The power to attract people to your business is in your hands. Also, it isn’t every one that knows they need your services or products. You need to make this set of people realize exactly that you have the solution to their problems. It’s only when they understand what you’re offering that they can see reasons to purchase. As a result, you need to educate your audience. Your content on all platforms shouldn’t be vague. You don’t post or upload because you just have to or simply because that’s how to make your brand visible. The task doesn’t end at visibility. What comes next? You need your audience to take action, and that comes with educating them on what your brand is all about, the story behind it, and how your brand can be of help.
If you’ve grown in a business environment — attending business school, participating in internships, climbing the ladder, trying your hand at entrepreneurship — you’ve been taught to sell, sell, sell. Your entire experience has been based on the fact that killer sales tactics and instincts are what you need to be successful in any niche or pursuit. While this is true, to a degree, a predominantly sales-focused mentality doesn’t work in today’s environment.
Selling is important, but the best way to maximize your sales success is to lead with education. You should teach, teach, teach before you ever think about selling something.
The sooner you shift your thinking to focus on leading with education, the better your results will be. As an added bonus, you’ll notice greater customer loyalty and retention.
In the digital age, there are plenty of creative ways to educate your audience in a way that primes them to become customers. Here are a few options:
1. Website Content
Begin with your website. This is your “home base,” so to speak. It’s the source from which the rest of your digital presence flows. Use this fact to your advantage by focusing your content strategy on informing and educating.
2. Videos
The textual content has served as the basis for teaching and learning for centuries. But in 2020 and beyond, you’d be wise to integrate video or animation into your strategy.
The beauty of video is that it’s efficient, stimulating, and much easier for people to remember. Approximately 80 percent of users can recall a video that they viewed in the previous 30 days.
3. Downloadable Assets
It’s one thing to access a piece of content on a website or blog. But when you turn it into a downloadable asset like a PDF or template, you instantly add extra weight to it. Suddenly, it becomes more authoritative and desirable. Plus, you’re typically able to use it to collect contact information and build your email list.
4. Courses
Online courses are white-hot right now (and will stay that way for a while). While they can be time-consuming to produce, developing a course (free or paid) is an awesome way to show off your expertise, educate prospects, and upsell them on other products and services.
One strategy is to split your course into several modules and offer the first module for free. To access the content in the following modules, they will either have to buy the course or opt-in with an email address. This makes the course both an educational tool and a sales tool.
5. Message Boards and Forums
You don’t have to do all of the teachings yourself. By launching a website message board or forum, you can give your audience a place to gather, share ideas, and teach each other. Just make sure someone from your company is moderating! You could have a WhatsApp or Facebook group. Do not underestimate these mediums
