Easy access to information at our fingertips has changed the market, sales process and customer buying patterns. In response, a lot of marketers and brands have ramped up the amount of messaging they provide, hoping to keep the customer engaged. The amount of information out there is so massive that for many customers it becomes… Overwhelming. How do you go through all the information on your own? How do you find the right answers? Who can you trust? Everything seems so time consuming and difficult. What customers want from the brand is decision simplicity: The ease of gathering trustworthy information about a product and simple purchase process with an easy, structured delivery.
How to Start Creating an Educational Form of Content?
1. Tell your Brand’s Story
Establish your story as the brand to create a unique shopping experience. Stories sell. Stories connect and engage people on a level that is emotional and relatable. The story format also allows you to share the journey of your success while sharing the value of your products, through a perspective of passion and purpose. Take a step back and think: What connects me with my target audience? When customers can see your brand and hear your story, they are able to understand the difference and impact of your brand. It is here that you begin to build their trust.
2. Educate on Solutions, Start Helping and Give Value!
Who is the professional here? You are! Share your knowledge and experience with the purpose of building trust. This is why “do it yourself” videos on YouTube are so powerful! The people who make them are not doing so to share what they bought but rather why they bought it and how to use it. These videos target a problem and then demonstrate the solution. As a result, you have a totally satisfied customer who is voluntarily promoting your product. When you share your knowledge and expertise through demonstration, customers gain confidence and trust to actually try your product/service. The demo video approach is favoured by many because it focuses on providing the evidence that your product or service really works.
3. Educate on the Questions Your Customers Are Asking
Again, here you need to take a step back and look at things from a different perspective. And what perspective you ask? The Customer’s! You have been in the business for so long that what you think is simple and obvious, is not for the customer. What is more, instead of using language that speaks to the customer, businesses are using language that reflects internal formats. In a nutshell, this type of language is foreign to the customer and if the customer does not understand, they will avoid making any decisions. As a result, you have confused the customer and the customer will do one, or all, of the following: Purchase the wrong product (causing them the inconvenience to come back and get the right product – which, by the way, results in regret and frustration), check out your competitor/competitors or just plainly leave empty handed. So, the question is: What questions are you leaving your customers asking? Strive to simply deliver the answers so your customer can make an educated purchase and leave happy.
4. Lead Customers Down a Simple Purchase Path
To help customers evaluate their choices, brands must describe their products with differences and benefits. For example, leading hair styling brands are offering many hair dye options. Although the consumer can sort them according to a few characteristics - “permanent”, “semi-permanent” and of course colours – there’s little to help them figure out which features are most important, and which one is the absolute best choice. Is “permanent” or “semi-permanent” better for covering grey hair? Again, it comes down to what are all the possible scenarios? And what questions are being asked by the customer in each scenario? The lack of guidance, in a world of so many options, actually complicates the decision process, leaving the customer without an answer and… Without a purchase.
5. Find the Right Educational Platforms
Blog! Be active on all social media channels. Nowadays, social media is the new word of mouth. However, don’t forget that face-to-face is still the most effective and has the greatest success when closing sales. With that being said, maximizing your store front (or whatever point of sale space you may have) should always be the focus as it holds the highest opportunity for an immediate purchase. Having a powerful communications structure that includes strong educational based content ensures that you are giving the customer the confidence they need to make a purchase. Social media should reflect everything you do at the point of sale. The key is reinforcing the product message so that your brand story is continuously and consistently being recognized by your audience, both onsite and online.
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