Wordsmithing the Future of EdTech: How Storytelling Can Bring Your EdTech Solution To Life

The Education Technology sector, maybe more than any other industry, is a communications minefield. EdTech solutions exist at a nexus point; where traditional education, advanced and ever-changing technology, and administrative decision-makers collide. You need to find a way to explain new-world concepts to old-world educators and show them that the world of education is changing and that you are the best choice to help them navigate that change.

But how? Your audience is barely aware of what the problem is, let alone the incredible solutions you built.

That’s where I come in. With my decade of teaching experience and five years of experience as lead content marketer for a high-end boarding school, I live and work in that nexus. This post will cover the pain points you face and the solutions I can offer. By the end of this article, you’ll have a clear idea of how to tackle each of your pain points and build an ongoing content strategy that will position you as your audience’s top-of-mind EdTech partner.

First, Let’s Talk About The Pain Points (And What I Can Do To Help):

I know, I know… I could never cover all of the headaches and hurdles you face each day. But I can cover some of the major ones and show you exactly how my unique expertise and experience could help ease your burden. 

Pain Point: Content Creation and Audience Engagement 

Creating a steady flow of engaging, informative content isn’t easy for any business. But as an EdTech company, you face a few hurdles unique to this industry. At its heart, you are trying to do three things at the same time:

  • Explain rapidly changing technology to non-tech-savvy decision-makers
  • Make even very tech-savvy decision-makers see futures and possibilities that are often abstract or uncertain
  • Ensure that all of your readers, tech-savvy and Luddite alike, connect to your vision, your purpose, and your potential for positive change on a deep human level

How Can I Help?

First: Real-world, in-the-trenches experience

Over my ten-year teaching career, I taught core humanities classes at a high-end all-girls boarding school. When Covid-19 broke out, I was part of the emergency response group that worked to bring remote learning to a school otherwise steeped in traditional boarding school values. 

I saw firsthand the power of educational technology, but I also saw firsthand the inertia and resistance that rose up among administrators, board members, and parents. 

Second: Narrative Mastery

People fear change. But people also love a good story. We have inside us a deeply wired instinct for storytelling, one that has let humans overcome their fears since time immemorial. 

The key to engaging with your audience, even if they are resisting or not fully understanding educational technologies, is to create a compelling story around your brand and business. Then, and here is the crucial part, invite them into that story.

Your content must be about more than just racking up SEO Keywords. It needs to invite your audience to become the hero of their EdTech journey. Make them feel powerful and in control by presenting your solution as their guiding light. 

By building this story, and by getting the voice and “personality” of your brand just right, I can help you ensure a constant, consistent stream of content that connects and converts. 

Pain Point: Time Constraints 

I get it, you have too much to do and too little time to do it. Even reading an article like this one is putting pressure on your schedule. 

How Can I Help?

I offer long-term, hands-off working relationships.

We’ll meet for a quick video chat to get the scope of your project and get me connected to whatever content calendar or project management system you prefer, and then I’m off to the races with as little micromanaging as possible. 

Here’s how it usually plays out with my best clients:

  1. Meet, agree to terms and sign contracts, and set up project management.
  2. I receive a content calendar (often a full year’s worth of content) with due dates.
  3. I deliver professional, polished content on time without further input. 

But don’t get me wrong, I still maintain close communication when necessary. I never take guesses about content. When I need clarification or other communication, I will always reach out with a concise, clear email. 

My goal is to make your life as easy as possible. Whether it’s my ability to deliver high-quality content without oversight or my knack for fast, clear communications, I consider it my responsibility to make your life easier.

Pain Point: EdTech is Constantly Changing 

The EdTech world is constantly changing and staying ahead of the curve already consumes so much of your resources. Now you need to create content that explains those changes and your future trajectories to a less-informed audience. If you miss the mark, you risk leaving your audience in the dark or alienating them altogether.

How Can I Help?

My years as a teacher and my years of writing content in a wide range of technically advanced areas (from commercial roofing to derivatives portfolio management) have honed my skills at reducing complex, abstract, and jargon-saturated topics into consumable, approachable language. 

I do the research, stay informed, and stay on the lookout for ways to inform without intimidation. I customize each piece to a target reading level (at your discretion) to make sure we don’t leave anyone in the dark. 

Pain Point: SEO Optimization 

It’s not enough to engage your audience. Your audience has to be able to find you. To complicate things, Google’s constant algorithm updates can cause search engine traffic to plummet without notice. 

How Can I Help?

I have been on both sides of the SEO fence. I have been both a content manager and a content writer. I know how to target high-value keywords with the human-natural language that Google prefers. I use SEO best practices (meta tag and description optimization, keyword variation, and appropriate density) in every piece I write.

Pain Point: Content Variety

Dreaming up a constant stream of blog and marketing email content is a struggle in and of itself. But trying to present your business, your product, and your value proposition in new and interesting ways can be downright exhausting. Diversifying your content offering requires mastery of content flexibility, creativity, and versatility. 

How Can I Help?

As a freelancer, I encounter every type of content under the sun. Blog posts, how-to guides, case studies, FAQs, you name it. I can keep fresh content “angles” coming to make sure your clients connect to your content no matter where they are in their product journey. 

Next, Let’s Look At My Unique Content Writing Skillset

In addition to my experience with EdTech, I have developed several writing techniques that will make your content stand out from the pack. 

Bespoke Tonality

In a world full of AI-generated, mass-produced content, voice is king. Included in my fee is a consultation for the development of your brand voice. We’ll look at your target customers, your competitors, and your marketing materials to design the right voice for your business. 

To give you a broad idea of what this looks like in practice, I’ve put together three base samples of voice-in-action: 

The voice of your brand and your marketing message might live in one of these, or maybe a combination, or maybe something altogether off the rails. Whatever your marketing plan requires, I can deliver. 

Psychologically-Driven Content Structure

Throughout my journey to becoming a freelance writer, I have collected the best, most engaging writing techniques out there. These techniques are founded in human psychology and they work to create deep levels of curiosity in the minds of your readers. 

These techniques are proven to increase your readers’ time on the page and increase interaction by encouraging your reader to heed your call to action. 

You can learn what these techniques are and see them in action in this article.

Future-Proofing With Narrative Structure 

Google has drastically changed its vision of the search landscape. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing and backlink farming. And with them are millions of words of content that were written for a bygone age. 

Google has repeatedly signaled that the future of content will be:

  1. Human
  2. Natural
  3. Narrative

Google knows that people engage with and share stories more than any other content. That means that experience with narrative-style content will uniquely position your content for the longest possible road. 

See It In Action

I’ve compiled a few examples to give you a sense of this in action. In My Portfolio, you’ll some examples of my work from across very different niches and using very different voices.

While very different, they have a few things in common. They each showcase my customization of brand voice work, my ability to communicate complex topics in accessible language, and my adherence to SEO best practices.

Let’s Talk

The long and short of it is this: My unique career path positions me as the ideal solution to your freelance content needs. Whether it’s e-learning, blending learning, LMS integrations, or any other emerging technology in the EdTech world, I can create polished, professional content that engages, converts, and most importantly, makes your job easier. 

Drop me a line. Let’s see how I can help your EdTech company grow.