Case Study

Company: A long-standing mid-market US-based education technology company

Industry: Edtech, Recruitment Marketing

Segment: Mid-market

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The Challenge

Expanding into new verticals and emphasizing partnerships, the company, backed by private equity, required a fresh strategy and product marketing approach.

This shift redirected their attention away from K-12 and academic technology and publishing toward forging partnerships with employers and businesses. Following the acquisition of a technology company that facilitated job opportunities and training for college students and recent graduates, they needed a comprehensive B2B2C product marketing strategy and integrated marketing plan to secure new accounts and enhance brand visibility beyond the academic sector.

Pain Points

In the absence of an existing go-to-market strategy for the newly established vertical, it was necessary to build the commercial approach and subsequent marketing support from scratch.

This involved establishing key functions of product marketing, including market research, audience segmentation, targeting, positioning, messaging, and partnerships. Additionally, a comprehensive enablement plan was required for the sales team.

Beyond these critical areas, there was a need to align the content strategy within the new organization, and optimization of the website was essential to capture demand, aligning with the early-stage product-led growth strategy in place via user account sign-ups.

Lastly, the target audience underwent a significant shift. Instead of focusing on K-12 and university decision-makers and educators, the new target audience became HR professionals in the corporate landscape. The core value proposition emphasized how the new recruiting platform and partnerships would assist them in their company's recruitment efforts in the years ahead.

The newly established business line and its offerings resembled those of an early-stage startup in many aspects, despite the company's long-standing history of over 50 years. This situation posed a distinctive challenge in terms of change management and commercial education. Driven by a small product marketing team consisting of just two individuals, there was a significant amount of work to be done, and there was a sense of urgency to monetize the recently acquired business line.

The Solution

Leveraging the company's strong brand, the strategy for positioning and launching this offering aimed to establish the platform as a marketplace dedicated to professional development and career advancement. It would serve as a hub, uniting students, corporate recruiters, university advisors, and professors, all with the common goal of enhancing student job placements through partnerships between universities and corporations.

The strategic plan involved adopting a highly targeted approach, initially focusing on firms within specific industry verticals, starting with STEM and law. The messaging would begin with financial services as the first subset of corporate targets. The objective was not just to assist these firms in finding talent but to assist them in finding the right talent that aligns with their company culture and values. This approach aimed to simplify their recruitment process, particularly during the demanding recruiting seasons when sourcing qualified candidates could be challenging.

The marketing strategy and plan we developed followed a three-pronged approach with a focus on the following:

1. Build new messaging and positioning of the business to newly targeted ICPs

   By developing new value propositions tailored to the B2B target audience's needs and addressing challenges like time constraints, COVID-related travel restrictions, and limited access to university contacts, we created content and demos aligned with corporate recruiters' workflows, allowing the product to demonstrate its value within the existing PLG strategy. We also used channels highlighting thought leadership and virtual career fair production to complement this approach.

2. Use the travel shutdowns to deploy an event focus via virtual career fairs

   As a marketplace platform, we harnessed virtual career fairs, a crucial functionality of the platform. These events allowed us to host virtual summits that connected corporate recruiters, students, and academic users in one place—a valuable offering during the travel restrictions of 2020-2022. Employers were provided with virtual booths to showcase their companies and recruit students directly from the platform. This offered a safe and scalable method with interaction tracking and note-taking capabilities that piped directly into our corporate clients’ recruiting software.

3. Grow and deploy the thought leadership and subject matter expertise muscle

   With our established academic brand and internal expertise, we delivered timely thought leadership on in-demand degrees, student pipelines, and the corporate landscape to academics, recruiters, and students. This enhanced our B2B brand awareness and solidified our position as a hub for corporate recruiting efforts. Leveraging this content, we were able to promote the platform’s benefits and activate additional users while driving demand and new sign-ups.

Key Benefits

The go-to-market teams (marketing and sales) now had a well-defined plan to enter the chosen corporate verticals with a robust commercial strategy. This strategy ensured strong product positioning, enabling confident communication about the offering and the achievement of immediate results.

• The messaging resonated with both corporate recruiters and university partners. In a time when job vacancies were abundant and talent scarce, our marketplace facilitated collaboration between these groups, connecting them with top student talent from universities across America. This saved money and eliminated the need for travel - which was already on hold due to Covid considerations. Additionally, student candidates engaged in meaningful conversations and networking with corporate recruiters in a virtual environment with interaction tracking, resulting in immediate value for all participants.

• By employing precise B2B messaging centered on value propositions like workflow optimization and cost savings, we achieved swift conversions and generated sales opportunities with shorter close cycles. Hosting virtual career fairs also added value, as the platform connected corporate recruiters directly with their desired universities, streamlining the recruiting process and saving time for the teams involved. Value was immediately realized.

• Focusing on website optimization with refined positioning and cross-promotion of individual brand sites also proved successful, giving the teams additional insight into cross-promotional opportunities within the academic vertical. To align with academic audiences striving for successful student outcomes, we enhanced the website via additional demand tactics such as thought leadership and industry research. This solidified the company's expertise and positioning in recruiting and academic outcomes, making it the trusted subject matter expert for corporate recruiters and academic advisors. This provided audiences with timely insights into the evolving hiring landscape, equipping them with industry-leading information and research.