What CTE Directors Really Want From Vendors, Part 2: A Go-to-Market Playbook for EdTech and CTE Vendors

Part 2 of 2

In Part 1, I unpacked nearly 20 years of CTE director experience from Jill Ranucci, PhD, how she thought about standards, funding, conferences, and teacher buy-in.

In Part 2, I’ll translate those insights into a concrete playbook for EdTech and CTE vendors: how to make the most of a 10-minute meeting with a CTE director, how to reframe your GTM, and how to self-audit your product.

You can access the full audio recording and transcript here (audio + text):
👉 Interview: What CTE Directors Look for in Vendors and Products

If You Get 10 Minutes With a CTE Director, Use This Structure

Imagine you’ve done the hard work: your ACTE VISION presence, web presence, and outreach earned you a 10-minute slot with a CTE director.

Here’s how Jill suggests you use it.

1. Start with their pathways and goals (2 minutes)
   
   • “Which CTE pathways are you focused on expanding or improving this year?”
   • “Where are your biggest gaps: standards coverage, certification pass rates, work-based learning, teacher load?”
     
2. Show proof, not pitch (4 minutes)
   
   • A state-specific CTE standards map for the pathway they care about.
   • Certification outcomes where appropriate (with honest ranges, not inflated claims).
   • A one-page summary of teacher and tech support, including support roles, response expectations, and implementation steps.
     
3. Connect to teachers and tech (2 minutes)
   
   • How do you support teacher training, planning time, and piloting without overload?
   • How your product fits within their existing LMS, SSO, and device ecosystem.
     
4. Close with a teacher-centered next step (2 minutes)
   
   • “If your [pathway] teachers are interested, we can run a short, structured pilot with clear support and goals. Would you like a one-page summary to share with them?”
     

If that 10 minutes is a generic slide deck, you may not get another shot. If your current outreach and follow-up are still built on high-volume sequences instead of thoughtful, permission-based programs, it’s worth revisiting how email should work in K–12. I go much deeper on that in EdTech email marketing: the executive guide to opt-in programs vs. ethical cold outreach in K-12.

Building a CTE-Ready Go-to-Market Motion (Peter’s Playbook)

At EdWave, a lot of my work with CTE-aligned vendors comes down to a simple shift:

Stop selling “curriculum.” Start selling CTE director outcomes.

That means re-engineering your GTM around the realities Jill described:

• Standards and CTE pathways: Your messaging and landing pages clearly show where you fit in a pathway.
  
• Industry-recognized certification and work-based learning: Your product helps students not just pass tests, but connect to real roles and experiences.
  
• Teacher buy-in: Pilots and PD are designed around teacher capacity, not just district politics.
  
• CTE funding and timing: Pricing, terms, and outreach respect Perkins V, state cycles, and fall budget realities.
  
• CTE conferences and SEO: You treat ACTE CareerTech VISION and your website as two sides of the same discovery funnel.

Having spent years marketing CTE products aligned to industry-recognized certifications and collaborating with national CTSOs like BPA and FBLA, I’ve seen this play out repeatedly: when you align your GTM to how CTE directors and teachers actually work, your close rates and retention look very different. If your current story still sounds like a generic “K–12 solution for everyone,” you likely have a positioning problem, not just a CTE problem. I unpack that broader challenge in EdTech Positioning: The 2025 Playbook for K-12 CEOs.

Designing CTE-Ready Landing Pages.

1. Build CTE-specific landing pages by pathway and state, not generic “Solutions for K-12.”
2. Use language a CTE director will actually type:
   
   • “CTE directors”
   • “[State] CTE standards for Cybersecurity”
   • “Industry-recognized certification for [pathway]”
   • “CTE pathways in [sector]”
3. Surface alignment docs, case studies, and support information without a gated form. If Jill can’t access your CTE standard alignments, she probably won’t reach out.

If you know your landing pages and nurture flows aren’t doing that kind of heavy lifting yet, my team and I help fix exactly that through our Conversion & Nurture Strategy work with K–12 EdTech vendors.

The CTE Director Readiness Checklist for Vendors

Use this before your next conference, campaign, or product launch:

1. Standards & Pathways
   
   • We can show clear, public alignment to CTE standards by state and course.
   • We can explain exactly where we fit in specific CTE pathways (e.g., Cybersecurity 2–4).
     
2. Certification & Work-Based Learning
   
   • We support or connect to relevant industry-recognized certifications where appropriate.
   • We can speak concretely about how our product supports work-based learning and career readiness.
     
3. Teacher & Tech
   
   • Teachers can realistically implement this with existing prep time and support.
   • District tech directors have what they need (SSO, LMS, data privacy, support info).
     
4. Equity & Access
   
   • We have reasonable multilingual support and accommodations for diverse learners.
   • Our design does not assume a single device or bandwidth scenario.
     
5. Funding & Timing
   
   • Our pricing and term options make sense in a CTE funding context (Perkins, state, local).
   • Our outreach is aligned to the CTE budget and conference cycles, especially ACTE’s CareerTech VISION.
     
6. Visibility
   
   • CTE directors and teachers can find and understand us online, without a pushy sales rep.
     

If you’re not scoring yourself honestly against this list, you’re likely leaving money and impact on the table. If you’re also deciding how to balance national shows like ACTE VISION with state and district events, I break down that strategy in Be the Bigger Fish: Why Lean EdTech Teams Should Skip Mega Conferences and Own State & District Events.

Next Step: Book a Pilot Strategy Session

If you’ve read Part 1 (Jill’s perspective) and Part 2 (this playbook) and see gaps in your current CTE strategy, that’s a good thing; you’re now seeing what CTE directors and teachers have seen all along. When I supported a CTE-aligned vendor at ACTE VISION, the sessions and materials that performed best did exactly what Jill describes: they opened with standards and certification outcomes, then backed that up with teacher stories and ease of use.

At EdWave Marketing, I help CTE-aligned vendors:

• Translate their product into a CTE director–ready narrative through dedicated K-12 go-to-market services
• Redesign websites and landing pages around CTE pathways, standards, and credentials
• Align conferences, pilots, and outreach to how CTE directors and teachers actually make decisions
  

If you’d like to pressure-test your current approach and identify the 2–3 changes that would matter most for CTE directors, click on the banner below.

FAQ‍

1. How do I use the 10-minute meeting structure with CTE directors?
   Treat the structure as a script, not a straitjacket. Spend the first two minutes asking about their CTE pathways and gaps, use the next four to show proof (standards maps, certification outcomes, support), then connect to teachers and tech before offering a next step focused on teacher-friendly pilots. If you jump straight into a generic slide deck, you’re wasting their time.
   
   
2. Where should I start if my GTM is very “generic K–12” today?
   Start with the basics: update your website and core decks so they clearly show where you fit in specific CTE pathways, which state CTE standards you align to, and how you support industry-recognized certification and work-based learning. Then, revisit your pilots and PD plans to make sure they respect teacher capacity and district tech constraints.
   
   
3. How can I prepare for ACTE CareerTech VISION using this playbook?
   Before VISION, run your product and messaging through the CTE Director Readiness Checklist: standards & pathways, certification & WBL, teacher & tech, equity & access, funding & timing, and visibility. Then, make sure your booth materials, sessions, and follow-up mirrors what CTE directors like Jill actually look for: standards alignment, outcomes, teacher usability, and clear implementation steps.
   
   
4. What should a CTE-ready landing page include?
   A strong CTE landing page should:

• Name specific CTE pathways and courses you support
• Show state CTE standards alignment (or link to alignment docs)
• Explain how you support industry-recognized certifications and/or work-based learning
• Include a short section on implementation and support for teachers and tech
• Offer a clear next step (e.g., request a pilot, talk to a CTE specialist)
  
  Much of the “alignment & outcomes” content in your checklist can become page sections.
  

5. What if I can’t check every box on the CTE Director Readiness Checklist yet?
   That’s normal. Use the checklist as a prioritization tool, not a guilt trip. Most vendors should start with:

• Making standards & pathway alignment visible
• Clarifying certification/WBL connections
• Ensuring teachers can realistically use the product
  
  As you grow, you can layer in stronger equity, tech, and funding messaging. Even partial progress, in the areas CTE directors care about most, will differentiate you.
  
  

6. When does it make sense to bring in outside support like EdWave?
   If your team is strong on product but light on CTE-specific GTM, or if you’ve been investing in CTE conferences and outbound without consistent returns, it’s usually faster (and cheaper) to have someone who lives in this world pressure-test your approach. A short engagement can help you reframe your messaging, update key assets, and design one or two pilots that actually earn CTE director trust.

‍