I’m gonna say it again...things have been a bit wild these last 18+ months. They have created scenarios we could never have predicted that forced us all to learn and adapt on the fly. My habits, preferences and tendencies have changed since February 2020, and many (like grocery delivery!!!) I won’t revert back when things go back to “normal”.

Do you feel the same way? So does your audience, your stakeholders, your decision makers! As marketers, sales people and leaders in the education industry, we owe it to ourselves and our future customers to slow down, invest in learning about these changes and creating plans to better serve this audience based on their new preferences.

To help you in this journey, ask these questions and see where you and your team may need to invest time during the holiday season to get reacquainted with your audience.

• When was the last time you revisited your buyer personas or ideal customer profiles?

Do you feel that is recent enough to inform your strategic marketing, PR or sales decisions for the coming year? If not, I strongly urge you to make time for this. Identify internal stakeholders as well as customers that could provide insights into how things have changed since the start of the pandemic.

• Has your customer (or buyer) journey changed as well?

Have you seen changes in how or when your leads, prospects and customers are evaluating various products or solutions? With the infusion of funding from the federal government, it is worth considering how your future customers may finance a purchase of your product or service.

• Have you noticed changes in how or where your future customers get their information?

Social media habits have changed dramatically since the start of the pandemic, channels like TikTok and Clubhouse have become household names with thousands of educators, but what kind of information are they actually getting from these channels? Does it differ from more established channels like Twitter or Facebook?

There are many other things to consider as you dig into these foundational areas of your “new” audience and not all that I have mentioned above may apply. If we make it a priority to fully understand our audience, what they need and how we can truly help them, everyone wins!

About the author

Jacob Hanson is the CEO of PR with Panache!, a Strategic PR and marketing Firm that serves the education markets. Connect with him on LinkedIn or drop him a line at jacob@prwithpanache.com