Higher Education and Enterprise B2B Tech Marketing have more in common than you'd think

Part 2 of my shared learnings about the similarities between Higher Education marketing and B2B Tech marketing. This one is about positioning and messaging:

When you work for an agency that specializes in higher education, you get to know a LOT of universities and see a LOT of their slogans, campaign messaging, and perceived challenges, along with what they want to be known for. They don’t realize that...

Everybody is saying the same thing.

Now, that is true of a lot of industries, but as I stated at the top, I'll focus on B2B Tech since that's where I currently work. Sometimes, it takes truly reflecting on where you've been and what you've learned - no matter how different it may have seemed - to know where you are going and how to improve.

Marketing tactics have changed, but core positioning challenges have not, and the tie between such disparate industries has become apparent.

I'll speak from my own experience observing the SaaS products and solutions companies. For the most part, we are all saying the same thing too.

Let’s review what both sides say:

Higher Ed: Student-centric

B2B Tech: Customer-centric

Higher Ed: Hands-on experiences are best for learning and we offer that

B2B Tech: Hands-on experiences are best for learning and we offer that

Higher Ed: It's the support you'll receive that makes the difference (professors engagement)

B2B Tech: It's the support you'll receive that makes the difference (too many to list)

In Higher Ed, one of the poof points is always the faculty-to-student ratio. While a 10:1 ratio is a great stat to highlight because it does matter, it's not unique anymore. The details behind the stats are the story. If those professors aren't willing to spend extra time outside of the classroom, the ratio doesn't matter. How many minutes or hours do they spend outside the classroom with students? How many recommendation letters have they written per student? How many students stay in touch with them because they have become more than professors; they are mentors?

In Higher Ed AND Tech, you will hear "learn from the person that wrote the book." That could be the textbook for the class in a niche subject or the playbook to run an automation task (shoutout to my awesome Ansible friends!).

While it might be great to have such a highly notable (published) person in the room or available for a meeting, it only amounts to a little if they are not as engaging in person as they were when writing the book. If they aren't willing to spend extra time with you, write those referral letters, or challenge you individually, then it's an accolade about THEM vs. a benefit for "THE CUSTOMER."

B2B Tech has more opportunities to showcase its SMEs at things like conferences, but the same can be said for transitioning technical expertise into the human to human interactions that are meaningful.

As marketers, we are all here to 'solve problems', but that is never a one-size-fits-all approach. More often than not, the customer isn't going to:

A - openly share their problem

B - know what it is

C - know where to look for it

Our product or solution is here to help them, but we can't lead with that and expect a high response rate. If we are inquisitive first, we can solve A, B or C above. Sometimes, it's not just helping to 'solve their problem' but helping them uncover it and then helping them come to the same conclusion about how a solution is possible and would make a big difference.

Emotions will never stop being factors in buying decisions. Understanding how to tap into them is the hardest part of being a marketer when the temptation is always there to tout what you are really good at and how your solutions are the best for ANY problem.

The best marketers I’ve seen identify problems at the root cause FOR their customers and can focus on the FEELING of what it’s like to have solved them. What will a developer do with their extra time now that an automation task has shaved hours off their week? What is that passion project or that important-yet-always-tabled project that will propel the product even further (and your career, too) now that you have that time, thanks to Ansible?

Think of the free time to determine what job you want to pursue while in college when you can spend less time seeking the right resources and more time understanding how they apply to you with support along the way.

Making people FEEL will always be more valuable than making them UNDERSTAND. The latter is table stakes. The former is the real differentiator. For both industries.

Does anybody find that accurate in other industries? Is there anything I might be missing, or would you like to add to my comparison?