise of data-driven marketing and increased customer expectations, the new marketing mix focuses on the following P’s:

• People – It refers to the refers to the target audience

• Personalisation – Increased demand for tailored digital marketing campaigns

• Privacy – It points out the importance of protecting the personal data of your customers and website visitors.