Data plays a pivotal role in the success of marketing campaigns but especially campaigns to schools and education establishments.
Why? Schools are highly diverse and how one school operates differs from the next. They each have different needs and budgets, different numbers of teaching staff, different numbers of pupils on roll – the list goes on. Due to their complexity, education marketing campaigns need building carefully to ensure they meet the unique needs of their specific audience.
And that’s where a data-driven approach comes in. In this blog post, I’ll run you through how the right data can help you to effectively promote your learning outside the classroom opportunities to schools and get more teachers to engage. Let’s take a look…
1. Explore the education data you can access
There are different types of education data that are useful for your marketing – and they’re publicly available too.
You can access this data to help you build a profile of the types of schools you want to work with. Here’s a breakdown of the data available and why it’s useful for your strategy:
Data Type
Why it is useful (with examples)
Free School Meals %
- Can indicate deprivation and funding levels.
- What this means – If a school has a high percentage of students on free school meals, this can be an indicator of deprivation. This data can help you to tailor your campaign messaging to address the needs of the schools you’re reaching out to.
School Size
- Can reflect regional priorities and funding levels.
- What this means – By knowing the location of the schools you’re connecting with, for example if the school is in a deprived region, you can tailor your campaign messaging to address any challenges or areas they may need support with. This data will also help you to coordinate your marketing campaigns. Term dates vary across the UK therefore by knowing the location of a school, you can ensure your marketing lands in teachers’ inboxes at the right times, when schools are open.
School Type
- Can indicate how much purchasing power a school has
- What this means – You can tailor your campaign mailing lists and messaging to reflect the type of school you’re connecting with. For example, independent schools typically have longer holiday periods and more budget available due to how they are funded. Similarly, academy schools have more autonomy over their curriculum and how they spend their budgets. Understanding the type of schools you’re connecting with can help to guide your marketing strategy and identify new opportunities for your schools outreach.
Financial Data
- Can indicate the financial needs of the school.
- What this means – You can use financial data to inform your marketing strategy. For example, by knowing whether schools in the region you’re connecting with have surplus budget available or if they have a deficit can help you to adapt your pricing. School budget information can be really useful for developing your strategy.
Government News Data
You can sign up to receive DfE updates by email to access real-time education information. This may include new funding for schools or new guidance for learning outside the classroom. These updates may include new opportunities for your marketing so make sure to check them regularly.
The above are just some examples of the publicly available data you can access to enhance your education marketing strategy. You can also access data such as the religious affiliation of a school, the number of pupils on roll, the low age and high age, Ofsted information and more.
2. Create your school profiles and tailor your messaging
Once you’ve accessed the above education data, it’s time to build your school profiles. To do this, identify three of four different school types that you want to work with. You can categorise them based on the size of the school, location, type of school and other fields relevant to your marketing. Here are two example profiles:
Example 1 – Large Urban Primary Schools (High Free School Meal%)
- Primary schools with 300+ pupils
- Located in urban areas
- FSM (Free School Meals) > 35%
Messaging Angle: “Accessible enrichment experiences funded through pupil premium”
Why this works: Larger schools have more budget flexibility, and higher FSM% (free school meal percentage) may mean eligibility for funded activities. Your messaging can focus on impact, equity, and support for disadvantaged learners.
Example 2 – Rural Schools with Limited Local Access
- Rural or isolated locations
- Low proximity to museums or heritage centres
- Smaller schools (<150 pupils)
Messaging Angle: “Bringing the world to your classroom – tailored outreach and virtual options”
Why this works: These schools are often goal-driven and looking to meet wider educational goals like Gatsby Benchmarks or SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural).
3. Optimise your Campaign Timings
Now that you have your school profiles and personalised messaging angles, it’s time to test different timings. The below examples are tailored towards email marketing, but whichever channel you use, make sure to run tests! It’s the best way to identify the formula that works for you.
Time of the day
Test sending your campaigns before school, during the school day and in the evening to determine which generate the highest engagement.
Day of the week
Test every day of the week, including weekends and holiday periods to identify any patterns in teacher engagement.
Subject Line
Test different messaging angles, for example, benefits-led, problem-led (then provide the solution in the email body copy) or question-led.
Campaign Analytics
With your findings, it’s important to analyse your:
- Open Rates
- Click Rates
- Unsubscribe Rates
- Bounce Rates
Once you’ve gathered the above information, the next step is to interpret the data. To help with your analysis, here are some common combinations you might encounter:
High opens but low clicks – This could mean your subject line is strong, but your call-to-actions are weak or your design lacks excitement. It could also imply a lack of trust in your content so you may need to run a few more campaigns to build teachers’ confidence in your offering. To help with this, feature testimonials from schools you’ve worked with in your campaign content to boost engagement.
Low opens but high clicks – This could mean your subject line and preview text lack excitement or intrigue but your campaign content and call-to-actions are engaging. Focus on making your subject line compelling, exciting and education focused. Remember, teachers need to know it’s relevant to them and their students.
High engagement/poor lead-generation – This could mean you have a strong email campaign but a poor landing page experience or that you’ve overpromised in the email e.g. telling teachers they’ll get something for free when it isn’t completely free. To fix this, make sure every step of the teacher journey is smooth and straightforward, your messaging is consistent, and make sure you provide all the information they need to take the next steps.
4. Learn from the data
With your data collected, make sure you track the responses for every school profile you’ve built by the different segments you’re testing. For example, this could be opens and clicks, time of day, day of week, subject line etc.
Calculate your return on investment by each of those segments, whether you’re judging success by bookings, downloads, orders, email engagement or another metric.
Lastly, keep an eye out for patterns and keep refining your approach – it takes time to optimise your strategy!
About Buzz Education
Buzz Education is a leading marketing to education agency with over 14 years’ experience helping organisations and businesses to generate leads in education. Led by a former teacher and current Chair of Governors, Buzz Education specialise in education data supply and email and postal marketing, helping businesses and charities to increase their reach in nurseries, schools, colleges, universities, and education establishments every year. Through their extensive knowledge and wealth of expertise in marketing to schools, the team also provide a wide range of free education marketing resources available on their website.
Buzz Education will be exhibiting at this year’s CLOtC National Conference 2025. Find out more about the conference and who will be attending.
This blog post was written by:
Michael McVerry, Managing Director at Buzz Education.
As a former secondary school teacher and active Chair of Governors, Michael has a wealth of experience in education. He is dedicated to helping organisations deliver high-impact education marketing campaigns to schools.
michael@buzz-education.com | LinkedIn
