Educational marketing is a somewhat new idea, a new spin if you will, on traditional marketing.
Instead of selling to the consumer, educational marketing aims to inform the consumer and will let the consumer decide for herself which product is best for her. Of course, the information should be non-biased while at the same time point to whatever the marketer is selling because the marketer has such a great product.
Why Educational Marketing?
Consumers are savvy and smart. This means they’re more skeptical than ever. When you walk onto a car dealership’s lot, how do you feel? I feel immediately skeptical. I put on my shield of BS armor and I take everything the car salesperson has to say with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, my BS armor is now moving on to other types of products, from televisions to computers to clothes to organic food.
Consumers now do their homework on every major purchase so they don’t get hit by a BS wave. Web sites exist just for people to review products and let other consumers know the real story before they purchase these products. Anymore, people just can’t be convinced. They come to their own decisions themselves and don’t need any help from marketers, thank you very much.
What Products Does Educational Marketing Work Well With?
Any product that needs longer than 30 seconds to explain. This is why marketers are abandoning traditional marketing techniques. Traditional marketing is a get-in, get-out type of situation. Educational marketing slows things down and lets people know all the info before letting them go on. Of course, this means television and radio commercials need to be longer, which isn’t going to happen. Therefore, educational marketing happens a lot online and traditional marketing is used to direct people to the educational marketing sites.
What Are the Types of Educational Marketing?
It can be anything in long form that doesn’t rush the consumer and informs them instead of selling to them. Newsletters, informational videos, radio talk shows, seminars and Web sites are all great examples. Some might argue the loathed infomercial should belong in this category, but I’m not so sure, except on the basis of its long form.
Using Traditional Marketing with Educational Marketing
This is not to say that traditional marketing venues like television commercials don’t have their place. Their place is to point people to the educational marketing materials. Mass media outlets like radio, newspaper and television can be used to drive people to your educational marketing platform. Thirty seconds might not be enough time to inform consumers about how you are different from your competition, but it’s enough time to shout out a few benefits about your product and direct consumers to your Web site or educational platform.
Consumers appreciate getting valuable info that helps them make a decision. Consumers don’t like being talked down to, or when marketers think they can “pull a fast one” by focusing on a few key adjectives and a call to action. As advertising great David Ogilvy said “The consumer is not an idiot.” So educate them and help them make an informed decision. They’ll most likely thank you for it by giving you their business.
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