Bringing Educational Innovations to Market: Strategies for Developers and Researchers

July 23, 2025 | By Keith Heumiller

The LEARN Network’s latest LEARN to Scale Workshop, “Bringing Educational Innovations to Market,” provided researchers, developers, and education entrepreneurs with a comprehensive, practical approach to bridging the gap between research-based products and widespread classroom use.

Hosted by LEARN Network director Kerry Friedman and edtech marketing expert Julie Kelleher, the session underscored the importance of cultivating a market-first mindset when planning for scale and offered a range of practical strategies and resources to support innovators as they navigate the path from development to adoption.

Defining a Market-First Mindset

The workshop began by challenging participants to reconsider how they define success when bringing new programs or technologies into education. Rather than assuming that a strong product alone will drive adoption, Kelleher emphasized the necessity of grounding every stage of development in a thorough understanding of educators’ and students’ needs.

“A market-first mindset means you start with your audience’s needs rather than your own assumptions,” Kelleher said.

“Instead of asking, ‘Who will this innovation help?’ you might ask, ‘What problems do educators and students actually need solved?’”

This perspective, she noted, contrasts with the often instinctive “product-first” approach that many innovators adopt, which focuses on finding buyers for an existing solution instead of identifying and designing for authentic problems from the outset.

A Structured Approach to Go-to-Market Strategy

The workshop walked participants through the seven-step Go-to-Market Playbook, a framework ​​tailored for bringing innovations to education markets and ​​refined through the LEARN Network’s experience partnering with successful product teams. The go-to-market strategy is divided into two phases.

Internal Planning

  • Embracing a market-first mindset
  • Developing value-based positioning
  • Crafting clear messaging

External Execution

  • Defining a channel strategy
  • Activating awareness
  • Driving interest and decision-making
  • Growing adoption and advocacy

Throughout the workshop, Kelleher emphasized that successful marketing does not begin when a product is ready to launch. Instead, innovators should consider ​packaging, ​positioning, messaging, and target audiences from the earliest design stages.

Understanding the Audience and Market

One of the most practical segments of the workshop focused on gathering actionable insights about potential users, market landscape, and competitors. Participants were introduced to tools, including:

  • Audience Value Mapping: a framework for aligning product capabilities with ​ ​priorities and challenges​ of decision-makers and end users​
  • Competitive Comparison Matrix: a structured way to assess how a product stacks up against alternatives
  • Buyers’ Journey Scorecard: an exercise to simulate how a potential customer would discover, evaluate, and decide whether to adopt a solution

From Positioning to Messaging

Building on the understanding of audience needs, the workshop guided participants through creating value-based positioning statements — succinct descriptions that explain what a product does, who it is for, and why it matters. Kelleher shared a simple template that can be adapted for any innovation, helping teams distill their core message before moving into marketing channels.

“A strong positioning statement is the foundation. It informs your messaging across all touchpoints — from your website and emails to conference presentations.”

Channel Strategy and Activation

The workshop concluded by helping participants design a practical plan to share their innovation through the most effective channels. Kelleher recommended prioritizing owned media — like websites and newsletters — as a starting point, supplemented by earned and paid channels as resources allow.

To help focus efforts, the workshop encouraged teams to build quarterly plans centered on specific audiences and events. For example, an edtech provider might target school principals in the spring, leveraging major conferences like ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), and shift focus to teachers during the back-to-school season.

Kelleher also shared a custom GPT created as a supplemental resource to help innovators leverage AI through their internal planning process.

Friedman offered this reminder:

“Not skimping on internal planning — really thinking through your audience, their values, and their challenges — will make your external execution much more effective.”

Tools and Next Steps

All of the templates and frameworks discussed in the workshop are available in the LEARN to Scale Toolkit, including:

As a final recommendation, Friedman encouraged participants to take immediate action to build momentum. “After a webinar like this, just keep the momentum going,” she advised. “Take one thing you learned today and look into it in the next week.”

Keep up with future LEARN Network workshops and events by visiting the LEARN Network events page. To explore the toolkit and access free resources to support your go-to-market journey, visit the LEARN to Scale Toolkit.

  • Watch the full recording of the LEARN to Scale Workshop on YouTube.
  • Download a transcript of the workshop here.

Tags: Education technology Evidence-based Research & Developers