Technology has brought rapid change to most industries. If not technology, then regulation, consolidation and new paradigms. Marketing in this changing environment is a challenge. How can you stabilise your company as a market leader when your Customers and prospects are being constantly bombarded with new information? One approach that works for many of our channel owners is to offer education to their Customers. Education can be more than technical skills for using your products; you can become a source of skills for business and professional success. You can use education as a valuable tool to strengthen your company’s reputation, attract new Customers, and build loyalty. Teach them how to sell your product.
What makes education different from other types of marketing communication? Education involves careful explanation, from basic principals to more advanced concepts. The most effective education includes tools that help the learner apply knowledge and new skills such as case studies, interactive exercises, worksheets, checklists, as well as review questions and quizzes to check knowledge gain. Modlettes provides the ideal vehicle for delivering all these features (www.modlettes.com).
Address Customer Needs
If you don’t educate your Customers, somebody else will. When you provide information to the market place, you control the message. Customers often need skills to help them effectively integrate your products into their business processes. How can they address the ever-changing market or new standards and regulations? Do they understand the new technologies that are continually being offered? You already know their business challenges, so you are in a strong position to become a trusted source of education.
Think beyond training to use your product. Help managers coach their people to adapt to change. How can managers reinforce what their people are learning from your training? What should they be measuring to see how your products or services are being implemented?
Some companies limit their education to existing Customers as an added value to the basic offering. Others make their education available to prospects and the public, usually at no cost, in return for an email address or other contact information. This kind of education both increases your credibility and provides leads.
Consider these questions.
- What technical and business skills do Customers need to use your products successfully?
- What are their most pressing business challenges?
- What are the most successful Customers doing with your product or service? What skills and knowledge do other Customers need to repeat that success?
- How can education help turn prospects into Customers?
Customers today are looking for solutions, not stand-alone products and services. Their question is, “How can you solve my business problem?” The real value comes not only from the product itself but the services and skills that support it. Good education offerings are a great way to show your Customers that you care about helping them be successful. When you offer engaging, focused online learning opportunities, you create awareness and build Customer loyalty.
Example: “Make My Modlette Amazing”. http://modlettes.lemonbop.app/resources/