The second quarter of the year typically marks the last three months of the U.S. academic school year within higher education and K-12 education. In terms of the K-12 buying cycle, the “consideration” stage ends in April and the “purchasing” stage starts in May. We define these stages and provide helpful stage-aligned content ideas below.
While Q2 is an important period for EdTech decision-making and purchasing for the upcoming school year, it can also be a challenging time for educators, as they are doing everything they can to help students finish the academic year strong, while attempting to stay strong themselves. As the school year begins to wind down, it becomes harder and harder to engage students and capture their attention. So…how do you simultaneously support teachers using your product or service while providing the right information about your product to prospective districts and schools interested in purchasing your product?
Start by planning. This post can help you plan content, social media posts, and marketing campaigns that talk to educators who use your product and influencers and decision makers in the EdTech purchasing process. All of the April - June K-12 education holidays, events, and conferences are outlined below. We’ve also included helpful content ideas aligned to the K-12 purchasing cycle and provided some information how administrators and educators may be feeling during each month.
The resources below are all from our free EdTech 2024 Marketer's Planner, which includes all of these events mentioned below and much more. Download the planner to plan for Q2 and get ahead of planning for Q3 and Q4.
Education Holidays, Events, and Conferences
Some of the most important dates EdTech marketers should consider throughout the second quarter are listed below. We’ve also brainstormed timely content ideas that align with the needs and challenges of teachers, and school and district administrators.
April
Buying Cycle: April typically marks the end of what we call the “Consideration” phase, where schools engage in a meticulous evaluation of potential vendors. EdTech companies must shine during this critical period, offering detailed information, case studies, and trial opportunities to showcase the strength and effectiveness of their solutions. This is the time for brands to build trust through ongoing support, content sharing, and personalized interactions, understanding that success in this phase solidifies their position in the purchasing process.
Suggested Marketing & Sales Activities ▼
Distribute collateral highlighting key differentiators and evaluating your product compared to its competitors by the evaluation criteria K-12 of decision makers.
Launch a bi-weekly or monthly newsletter that curates the best resources for VR in education. Follow these newsletter guidelines of 90% curation and value | 10% product-focused.
➡️ Get more marketing and sales activities aligned to the K-12 Buying Cycle in our Extended EdTech Marketer’s Planner.
Administrators: While the busiest time for a school and district administrator is the right before or the beginning of the school year, the second busiest time is the end of the school year. April is typically when the hiring phase begins and lasts until June. Any hires that occur after June are considered “last minute” in the education world. And while administrators are hiring, many teachers are applying to jobs (or learning they might be getting let go). April is also testing season, and typically an administrator may be the testing coordinator, so their time is very limited. As administrators are gathering as much information as possible to make informed EdTech purchases, make sure to allow administrators grace when they have to reschedule a meeting or when they are not providing a timely email response.
Teachers: Teachers are beginning plans to ensure they have covered all of their state standards. As mentioned, this is also the month standardized state testing begins in most U.S. schools, which can dominate class time. Tensions will be high, as administering these types of tests is not only a disruption to the typical schedule, but it can also be stress-inducing due to the testing scripts being extremely formal. One small mistake could result in a student's loss of information or invalidation of their test. In many school districts, teacher pay is directly correlated with the results of these tests or school doors may close if a school doesn’t perform. Support teachers with motivating or inspiring/uplifting content. Perhaps provide some brain break activities or fun activities for teachers to engage students during those in between testing times.
We create these blog posts as an easy resource for EdTech marketers to use when planning. Want to be the first one notified when we launch these free blog posts? Sign up to our email list to receive quarterly notifications:
May
While many academic school years end in June, many schools also end in May (see the state-by-state breakdown). Graduations, end-of-year celebrations, and summer breaks are in sight! Teacher appreciation is also celebrated nationally every month of May. Although May is Teacher Appreciation Month, teacher appreciation is celebrated the most during Teacher Appreciation Week, which is typically the second week of May (May 8-14, 2024) and Teacher Appreciation Day, which is typically the second Tuesday of May (May 9, 2024). Educators devote countless hours educators to their profession, come to school each day doing whatever they can to help students succeed, and are asked to do far beyond just teaching in classroom. Educators deserve so much appreciation, during this month, and throughout the year. Learn about three things brands should never do for teacher appreciation week and download our free gift guide to brainstorm ways to provide monetary and non-monetary gifts to show your appreciation.
Buying Cycle: May-July is defined as the “Purchasing or Buying” phase of the EdTech purchasing cycle. The final “Purchasing” phase is swift, with schools reviewing bids, making decisions, and issuing purchase orders. The looming fiscal year deadline of June 30 adds a "use it or lose it" urgency for K-12 decision makers and opens a window for EdTech brands to leverage audience lists strategically, offer add-ons or upsells, and provide implementation roadmaps.
Suggested Marketing & Sales Activities ▼
Offer exclusive events and discounts for product updates and future offerings for customers. Potentially leverage exciting industry and tech connections for events.
Develop a series of short video tutorials addressing common support queries. Provide easy-to-follow visual guides for each user group (educators, students, tech services, etc.).
➡️ Get more marketing and sales activities aligned to the K-12 Buying Cycle in our Extended EdTech Marketer’s Planner.
Administrators: This month is typically used for wrapping up loose ends. Standardized testing ends, planning meetings for the next school year begin, and filling staff positions for the next school year becomes a top priority. With the teacher shortage continuing to be felt nationwide, this can be a daunting task. Support school and district admins as much as you can by aligning your messaging, resources, and content to their top needs and challenges, such as hiring, ending the school year strong, and planning for the upcoming school year. Empathy, advice, and even motivation can go a long way.
Teachers: May kicks into gear with Teacher Appreciation Week. This month can be a rewarding month for teachers, as they reflect on their accomplishments of the year and look ahead to summer. Testing is mostly over in May, and teachers can get back into the fun of teaching before the school year ends. Students who have unstable home environments may act out more in class. When students’ sense of security is threatened, serious behaviors might begin to show up. This time can also be difficult for teachers to keep students’ attention as the excitement of summer draws closer each day. As a result, student engagement and classroom management is top-of-mind for teachers. If you’ve got a fun and engaging activity to help students keep moving and learning, this is the time to share. And of course, do everything you can to support, recognize, and appreciate teachers!
June
For many educators, June includes a much-needed summer break. Although there are still some schools finishing up the year, all educators have made it to the end of the school year typically by the second week of June.
Buying Cycle: As stated, the final “Purchase” phase is in full effect and a significant amount of EdTech purchases happen in this month alone. Do whatever you can to help move schools and districts who are considering your product to purchase. Demonstrate how you product is uniquely suited to help them solve their top challenges, provide evidence of security, data privacy, and comprehensive customer support and implementation training. Reveal successful implementations and student outcomes from districts that are similar to your prospective customers and offer reference calls to seal the deal.
Administrators: Contrary to many educators in the latter half of the month, administrators are still busy working. They tend to reserve this time for items that they didn’t have time for during the school year, such as scheduling, planning for professional development (PD) sessions, and collaborating with other administrators across the district. If your brand offers any training on your product, now is the best time to share this with administrators! The stress of staffing an entire school during a teacher shortage still looms and last-minute staff resignations may occur. Plans for next school year are in full swing, and the creative energy is highest in the summer.
Teachers: Teachers are celebrating their accomplishments of the school year and are trying to do what they can to relax and rejuvenate. Typically, teachers spend the first few weeks unplugging and decompressing from the school year. There’s also a terrible myth that teachers don’t work in the summer when in fact, they do! This is not the time to add to their already full plate, but share ways that your brand can help support them for when school starts back in innovative and creative ways. It is a great time to empathize with teachers’ top needs to professionally develop new skills and gain familiarity with certain technologies. Describe how your product can guide them towards their goals in perhaps an efficient and fun way. Since the school year just ended, avoid talking about the upcoming school year. Teachers desperately need a moment to just decompress, recharge, and not think about the upcoming school year. Since time is the most precious commodity teachers have, share what your product can do to help them save time. Many teachers are looking for ways to revamp that stale lesson or learn about a new project. If you’ve built a community with your teachers, send them supporting and uplifting tips to help them recharge so they come back refreshed and ready for the school year ahead.
Conferences
Conferences can be an amazing opportunity for EdTech brands and educators to connect, learn from each other, and collaborate. A few of the biggest conferences of the year come up in Q2, including NSBA and the ASU + GSV Summit for school leaders, and ISTE for EdTech and educators.
The conferences below are only a few of the conferences happening in the next few months. For the complete list of conferences, download the EdTech Marketer’s Planner - Extended Version, and you’ll get an editable spreadsheet of over 200 conferences in 2024.
We’ve linked these conferences below so you can easily explore:
April
May
5.28-5.31 NAFSA Annual Conference and Expo, 2024 - New Orleans, LA [International education]
4.5-4.9 AACC - Louisville, KY [Community colleges]
4.6-4.8 NSBA - New Orleans, LA [School leaders]
4.11-4.14 AERA - Philadelphia, PA [Education research]
4.14-4.17 ASU + GSV Summit - San Diego, CA [School leaders, EdTech]
June
6.24-6.27 PBL World Napa Valley, CA [Project Based Learning]
6.23-6.26 ISTE - Denver, CO [EdTech]
6.27-7.2 ALA - San Diego, CA [Library staff]
6.5-6.7 NJASBO TBD* [New Jersey education]
Birthdays
Celebrating birthdays of historical figures or famous people most aligned to education and learning can be a great way to inject much-needed fun and engagement during a quarter marked with dark days and standardized testing prep.
First, figure out which birthdays your audience would want to celebrate, and then plan content around them. Learn three ways you can incorporate birthdays into your content plans. If you’re not sure of what your audience would most likely care about – ask them. Start some conversations, run surveys, launch polls, or ask questions on social media and in your community (text posts work great for this). This hands-on approach ensures your content will align with what your audience is most excited about.
The following list and image highlights some of the most relevant birthdays for learning and education.
Quick reminder: Our free EdTech Marketer's Planner contains a comprehensive list of education events, birthdays, and conferences. Once you've decided on the events you'd like to focus on, make sure you have a campaign-planning process in place. Enjoy!
AND our first-ever Extended EdTech Marketer’s Planner was created to help you easily create a marketing and content plan that generates leads. It includes proven templates, strategies, editable calendars, and more.
Editor’s Note: This post was written in collaboration with Stevie Frank and Brianna Henneke Hodges.
