When you think of marketing, you probably get a little nervous.
Everyone says they hate selling. But, what if you could simply educate them, give them the information that they need and want, and then make money?
Well, you can. Educating your customers on your products, your services, and your offers is so much easier than marketing.
But, guess what — it is also a form of marketing called content marketing and it is very successful.
Try adding some of these ways of educating your customers to your repertoire today.
- Blog Posts
Educating your customers can start with something as simple as a blog post. Focus each blog post on one important solution to one problem that your audience has. The blog post can be long or short, and it’s a good idea to include a good mix of both on your website or blog to be thorough.
- Courses
You can also create courses to be delivered by email, or through a member portal. The course can be as long as a year or it can be a short seven-day course, teaching something to them about their problems and the solutions for those problems.
- Tutorials
Another really good way to teach your audience is to create valuable tutorials. A tutorial can be short or long. For example, if you have a website that caters to cooking, a short one-minute tutorial on how to peel an onion will work great. Create an entire library of useful and valuable tutorials like this, and you’ll get more repeat visitors.
- LinkedIn Articles
LinkedIn now allows everyone to publish there. While you should focus most of your content on your own blog and website, if you do use LinkedIn to get leads then you should publish some good ìhow toî and informative teaching articles there as well. They’ll get read widely and shared widely if they’re super-useful, accurate and valuable.
- Recorded Digital Videos
This is a great way to create “how-to” information. They should be kept short, under ten minutes if possible. Then share them widely: on your blog, on YouTube and anyplace you think they’ll be useful.
- Live Video
Today, live video is within anyone’s reach. All you need is a webcam or a camera on your phone, a mic for sound, and you can go live on Facebook, YouTube, and numerous other places. Your live events can be long or short. However, most people lose interest after about 20 minutes unless you have a lot of interaction.
- White Papers
This is essentially a long-form report. It usually describes a problem and then outlines and reviews several solutions, including yours. You can also make a white paper with only your own solution in it, but it won’t be very persuasive.
- Product Reviews
A great way to add content and educate your audience at the same time is by doing product reviews. Tip: even if you give a product a less-than-good review (unless it is awful), still include your affiliate link.
These are just some ways in which you can educate your customers. The different forms can be used to teach them valuable information that makes them want to become lifetime customers of yours.
When you focus on education over marketing to your audience, you’ll get better results faster.