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Why Educational Marketing is Vital to Growing Your Business

What is educational marketing?

Educational marketing is offering free knowledge or resources to solve your potential clients problem.

 

Why does educational marketing work?

Educational marketing works because it positions yourself as an expert/authority in the minds of your potential clients. It also builds a feeling of reciprocity, meaning if you help someone out, they are much more likely to reciprocate by doing something nice for you (i.e. giving you their business).

This is why banks give out lollipops and Costco gives out free samples of food.

I can already hear you saying “if I tell my potential clients how to solve their problem, then they won’t need my product or service.” Wrong.

Think of it this way. You can find information about almost anything on the internet and your ideal clients are searching for it. If they are being educated by your competitors they are far more likely to do business with them instead of you.

Telling your potential clients how to solve their problem doesn’t mean they will want to do the actual work themselves. Most people will want a professional to do the hard part for them because it will save them a lot of time and mental stress. People hire professionals so they can have peace of mind that the job will be done right and they are willing to pay for it.

How to use educational marketing to grow your business.

First rule: Only offer information on a topic of which you are an expert in. Otherwise, you won’t be much help to your potential clients and they probably won’t find it valuable.

Second rule: Educational content should solve a specific problem that your ideal client has.

You can create content in written, video, or audio format. They all work well, but it’s easiest to start out with an article or PDF.

 

Forms of educational marketing:

PDFs, Articles, Videos, Webinars, Emails, Podcasts

 

Examples of educational marketing

Let’s use an IP lawyer who that wants to implement educational marketing as an example.

The lawyer could write an article or create a pdf called:

5 steps to get you patent approved quickly.

Or

5 things to look out for when hiring an IP lawyer.

This information directly addresses a problem that the IP lawyers potential clients likely have.

 

Let me give you another example using a landscape company:

7 tricks that professional landscapers use for the perfect lawn.

Or

7 mistakes you’re making that are killing your yard.