Teach to Reach, Using Education Marketing

(You can Listen to the Podcast for this post by scrolling to the end of the post.)

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. It’s a wise old adage isn’t it?  If you look back at history, during some of the roughest times, people have made some of the most spectacular successes. I believe that when someone has their back up against the wall, they tend to look for more creative ways to reach their goals. And in many cases, they completely change how things are done. Our current economic situation could very well see some amazing success stories and changes in the coming years.

Many, including myself, would say that one of the changes that we are seeing happen right now has to do with how a business markets itself. The hard sell is taking a back seat to social media marketing. Smart businesses are seeing the wisdom in allowing their target market to connect with them. That connection can come from TWitter, blogs or any of the current social media networking sites. The secret is in letting your market get to know you. But social media isn’t the only non-traditional marketing method that many find to be more successful than traditional methods.

One that I’ve seen several of my clients have success with is what is sometimes called ‘educational marketing’. The basics of this type of marketing involves teaching your target market something they want or need to know, either free or for a small fee. By doing so, chances are that the participants will use your related services or purchase your related goods at a later date when needed. Participants are likely to recall that your company offered them something of value and they weren’t even a customer yet, chances are your services or products offer an even better value for them as a customer/client.

For example, a real estate attorney could offer classes that fulfill continuing education credits for real estate professionals. By doing so, they are not only offering their students something they need to have, but are building a relationship with them,so that in the future when they are in need of a closing agent, this attorney is going to immediately come to mind.  You can modify this idea to fit whatever your field is as well as taking it a step further by offering them in e-class or webinar form.

If you’re concerned about how time consuming it may be to create and manage classes on top of the work you’re already doing, now may be the time to team up with a virtual assistant who offers this type of service. If you already conduct classes a VA can transcribe recordings and turn them into e-classes or e-books, help you create any quizzes, handouts and certificates you may need to issue, manage class schedules, help with webinars, follow up with participants and keep your time investment much lower than if you tried to do it all yourself.

If you’re charging a fee for your educational classes and materials this marketing method also becomes another stream of income for your business. If you’re looking for a new way to reach your target market, it might be worth your time to consider the ‘teach to reach’ method.

Clerical Advantage offers services to help you with your educational marketing. Contact me to learn more.