Dan Galante

I had the privilege of covering the Venture Conference in Newark, NJ this past Thursday.

James Barrood, President  of the NJ Tech Council opened the Conference.

The conference was held at at NJIT; a school that prides itself on preparing its student for STEM careers.

NJIT is helping to innovate New Jersey. NJIT President Joel Bloom discussed this in his keynote address.

The conference was run by the NJ Tech Council.

The council’s mission is to: collectively representing tech, life science and tech-related companies and organizations as well as the professional firms that support them, the Tech Council has the unique ability to:

1. Offer opportunities to learn, network and grow
2. Recognize and promote member companies and their leadership
3. Nurture the tech and STEM talent pipeline critical to growth
4. Provide access to financing sources and additional resources
5. Advocate and support public policy which strengthens our ecosystem

Founded in 1996, the Council is a private, nonprofit membership organization, which supports the tech, innovation, and entrepreneurial ecosystems across the state and region. It is among the largest and most respected trade organizations of its kind nationwide.

The focus of the event was to help New Jersey start ups grow and raise funds. Start ups pitched their businesses and asked for funding.

There were two rounds of pitches along with networking opportunities. The startups that pitched represented industries such as but not limited to: EdTech, E-Learning, Healthcare, Sports Betting and esports .

Round 1 included

Scriptertainment
Wapanda
LifeCuff Technologies Inc.
QwikScript
Boxcar
Upside Health
teliapp
SiLAS
eCare21, Inc
VibeGather, LLC
TrueConnect Systems, Inc
Krow Network
WearWorks
MARCo Technologies LLC
Lambent Data
Life Skill Software
OculoMotor Technologies
Sporttrade
TLCengine
SRL Group
Ribbit.io
Nutrivide
MedifVu, LLC
Totally Pregnant

Round 2 Included

PeerChecked, Inc.
Datafy
Medality Medical
Smirta Innovations Inc.
Vikar Technologies
Malbek
Verstill
Commerce Blitz, LLC.
PlayDate
XPEED Turbine Technology
Pochette, LLC
Genomic Prediction
Pullup Technologies
ROAR for Good
Indie Art World
Elemeno Health
Bloqcube
Caregiver Smart Solutions
MYXR Events Corp.
Paratrees
Speak2 Software
Gamefuly
Entractiv
Quintrix

More information can be found here.

You could feel the energy and excitement in the air as I was able to speak with 48 innovate startups.

I really enjoyed the keynote speech by the Fanduel EVP & Head of Strategy David Van Egmond.

In the speech, he discussed how he helped FanDuel grow and succeed. He also discussed the industry of online sports betting and esports; both are growth industries. These industries are legal in New Jersey and serve as a great source of revenue for the state.

It was a great event. I want to thank the New Jersey Tech Council for allowing me to cover the conference. 

Smartsheet Product Marketing Template

Smartsheet.com Product Marketing template

Product Marketing involves more than just supporting the Marketing and Product Management teams. Product Marketers serve Marketing, Sales, and Product teams. Each team has different needs and responsibilities. However, they all play a role in growing the business and serving customers.

Just as Marketing has a plan or brief, Product Marketing does.

Here are nine things to address in a Product Marketing Brief.

1. What does your company do? Does your product offering align with your business goals?
2. What are the features of your product? Do others understand what you are building and why?
3. Does this Product address gaps in the Market? Include an overview of a Competitive and SWOT analysis.
4. Who is your ideal customer or target market? Include an overview of findings of demographic, psychographic, and buyer persona research. Does your product solve customer pain points?
5. How will you measure product success?
6. What are can go wrong? Can failure be anticipated and corrected?
7. What is the roadmap and schedule of the product? Who’s responsible and in charge?
8. Who needs to be included in the project and who needs to approve deliverables?
9. How will goals be tracked? How often will they be monitored? What insights are you trying to glean from the data?

As a Product Marketer, how do you know if you are successful?

Comment and share.

EdTech and E-Learning companies are doing great work. However, I have identified a gap in their marketing strategy that could leave them vulnerable to competitors. None and in some cases very few of the people in the Marketing function of the organization were former Teachers. You can do a search on LinkedIn to verify this.

I acknowledge that EdTech and E-Learning has former Teachers in the Sales and PD functions.

Why it is not Good enough to just place Teachers in Sales

Sales teams have to use consistent company messaging when presenting products to prospects and customers. Also, PD teams are not skilled at Sales and objection handling.

Market Research /SWOT

One Company, a major competitor of all of the others in the space, has Teachers working in every Marketing function which is an edge they can use against the company in a “we were Teachers once” Marketing campaign.

Teachers need to be in the Marketing function of the organization because they are the practitioners who can make the product messaging more credible and compelling. This new improved messaging will help build connection with the buyer because the buyer sees a Teacher-to-Teacher connection.

Our Teacher’s, Students & School administrators deserve better resources that are constructed by former Teachers at every level.

Why Hire Teacher practice experts in Marketing?

• They are the customers and understand the pain points better than any market research -should be in leadership roles
• Healthcare does this with Doctors, Dentists
• Tech does this with programmers and engineers.

Why not EdTech!

Additional Teacher Skill sets that will be useful in Marketing

• Can increase Sales because they are the customer and understand the pain points because they have experienced them in the job
• understands how people learn
• skilled at tailoring content for understanding based on learning needs
• Today’s marketing is about educating customer and earning the right to market to them as teachers can educate customers
• This is the best market research/ buyer persona there is!

My Unique Value Proposition to EdTech and E-Learning Companies

I would be an excellent fit for a Marketing role due to the following:

• Teacher Practice expert with 6+ years of experience (SPED & GEN ED, part time, Adult ED and full-time experience)
• Former Outside Sales Rep which allows me to create messaging to preemptively stop most sales objections
• Can help with Sales Enablement/coaching/go on selected sales calls to improve the sales process
• Experienced EdTech Marketer
• Can build a better talent brand by building out your career site with employee stories
• Create and establish new markets along with helping to create new product offerings that complement existing ones
• Experienced online audience builder
• I have built up a large audience with 19, 000+ followers on WordPress
• 24,000+ followers on LinkedIn along with a following of 3,900+ on an EdTech Twitter handle @NYEDTechTeacher
• Understand the customer behavior and pain points of Teachers and Principals

Support I need from EdTech & E-Learning Companies

I am asking EdTech and E-Learning companies for the opportunity to come on-site to speak about my qualifications. This will help me demonstrate how I can help them improve the learning experience of our students.

Support I need from Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents

Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents, comment below about the improvements you would like to see from EdTech & E-Learning companies. Please share this article and ask for change. I can’t do it alone. If I can join the Marketing function, I will help to improve EdTech and E-Learning to help the learner of tomorrow.

It is all about making our students lives better.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Here are the slides.

Steps EdTech/E-Learning can Take to Improve Learning for Teachers & Students

from

Dan Galante

Additional EdTech and E-Learning Resources

How to Customize Presentations & content to Buyer learning Styles

from

Dan Galante

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/edtechs-guide-marketing-growth-dan-galante

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-edtech-can-gain-market-share-teacher-tomorrow-dan-galante-cmo

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-edteche-learning-can-improve-learning-teachers-students-galante

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ways-optimize-presentations-content-buyer-learning-styles-dan-galante

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-tech-disrupting-education-dan-galante

About the Author

Dan is passionate about using Marketing to help businesses drive sales. HubSpot Certified in Inbound Marketing, Dan has worked on various marketing assignments including Start Ups, a Political Campaign anda Digital Marketing Conference.

Prior to teaching, Dan served customers as an Outside Sales & Marketing Rep in NYC. In this role, he taught and trained Dentists on the company’s products & services using a consultative selling approach combined with direct marketing. He also supported the company’s marketing efforts at industry trade shows.

He writes and publishes a business blog on the topics of Sales, Marketing and Social Media entitled Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today; which has grown to 24,000+ followers on LinkedIn and 19,000+ on WordPress.

Dan is seeking a full-time marketing role in EdTech Marketing. He is willing to create and build out the Marketing function of your organization if it does not exist. If your company is hiring for roles in these areas, contact him directly via a free LinkedIn Message or email him at Dan@DanGalante.com to set up interviews.