How Brand and Product Marketing Helped MathTrack Achieve 35% MoM Growth and a Shortened Sales Cycle

Our country has a math problem. Math teachers are overworked, underpaid and lack the support and resources they need to effectively teach. Enter MathTrack. 

Through an all-in-one teacher training and curriculum solution, MathTrack prepares people to start teaching math quickly and earn licensure within one year.

We partnered with MathTrack to build a scalable brand and product marketing foundation so buyers understand their value. 

Problem

Armed with a motivated and passionate team, MathTrack quickly found product-market fit. 

But without a clear and consistent way to describe their solution, the team wasn’t resonating with buyers fast enough. Once buyers understood what the product does, they were excited — but it took a long time for them to get there.

Rapid, scrappy growth and strategic pivots resulted in unclear messaging and a brand that confused buyers and lengthened the sales cycle.

“We realized that our product maturity got us to a point where we were poised to be the leader nationally in this work. Our internal teams achieved product-market fit and sophistication,” CEO Dr. Kevin Berkopes said. “But our bottleneck became our brand and product cohesiveness. This is an expertise we lacked and could not accomplish at the level of extreme professionalism that we required. So we came to Innovatemap.”

Eager to scale, the MathTrack team wanted to look and feel their best when they put their foot on the gas pedal. So, they needed to create and activate a solid brand and product marketing foundation.

The Innovatemap team that partnered with MathTrack included:

• Andy Kennedy (Principal, Brand Strategy & Design)
• Katie Lukes (Principal, Product Strategy & Research)
• Maria Otteson (Senior Product Marketer)
• Parker McCullough (Senior Brand Designer)
• Yhareli Chamboneth (Senior Motion Designer)
• Tressa Janes (Brand Designer)
• Nick Roethlein (Associate Product Marketer)

Solution

Product Marketing

To build MathTrack’s scalable product marketing foundation, we: 

• Positioned at the company and product levels.
• Created positioning and messaging framework.
• Crafted foundational statement and key benefit pillars.

MathTrack’s foundational statement is the North Star that describes who they are, who they serve, why they exist and the value they deliver.

This guides all internal and external messaging. Now, when the MathTrack team wants to add features with new messaging, they have a solid starting point that keeps their value front and center.

Before buyers are ready to buy, they must know:

• They have a problem. 
• There is a solution. 
• Your solution is right for them.

Not enough people know that math education is broken. Most have decided that math is hard and boring and are unaware there is a better way. Because of this, MathTrack’s messaging is problem oriented. Messaging like, “Our country has a math problem” helps buyers become problem-aware, while MathTrack’s value proposition makes buyers solution-aware.

Excellent product marketing relieves the burden on your sales team to clarify value. When you use the right words to explain the product, buyers get it right away, making sales conversations more meaningful.

MathTrack’s sales cycle used to include long and arduous explanations about what the solution is and how it works. Now, MathTrack has a consistent, repeatable and scalable messaging framework that instantly clarifies its value. This makes room for more productive conversations about pricing and contracts, ultimately shortening the sales cycle. 

Brand

Because the brand is striking, unexpected and memorable, it differentiates MathTrack from competitors in the education space. 

The MathTrack brand: 

• Equips the team to easily tell their story.
• Helps buyers believe they can become a math teacher.
• Helps buyers see how the product fits into their lives.

While MathTrack is in the education space, you won’t find any protractors, rulers or pencils in their brand. “Early on, we chose to avoid traditional math elements because they invoke negative feelings for many,” Parker explained. “We needed to show that MathTrack is rethinking how math is taught and learned. So, the brand hints at education without using expected paradigms as a crutch.”

High contrast colors and playful illustrations show MathTrack’s approachable and lightweight alternative to traditional math curriculums. The brand excites people about math and helps them realize what was once out of reach is now possible. 

MathTrack is shifting perceptions and flipping the script. Motion design maximizes impact because it shows transitional visuals that static imagery alone cannot. 

“Old paradigms about math and math teachers currently dominate headspace,” Yhareli said. “To prove MathTrack’s value, we needed to flip old ideas on their head and show that there’s a better way. The best way to shift perceptions is by literally showing, through motion, states and visuals changing. It happens instantly and is truly impactful.”

Now, buyers instantly understand what MathTrack does, who it’s for and why it matters. 

Activation

After building the product marketing and brand foundation, we helped MathTrack activate our work in sales and marketing enablement materials. We created a sales deck, socialization deck and one-page site that equips the MathTrack team to tell their story quickly and easily. 

Takeaways

Creating a powerful brand and product marketing foundation feels simple when the product is solving real problems. 

“With innovative products like MathTrack, we bottle up the product’s value and the founder’s passion in a way that resonates with the people who need the product most.” Parker said. “The MathTrack team was laser focused on the finish line. They saw the value of our work and trusted us to help them reach their full potential.”

“I’m very passionate about MathTrack,” Maria said. “They’re solving big, real-world problems. And now, their value is clear to people who need their help.” 

Impact

As with many of our clients, our partnership with MathTrack had immediate, measurable outcomes. 

Since engaging with us, MathTrack has seen incredible growth. 

“No doubt this work is greatly contributing to the 35% month over month growth of our solution,” said CEO & Co-founder Dr. Kevin Berkopes.

While engaging with us, MathTrack closed their seed round of funding. 

“Within 30 days of closing our seed round, we’ve gained traction in two out of state markets,”Kevin said. How? “When you’re solving an extremely complex problem, you often forget how to explain the value and creativity of the solution because you’re so close to it. The Innovatemap team sees this and knows how to solve it. Our great brand hides the complexity of our work so people see the value of the product rather than what it took to create it. This partnership represents the ability of two extremely talented teams, MathTrack and Innovatemap, to get the job done.”

Armed with materials that clarify MathTrack’s value for buyers, they’ve shortened their sales cycle and now have more meaningful sales conversations. 

“Scaling in education requires warm leads, trust and viral networks of peer-to-peer communication,” Kevin explained. “Now, we have all the tools to quickly adapt after getting feedback from our clients and prospects. Our brand gives us a strong foundation as we continue to scale.”

Need buyers to understand your value faster? Find out how our product marketing and brand experts can help you resonate with buyers.

See our work with MathTrack