How I Realized That 'Education x Business,' Which I Thought Was Like Oil and Water, Is Actually a Winning Opportunity for School Teachers

Until now, I have always had the assumption that
business and education are
like 'oil and water,'
and are essentially
incompatible.

I suspect that quite a few teachers
share that sentiment.

However, through connections like my son's friends' parents,
as I listened to various people involved in business,
I began to think that
the perspective of 'education x business'
might actually be a necessary point for teachers.

In this article, I would like to talk about that.

What was an eye-opener for me was,
for example, Yukichi Fukuzawa.
Someone told me that
he was a legendary marketer.

Keio has everything from kindergarten to university,
and if you anticipate advancing through the system,
the total tuition is said to be 17 million yen.

In other words, the Keio brand is
a product with a customer unit price of 17 million yen.
The keys to increasing net profit are
'increasing customer unit price'
and 'increasing repeaters,'
so from that perspective,
Yukichi Fukuzawa was an excellent manager.

That is not all.
'An Encouragement of Learning' was written and spread
before the establishment of Keio University.

With the collapse of the feudal system of the four classes,
the era was coming where those who mastered 'learning'
would play an active role!
The more you do it, the more assets you can create!!
By widely promoting the value of learning
along with that prophecy,
he was driving traffic to Keio University.

Repeatedly disseminating information,
attracting customers through advertising,
and finally selling the product.

Even though the genre is just 'education,'
this is marketing technique itself.

Shinken Zemi and Z-kai are also
information content businesses, aren't they?

They make excellent teaching materials into products
and encourage children's academic improvement.

I loved the manga from the Shinken Zemi Red Pen Teacher
that arrived periodically and read it often,
but when I realized that
that was an LP (landing page) to make you buy the product!
I was able to experience firsthand that
education is also just a matter of marketing!!

In my previous column,
I wrote that the secret to igniting a student's motivation
is to have the student understand its value from the core.

Even without a third party interfering,
for example, the moment a student themselves
discovers the 'value' of studying,
they start working with a different look in their eyes.
Once they experience that 'value',
even if I do nothing,
the student will start studying on their own.

The reason I am thinking of applying marketing to education
is precisely for that reason;
I am convinced that if I study advertising
and acquire copywriting skills
to heighten expectations,
I can increase student motivation more than ever before.

Just as someone interested in RIZAP
joins with high motivation, saying 'Alright, I'm going to lose weight! I'm going to train!!'
how can we heighten the expectations of the customer (student)?

And, not just ending with one contract,
but continuing to provide value properly
as repeat customers,
to build a win-win relationship with each other,
I think it is all good for school personnel to learn marketing.

I am also currently
devouring and learning business content,
sparing even my spare time.

Please allow me to report what I have realized here as well.
Thank you for reading until the end. I hope this is of some help to you who have read it.