Why Online Branding is Important for Edutech Companies

Why Online Branding is Important for Edutech Companies

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Edutech, that is, companies that provide technology-based education services, or which develop solutions for the education sector in general, is big business. Whether it is platforms that can help students gain extra help with their studies, technology aimed at allowing adults to learn new skills such as foreign languages, apps and games designed to help kids learn, or fully fledged online universities like Bank Street College online, education is being constantly changed by the new possibilities that edutech opens up, and this benefits everybody.

Of course, as an area where there is a lot of money to be made, as well as scope for investment, there is quite a lot of competition in education technology, and there are also big variances in terms of the credibility and quality of products and platforms. An edutech related business, whether it is an online learning provider, a tutoring platform, or an educational game, needs to be able to show credibility and attract and retain customers in the same way as any other commercial enterprise. 

It may seem that educational services, both on and offline are given an inherent amount of goodwill by potential customers just because education in and of itself is something that most people value, however the opposite can actually apply – people see education, both their own, and that of their children, as so important that they are careful who they’ll trust with it.

For these reasons and more, strong branding is essential for edutech companies, and their brand needs to be presented at its best in everything from the tone of the language used within its actual products, through to its marketing efforts on social media. Whether an edutech company wants to appear to be cutting edge and innovative, highly academic and credible, or simply fun for kids, the branding decisions made are absolutely critical to whether the target audience buys into that brand image.

Communicating Educational Credibility with a Brand

For some edutech companies, particularly those who offer an alternative to more traditional institutions, like online universities, or even those which are provided by established bricks and mortar colleges, having branding that shows elements of traditional academic excellence is usually the strongest approach. A brand that is similar in style to academic institutes, for instance with a school crest, is often chosen, and other brand elements aim to convey a serious, professional air. This can help a company providing edutech services to show that while it uses modern approaches, it has the same values and quality as familiar established schools. 

Brands That Put Innovation at the Forefront

As well as using branding styles similar to what people find familiar and associate with universities and schools, some other edutech brands, especially those aimed at the adult education market, put the innovation and uniqueness of the service they offer at the heart of their branding. These can include edutech businesses who offer things like foreign language learning platforms, such as Duolingo and Tandem, and skill focused platforms like Masterclass and Skillshare. The branding used for these types of businesses, which are aiming to attract both serious and hobbyist users via subscription models, tends to be more similar to what you would expect to see from other online innovators in things like the lifestyle sector – for instance, app based rideshare services or takeaway ordering services. These brands want to show that they are doing something with technology that offers you new opportunities, and so they tend to go with more striking, on trend logos and color schemes and more approachable, casual language in their brands than the edutech brands focused on communicating traditional academic credibility.

Brands That Put Kid Appeal at the Forefront

A third type of brand you can see in the edutech sector is the kind that is aimed at young children, which aims to help them with their school studies or tech them extra skills in a fun way. An example of this is Code Monkey, which uses gameplay to teach even very young kids the basics of computer programming. These brands go for a fun style that is similar to what a toy company might be expected to use, however this isn’t so much to convince kids that they want to use the product so much as to communicate to parents that the product is going to be engaging for their child, and is targeted at that age group.

Branding is important for any tech business, but it is interesting to see what edutech companies are doing to make sure that they come across in just the right way to their different target demographics.

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July 6, 2019 at 06:35AM