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In marketing anything, you can talk until you are blue in the face about how great your products or services are, but claims are often perceived as no more than “puff”. Everyone says that whatever they are marketing or selling is the best that there is. But let’s face it; people are becoming increasingly immune to traditional marketing based on claims of features and performance. Customers often take it with a grain of salt when it comes to meaning anything of real significance to their buying decisions.
However, two of the most powerful methods for marketing products and services include emotionally connected benefits-based campaigns and educational marketing. By educational marketing, I generally don’t mean marketing your training programs, although it could be the case for a consultant. I really mean using education to change the minds of perspective customers and clients. Rather than telling them about your products or services, help them understand and acquire more knowledge that allows them to make better buying decisions by putting you and your products or services in the right light.
According to the Harvard Business Review, conventional marketing generally yields a Return On Investment of 2X, but educational marketing yields a ROI of 40X. How could that be true? From my experience, it is true for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it invariantly costs far less to develop and launch an educational program than most mass marketing campaigns. Second, the nature of educational marketing programs require considerably less frequency than traditional marketing campaigns as it creates a more profound and lasting impression of the values you offer.
As an example, this article along with the other articles and columns that I write educate the readers with information that can be valuable to their business. At the same time, it can create credibility of the author in offering real knowledge rather than just puff. In addition to articles, white paper and books, companies can develop informative newsletters that include information that customers/clients value and look forward to reading. This can transition your position with your customers/clients from a “seller” to a “resource and trusted advisor”. I’ll take resource and trusted advisor over seller any day.
Live educational presentations at industry conferences, symposiums and road shows can offer the opportunity to gain credibility and develop relationships at the same time. These events can be a great tool in educating the marketplace about your value by speaking on a subject that satisfies the real needs of the attendees. The key is to be sure you are concentrating on the education and not presenting a product push with a thin veil of education to hide it.
With today’s technology, webcasts and video webcasts can also offer the opportunity to educate a large audience of prospective clients with a somewhat personal touch at a much lower cost to “attend” for both the educator and the attendee than traveling to a conference. In addition, podcasts can offer an on-going ability to create repeatable educational marketing at the convenience of the listener. Not to mention including knowledge sections on your website and interactive blogs.
Share your knowledge to build credibility and customers/clients will beat a path to your door. I have the doormat out.
Jim Payne is president of S-Market Strategies of Rochester, New York. He has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of services management and marketing. His innovative strategies, programs, and tactics have provided increased market penetration, growth, revenue, and profits for businesses such as IT, healthcare, entertainment, graphics, and government markets for both direct and channel sales. He is currently the AFSMI Finger Lakes Chapter president and writes cover and features articles along with columns for two international trade journals.
For more information on building marketing and sales strategies and tactics to effectively communicate your company’s value contact Jim Payne at 585-368-0567 or jimpayne@smarketstrategies.com and visit http://www.smarketstrategies.com
Email:
jimpayne@smarketstrategies.com
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S-Market Strategies
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