Here’s the first in our series for marketing executives and managers to ensure nothing slips through the cracks when it comes to creating an effective content marketing strategy for your brands.  Today’s feature:  PRODUCT EDUCATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Too often marketers don’t think about bringing value to consumers as a way of educating them.  And oftentimes, marketers over-think messaging and give consumers far more than they really need.  When developing a content marketing strategy, it’s important to think about how you’re going to educate your consumer to the point of moving them to action.  Never want to knock them over the head…you want to make them appreciate you and want to come back for more. At the end of the day, educating doesn’t just start and end with your end user.  You want to make it easy for not only prospects, but existing customers, industry influencers, media, and other constituents to understand your product, and in an easily digestible way. Give them the option to have short, easy-to-read pieces (through text, audio, video segments) and then drill down as desired. Think advertorials, sponsored content, and other ways to feature your product in a way that consumers like to get actionable education about, and engagement with your brand. And in the end, add the human touch. Make sure that if and when the customer wants to speak to a live person who can answer questions, it supports a positive educational phase of the customer product lifecycle. Don’t underestimate your consumers’ ability and desire to understand your product – be ready!  It’s the marketers that are most ready that will move more people to action and generate more demand for brands.  If all you do is hard sell and don’t educate and bring value to those listening to you or reading about you, you’ll be hard pressed to make many friends!

Author: David Fink (dfink@davidhenryagency.com). David Fink is the President of DavidHenry Marketing & Media, a company that specializes in branding, content marketing and integrated communications programs. He is also the founder and publisher of the interactive sports and fitness media company American Athlete which publishes American Athlete Magazine.