Marketing and Education
Elana Leoni | Leoni Consulting Group
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What if marketing was judged solely by the level of value it brings to its audience? Welcome to All Things Marketing and Education, a podcast that lives at the intersection of marketing and you guessed it, education. Each week, Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, highlights innovative social media marketing, community-building, and content marketing strategies that can significantly increase brand awareness, engagement, and revenue.
Available episodes
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Nov 17, 2022
Bonus: Ease, Equity, and Access to Direct-to-Educator Grants
In this episode, we introduce The LCG Foundation, a nonprofit organization that exists to better the lives of educators by providing direct-to-educator grants. We discuss how the Foundation began, our mission, and what we’ve accomplished so far. We also reveal some high-level findings about the K-12 education grant space AND at the end of the episode, we announce something super special for Giving Tuesday.
Featuring Leoni Consulting Group team members Elana Leoni (CEO & Chairman of the LCG Foundation), Jen Gibson (LCG Account Manager), Anna Fields (LCG Project Manager) and Porter Palmer (LCG Foundation board member and LCG Director of Joy).
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Nov 10, 2022
Trust and Security in EdTech: A Conversation With Emily McDonnell
Whether you're an EdTech startup navigating cybersecurity issues or an educator concerned about privacy and safety when purchasing EdTech products, listen to Emily McDonnell, VP of Trust and Safety at Remind. Emily sits down to talk about the Safety by Design principle, how to navigate and understand a privacy policy, the future of trust and security in EdTech, and why communication around these issues is so critical for everyone.
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Nov 3, 2022
Content Marketing for EdTech: A Conversation With Annie Teich
If you want to comprehend the nuts and bolts of content marketing, speak with Annie Teich. A highly regarded writer and EdTech industry marketing communications specialist, Annie sits down with Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, to explain the goals of content marketing, the differences between education and other market sectors, and some basic copywriting best practices. Annie mentions some great resources, which you can find below and we also provide highlights of a fun and instructive conversation.
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Oct 20, 2022
Business-to-Education (B2E) Marketing Best Practices: A Conversation With Charlene Blohm
Charlene Blohm, CEO of Charlene Blohm & Associates (CBA) provides best practices for branding, PR, content marketing, earned and paid media, and much more.
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Oct 13, 2022
Retaining Teachers and Designing Valuable EdTech Products: A Conversation With Adina Sullivan-Marlow
While Adina Sullivan-Marlow may not have worked at every possible job in education, she's certainly done a lot. Currently a Coordinator in the Teacher Effectiveness and Preparation unit under the Human Resource Services Division of San Diego County Office of Education, Adina sits down for an instructive chat that includes what EdTech companies could be doing better, the career possibilities and pathways in education that few know about, and how districts and administrators could better serve the diverse workforce that our students need.
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Oct 6, 2022
Critical Skills for Critical Times: A Conversation With Laura Thomas
Laura Thomas, Director and Core Faculty of the Experienced Educators Program at Antioch University New England (AUNE), explains the Critical Skills Classroom, as well as advocates for teachers in the current climate of hostility toward public education.
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Sep 29, 2022
EdTech Conventions Beyond the Booth: A Conversation With Joyce Whitby
EdTech is more than a market sector. By the nature of its market, any successful EdTech company benefits from authentic engagement with the education community. Joyce Whitby, a veteran industry marketing consultant, sits down to talk about ground zero for market-to-community interface: education conventions.
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Sep 22, 2022
Bonus: Advice for the 2023-2024 School Year
In this bonus episode, we share some advice from the amazing guests at our 2022 ISTE party. You'll hear from 12 of our party guests, ranging from 5th-grade Teachers to Integration Technology Specialists to EdTech CEOs, each of them sharing their wisdom as we enter the new school year.
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Sep 15, 2022
EdTech, Cybersecurity, and All Things Data: A Conversation with Susan Bearden
Susan Bearden, the Director of Digital Programs for InnovateEDU and the leader of Project Unicorn, discusses data interoperability, how EdTech is playing catch-up with other data-driven industries, cybersecurity, and the deep value of lifelong learning. Here are a few of our favorite moments from this conversation.
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Sep 8, 2022
STEM Education in a Post-Pandemic World: A Conversation With Daylene Long
As the founder of Catapult X, a STEM education industry market and product development company, Daylene Long shares her thoughts on current STEM trends, student confidence, equity in teaching, and the future of STEM education.
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Sep 2, 2022
A Back-to-School Pep Talk: A Conversation With William "Coach" Jeffery
People often assume that educators are born walking a linear path toward their profession. Yet William "Coach" Jeffery became the principal at Columbia High School in West Columbia, Texas through an unpredictable journey of self-discovery. In this episode of All Things Marketing and Education, he sits down to reflect on a life of readjustment and learning as he overcame childhood dyslexia, struggled through college, aspired to be an NBA coach, brought technology integration to a low-income school district, and so much more. Here are just a few highlights of Coach's amazing story.
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Aug 18, 2022
Where EdTech Meets Pedagogy: A Conversation With Lisa Highfill
As a passionate technology integration specialist, Lisa Highfill has spent almost three decades bringing innovation and engagement to the Pleasanton (California) Unified School District. For this episode of All Things Marketing and Education, she sits down with Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, to share stories about two remarkable accomplishments: a teaching tool called HyperDocs and creating a district-wide Virtual Academy.
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Aug 11, 2022
Artificial Intelligence in Post-COVID Education: A Conversation With Rachelle Dené Poth
Rachelle Dené Poth, a Spanish and STEAM teacher from the Pittsburgh suburbs, and truly does all things education. She’s an award-winning EdTech advocate, author, world-renowned presenter, thought leader, PD coach, EdTech consultant – and she even holds a law degree! Rachelle found time to sit down with Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, to discuss a wide variety of topics, including the pandemic's effect on EdTech, the human side of artificial intelligence, and what product developers should know about their market.
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Aug 4, 2022
The Ins and Outs of Go-To-Market Strategy: A Conversation With Rebecca Shaddix
What is go-to-market (GTM) strategy, and why do you need one if you're serious about marketing anything? Elana sits down with Rebecca Shaddix, a marketing expert with a passion for education, to look at the basics of identifying your market and crafting a message that will speak directly to the needs of your target audience.
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Jul 28, 2022
The Greater Benefits of an Efficient Communication Model within a School Community: A Conversation With Quenton Cook
Trends and events over the past few years have made it clear that timely school communications – teacher-to-students, teacher-to-parents, district-wide – are critical. Since 2011, Remind has worked toward meeting that need, and Quenton "Q" Cook, this mobile messaging platform's CEO, sits down with Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, to talk about all things SMS, the evolution of a technology, and the greater benefits of an efficient communication model within a school community.
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Jul 20, 2022
Growing Meaningful Communities in EdTech Brands: A Conversation With Clara Galán
A meaningful community supports and inspires, and Clara Galán is all about doing just that for EdTech companies. Clara, who helps lead global educator community programs for Creative Cloud at Adobe for Education, sits down with us to talk about community, creativity, and technology's role in both.
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Jul 15, 2022
Teaching Math, Teaching Equity: A Conversation With José Vilson
When it comes to walking the talk of equity in education, it's hard to find a better example than Jose Vilson. He's a math teacher and coach; a speaker, activist, and author; and the executive director of EduColor. Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, sits down with Jose for a lively discussion about mathematics as a key to social justice; the stories that people need to tell, hear, and read; and what's possible in education when everyone's humanity counts.
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Jun 9, 2022
How to Make the Most of EdTech Conferences: A Conversation With Steven Anderson
Elana sits down with Steven Anderson, a thought leader in EdTech and educational transformation, to discuss the upcoming International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference and how to navigate many education conferences. Steven, who attends 30-40 conferences every year, advises how to get the most from a large event like ISTE.
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May 26, 2022
2022 Social Media Marketing Tools and Trends: A Conversation With Shana Bull
Shana Bull and Elana review their takeaways from the 2022 Social Media Marketing World (SMMW), including new social media trends and localized marketing tips. Shana also shares marketing lessons as a children's book author.
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May 19, 2022
Why EdTech Brands Need to Be Audience-Obsessed: A Conversation With Jacob Hanson
Elana sits down with Jacob Hanson, CEO and Storyteller at PRP Group. Jacob had a lot to say about EdTech companies and their interactions with the market they serve, including how they can understand and improve that dynamic for everyone involved.
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May 12, 2022
Digital Equity in K12 Education: A Conversation With Beth Holland
In this episode, Dr. Beth Holland, a Partner at The Learning Accelerator (TLA), talked with Elana about the nuances and challenges of achieving digital equity, explains why the most successful EdTech products are often the simplest ones, reframes “learning loss” as “unfinished learning,” and so much more.
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Apr 28, 2022
How to Appreciate Teachers All Year Long: A Conversation with Teachers
Elana Leoni, CEO of LCG, spent eight years at Edutopia, whose founder is George Lucas. One of the things he would say over and over again was that, "Education is the single most important job of the human race" and that "The most powerful element in education is the teacher. Nothing will ever compete with that." In that spirit, our Teacher Appreciation episode of All Things Marketing and Education features three educators whom we're privileged to work alongside in an education community we’re helping build called Nourished Teachers: Rodney Crouse, Christine Ruder, and Tracy Selock. They share encouragement, wisdom, support, and perhaps most importantly, what it's like to be a classroom teacher 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
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Apr 15, 2022
From Educator to EdTech: A Conversation with Meredith Allen
Elana sits down with Meredith Allen, Head of Customer Happiness at Soundtrap, in this episode of All Things Marketing and Education. The conversation covered a lot of ground, including Meredith's path from teaching to EdTech, working in a role that engages her in yet removes her from education, and how the EdTech industry could become a player in education reform.
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Apr 7, 2022
Navigating EdTech Purchasing, Procurement, and Pilots: A Conversation With Rayna (Yaker) Glumac
In this episode of All Things Marketing and Education, Elana sat down with _Rayna Elise Yaker Glumac_, the managing principal at RYE Consulting and the founder of RYE Collective. Rayna brings her encyclopedic knowledge of education practice and policy to EdTech to discuss how the pandemic has shifted the dynamics in the education purchasing cycle, knowing how to best implement EdTech products, and how educators can advocate for EdTech products.
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Mar 21, 2022
Gamification in Education
Todd Finley, professor of education at East Carolina University, writer, and creator of Brain Blasts, downloadable infographics filled with best practices for educators, chats about gamification, student engagement, the guiding principles of game design, and so much more.
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Mar 16, 2022
What’s it Really Like to Teach in a Pandemic: A Conversation With Tracy Selock
In this episode of All Things Marketing and Education, we sat down with Tracy Selock, who teaches gifted and talented fifth- and sixth-graders in Kankakee, IL, and is an adjunct professor at Olivet Nazarene University, and a founder of the Nourished Teachers Facebook community. Elana Leoni, CEO at Leoni Consulting Group (LCG), chatted with Tracy about what it’s like to teach in the pandemic's third year, what teachers need most from the EdTech industry, and the critical importance of self-care.
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Feb 24, 2022
Using Social and Emotional Learning to Amplify Student Voice: A Conversation With Serena Robinett
This episode of All Things Marketing and Education introduces Serena Robinett, an Education Specialist at Soundtrap, a collaborative, cloud-based recording studio that enables students to create music and podcasts. Elana Leoni, CEO at Leoni Consulting Group (LCG), chats with Serena about all of the things about social-emotional learning (SEL) including how it should serve students of all cultural backgrounds. She also talks about the role of audio recording in developing students' sense of self, and what veteran educators like Serena can bring to the world of EdTech. We'd love for you to listen to the entire podcast episode but we’ve also highlighted things we absolutely just loved. And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom to access the many resources Serena talked about (including SEL lesson plans and activities!).
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Feb 16, 2022
Celebrating 5 Years as Leoni Consulting Group
In this very special episode of All Things Marketing and Education, our team got together to celebrate Leoni Consulting Group (LCG)’s fifth anniversary. We discuss what we’ve learned together and share our passions and insights from these five years. We hope that sharing a little bit about our journey at LCG inspires you to reflect on your own journey and maybe even take a risk or two, because none of our team would be here without that.
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Feb 9, 2022
The Power of Storytelling in EdTech: A Conversation with Katie Test Davis
In this episode of All Things Marketing and Education, we meet Katie Test Davis, Founder of Forthright Advising, a national PR and communications firm focused on organizations that love kids. Elana Leoni, CEO at Leoni Consulting Group (LCG), sits down with Katie for a spirited, inspiring conversation about harnessing the power of narrative, identifying relatable characters and core stories, and brighter worlds blossoming from small details.
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Feb 2, 2022
Understanding the EdTech Industry: A Conversation With Sandro Olivieri
In this week's episode, we sit down with Sandro Olivieri, Executive Director of Project FoundED, a community of EdTech founders committed to empowering entrepreneurs and educators to rethink the EdTech landscape. During our chat, Sandro talks in detail about how EdTech is different from other business models, how the pandemic has been a mixed blessing for the industry, and reminded us all to keep educators in the driver's seat.
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Jan 13, 2022
Data, Evaluation, and Impact in EdTech: A Conversation with Jason Altman
We're excited to kick off the New Year with the unique perspective of Jason Torres Altman from TerraLuna Collaborative. Jason has devoted his entire career to evaluating education programs that address inequity in schools and communities. In this conversation with Elana Leoni, CEO at Leoni Consulting Group (LCG), Jason discusses the power of data in education and EdTech, the expected results of evaluation, and the limitations of what's possible. With his grasp of details, compassion for the disadvantaged, and characteristic blend of humor and humility, he makes the wonky science of evaluation understandable.
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Dec 14, 2021
Inequities Exposed During the Pandemic: A Conversation with Sarah Thomas
In this episode of All Things Marketing and Education, Elana sits down with Dr. Sarah Thomas, a Regional Technology Coordinator in a large district in Maryland, and the founder of EduMatch, a charitable organization that empowers educators to make global connections across common areas of interest. During this discussion, Sarah reveals some of the biggest challenges in K-12 education today; she specifically talks about the inequities that were exposed during the pandemic and provides some examples of how her district worked to overcome them.
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Dec 7, 2021
Essential EdTech Lessons Learned During the Pandemic: A Conversation with Monica Burns
This episode, Elana sits down with Monica Burns, Ed.D, an EdTech consultant, curriculum consultant, and author. As a former New York City public school teacher, Monica offers helpful tips, tools, and strategies for educators through her blog posts, presentations, podcasts, TikToks, books, and more. Her website ClassTechTips.com and her podcast Easy EdTech help educators integrate classroom technology with deeper learning in mind. In her latest book, EdTech Essentials, she guides educators through ten strategies to help incorporate technology in every learning setting.
During this conversation, Monica shares her perspective on some of the lessons learned in education during the pandemic, foreshadows the educator experiences in December and January for marketers, and reflects on the unique circumstances that turned her career from a classroom teacher to one of the most well-known consultants in education.
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Nov 17, 2021
Making a Deep Impact in Education featuring Chris Walsh
In episode five of All Things Marketing and Education, Elana sits down with Chris Walsh, an educator, media producer, and entrepreneur passionate about using digital tools to bring large-scale innovations to teaching and learning. Throughout this conversation, Chris explains how EdTech marketers can meaningfully engage with educators right now and explores his personal impact while working both in and out of the classroom throughout his career.
* [00:32] A little bit about Chris
* [11:13] How do educators rely on EdTech?
* [13:24] Chris’ career as an educator
* [16:02] Why Chris loves middle school
* [19:13] Chris’ intro into tech
* [23:00] “It wasn’t a switch that flipped. It was an evolution over several years.”
* [24:25] We’re all in this profession not for the money but for the impact.
* [25:08] Schedule in and out of the classroom
* [28:30] Burning out of startups
* [31:15] “In order to have scale, I need to first have deep impact.”
* [37:33]…
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Nov 2, 2021
Educator Mental Health and the Power of Being a Connected Educator: a Conversation with Nick Provenzano
This week, Elana sits down with Nick Provenzano, an educator of over 15 years, technology integrator, makerspace director, speaker, and author. During the chat, Nick emphasizes the value of connections between educators, opens up about the importance of normalizing conversations about depression and anxiety in education, and provides tips for educators on how to collaborate with EdTech brands.
* 2:30: Nick’s journey in Education
* 5:32: Nick speaks to keeping it real as an educator, and not presenting his perfect self, and toxic positivity
* 12:12: The value of becoming a mentor
* 16:33 The weirdness of seeing yourself become a mentor
* 19:10: How do we begin normalizing conversations around mental health?
* 25:05: “The only way you normalize something is by normalizing it.”
* 25:51: Depression is chemicals in your brain; learning your body.
* 26:03: “People put teachers up on pedestals just to tear them back down.”
* 29:40: Take a few things off your plate…
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Oct 12, 2021
How Teachers Can Expand Their Impact Beyond the Classroom
This week, Elana sits down with Lily Jones, a curriculum developer, education writer, and social media strategist. After seven “inspiring and exhausting” years as a first grade and kindergarten teacher, Lily took her passion for innovative education outside of the classroom and documented how she exactly did it. She now empowers thousands of educators to do the same on her website and her community of educators, EducatorForever.com.
In this talk, Lily reveals the many ways to be a teacher inside AND outside of the classroom by sharing tips on how to navigate being a full-time teacher and a “Teacherpreneur” (a teacher entrepreneur) and gives EdTech brands some helpful tips for appreciating teachers year-round.
Episode Skeleton (use this to jump to the parts you want to listen to):
* 2:30: Lily’s journey through education
* 7:36: Lily speaks about careers outside of education.
* 8:25: “Just because you’re leaving the classroom doesn’t mean you can’t make an imp…
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Sep 16, 2021
Creating EdTech Products That Solve Real Problems: Featuring Adam Bellow
In this episode, we sat down with Adam Bellow, co-founder, and CEO of Breakout EDU, and an EdTech entrepreneur and technologist. Adam gives his best advice for educators who are considering transitioning into EdTech, provides insight on how EdTech brands can successfully communicate with their educator audience, and discusses some of his philosophies on how to create genuine solutions for classroom problems.About Breakout EDU
Breakout EDU: we unlock the love of learning through games.
Breakout Edu is a box with padlocks on it, each lock with a different academic purpose. Students work together in small groups to collaboratively unlock the box. Inside of the box, there are discussion cards based on the 4 C’s. About 2 years ago, Breakout also launched a digital platform with games, a game design school and a series of course materials that allows the students to become creators. Adam expressed a huge value for student creation and student ownership as a higher level proof of learni…
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Aug 31, 2021
The Joy of Community with Porter Palmer
This week, in the very first episode of our podcast, we play some inside baseball with Elana’s partner in crime Porter Palmer. Although we are all life-long learners, we would say Porter is an expert in community building and authentic communications. Porter is in her third year of working with Leoni Consulting Group (LCG), most recently as the Director of Joy.
Porter spent her early career as a special education teacher for nearly a decade. Elana and Porter discuss the circumstances that developed her career from the beginning, from societal pressures limiting the options of what a woman can be, to a deep love of “seeing the light come on” in her students, to being able to support teachers and students as a community builder now. Porter and Elana also tell the story of how they met while working two other positions at other companies and then working together at LCG.
As a community builder, Porter discusses the nuances between engagement, audience, and communities. To her, car…
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Aug 17, 2021
Welcome to All Things Marketing and Education
What if marketing was judged solely by the level of value it brings to its audience? Welcome to All Things Marketing and Education, a podcast that lives at the intersection of marketing and you guessed it, education. Each week, Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, highlights innovative social media marketing, community-building, and content marketing strategies that can significantly increase brand awareness, engagement, and revenue.
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