The WirED Marketer: When real life feels like sci-fi. - 6/2/26

Hey, Marketing Pals!

Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a sci-fi movie. Not aliens. Not Armageddon. Just…AI.

It still blows my mind how fast this all escalated. Five years ago, ChatGPT and Claude meant nothing to me. Now I’m in a codependent relationship with both. They’re my colleagues who never sleep and occasionally hallucinate.

The other day, I was in NYC, taking in the beautiful chaos that is Manhattan, when a billboard stopped me in my tracks:

“Stop Hiring Humans. Hire Ava, the AI BDR.”

I know it was designed to be provocative in that classic “let’s make everyone do a double take” advertising way. Mission accomplished.

Naturally, I went to the website. And I was equal parts intrigued and a little bit horrified.

Has anyone actually used this product? Is this the beginning of the end for the entry-level SDR? Are we living inside a fictional sci-fi movie?

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Your WirED Marketer,

—Melissa, Senior Director, Marketing at Education Week

P.S. — 📩 Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ‎⠀⠀⠀⠀

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✨ In this edition you’ll find:

• How to piss off your prospects, the district leader (a cautionary tale)
• Curious about the CTE craze? There’s a webinar for you
• You’ve got a stupidly simple landing page, now what?

What’s Trending: ✨ What NOT to do when it comes to approaching K-12 leaders

For mostly selfish reasons (to prove a point to some of my colleagues in sales lol), I included a question on an EdWeek Research Center survey last month about what not to do when approaching K-12 leaders about your product. Here’s what the question said:

What is the most common mistake vendors make when approaching you for work?

The #1 response was, “Too many cold calls/emails” (40% stated this)

Tied for second place were:

• One size fits all marketing/no personalization (28%)
• No pricing transparency (28%)

And a few stragglers said:

• Lack of research on your strategic plan (4%)
• Other (1%)

I get it, if you’re in sales, you know persistence and follow-up is often times the name of the game, but knowing when to cut your losses and move on is important. Pissing off a potential buyer means they unsubscribe from your emails and maybe worse, decide to write your product off completely.

DO THIS: 👇

Make your landing pages stupidly simple.

I know the urge to collect all the information—I get greedy too! “Just one more field, pretty pleaseeee!” But we all know, with every additional field you’re lessening your chances of a form fill. So, start soooo simple.

How about with just an email address? That’s it.

Then, follow up with a quiz. Take it from Andy Mackensen, Chief Growth Officer & Co-Founder of The Assist, a newsletter for women execs. At The Assist they’ve had tremendous success with this strategy 👇

Start by collecting just an email address. Then, while you’ve got their attention, follow up with a few questions in a quiz format. The first question could be a little lighthearted to keep their focus.

Here are 6 reasons why you should go the quiz route after the initial email intake:

• They’re little micro-commitments, it makes for a stickier user
• Most TY pages are dead ends. Quizzes continue the user journey
• Engages them immediately while you still have their attention
• Trains them to click/interact
• People like taking quizzes! Do my elder millennial friends here remember BuzzFeed quizzes back in the day? They were all the rage. I remember taking quizzes that were so outrageously ridiculous. If you were a potted plant, which one would you be? Which Dawson’s Creek character are you? And the list goes on.

Here’s an example of what your post- form quiz could look like. Forgive my terrible visuals, it’s about the content, people! 👇

Poll

Last edition’s poll was about whether or not you’re currently using more contractors and consultants for marketing work these days. About half of you said yes. Twenty percent of you said nope, and the rest of you simply didn’t know.

This edition’s poll: Are you personally offended by the new Spotify logo because it’s SOOO egregiously bad… Or are you a normal person that doesn’t get worked up over these silly things?

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Events on Our Radar 🎯

[Free Webinar] Data-Driven and District-Ready: What EdWeek Research Tells Us About the CTE Market – June 16, 2026, 30 minutes

EdWeek Research Center Director Holly Kurtz will present what the data is telling us about how districts are prioritizing and expanding CTE. Then we’ll help you translate those insights into smarter marketing, so you can meet district leaders where they are, speak to what they need, and position your brand as a credible partner in this space.

You’ll walk away with:

• Data directly from K-12 leaders on all things CTE
• An understanding of the gaps districts are trying to close and how to align your messaging
• Actionable strategies to sharpen your positioning in a crowded and fast-moving market

Register for the webinar.

[Virtual] The 2026 EdWeek Market Brief Virtual Forum – June 11, 2026. Join from the comfort of your home office—nobody has to know you’re still wearing your pajama pants.

We’ll cover:

• How to Talk about Ed-Tech with Screen Time Under Fire
• Which K-12 Terms and Phrases Have Lost their Buzz?
• How Major Changes in K-12 Policy Are Playing Out in Different Markets
• …and a whole lot more.

Register here.

[In-Person] The EdWeek Market Brief Summit – November 11-13, 2026

If you go to one edmarketing event all year—let this be it.

Join us to hear directly from school district leaders about where K-12 education is heading next, parse our exclusive data for actionable steps to navigate stricter contract guardrails and uncertain funding, and connect with industry peers over strategies that work.

Learn more about the summit.

Read This 📚

We just published a special report on Professional Development called Beyond the ‘One-and-done:’ Professional Development That Sticks. If you market or sell PD, this is a must read. Read it here.

Say What?! 🦜

What we’ve heard at the watercooler, on social, out and about…

“Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.”

—American folk singer-songwriter, Woody Guthrie

That’s all folks. Thanks for reading. See you again in 2 weeks.

Your WirED Marketer,
Melissa AND team, because every marketer knows, it takes a village.

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We can help you develop a successful campaign tailored to your unique marketing goals. To learn more, contact Advertising & Marketing Solutions Director Mike Bell at mbell@educationweek.org.