Educating the Market

In marketing, we often find ourselves so caught up in strategies to get our promotional messages heard, that sometimes we forget to say what the client wants to hear. No, of course I don’t mean to doctor the message and lie to clients. I simply mean that prospects often want to hear non-promotional messaging—otherwise known as useful information. Novel, isn’t it?

Here are some ways in which you can promote your product or service and simultaneously gain goodwill by educating the market:

• Conduct a seminar on a business process, concept, or technique related to the use of your product/service
• Write a whitepaper on a business process, concept, or technique related to the use of your product/service
• Conduct a study that provides valuable information for your clients and prospects, then release the results for free to the media
• Host a blog or forum to provide valuable insight for your industry or specialization

With highly complex products and services, it is important to use market education strategies in your marketing. Help a prospect learn something valuable to them and you’ll be amazed how much the listen when you’re ready to sell them your product or service.