Through the use of these educational messages, these brands can foster a trusting relationship with potential new customers and dramatically increase the likelihood that they will make a purchase.

They can control the entire funnel from top to bottom, without any off-putting and cumbersome marketing tactics to dissuade their interest.

Example of Education-Based Marketing

The above definition could certainly serve as an example to help clarify the process, don't you think? Let's take a look at how a weight loss supplement brand can use educational marketing to reach more potential customers, as an Educational Marketing Agency.

Here's the thinking behind the typical marketing/advertising approach.

The Standard Approach to Customer Acquisition

When it comes to weight loss, most people have been told to move more and eat less. However, very few people can strictly adhere to this advice. Thus, they look for shortcuts, ways to facilitate the process.

Where do they look?

The vast majority turn to Google in search of:

1. Weight loss tips;
2. How to lose weight;
3. Shortcuts to fat loss;
4. Best foods to lose weight;
5. Main exercises to lose weight;
6. Fat burning secrets;

And so on...
These people are easy targets. So, the weight loss supplement brand puts its ads in front of them via Facebook, Google Adwords, etc.

Job done, right?

As you can imagine, by only targeting these people and only using ads to convert them into customers, they limit the scope of your marketing and your potential to generate new customers.

With an understanding of educational marketing, the brand would approach potential customers very differently.

The Education-Based Approach to Customer Acquisition

Let's say a new marketing director came to work for the brand and brought with her a deep knowledge of educational marketing.

Your approach would start long before the buyer's journey. His team would create blog posts about the risks of obesity, how being overweight can dramatically decrease longevity, and the various consequences of being overweight.

She can then target typically overweight audiences with ads for those blog posts to get their attention. These people probably weren't directly seeking help to lose weight, but they would have been aware of the fact that they were obese or severely overweight.

Thanks to a sophisticated blogging strategy, these blog posts would also rank organically and drive traffic to the website.

Delivering value at every stage

As you can see, there were absolutely no hard sales while the supplement brand marketed its products. Instead, they worked to provide initial value to potential customers every step of the way.

The free information in the blog posts helped them understand the danger they may face if they don't change their lifestyle.

The free information in the downloadable guides has helped them identify a variety of solutions that may or may not work for them.

Then, after providing an exceptional amount of upfront value and developing a trusted relationship with its potential customers, the brand was able to start selling its product.

Different platforms

Now let's look at some of the different platforms you can use to start implementing educational marketing.

Education platforms

With the rise of the digital age, it's never been easier to reach your potential customers. This is especially true when it comes to education-based marketing. There are several ways you can start educating your audience.

Blog

One of the most popular ways to educate the audience is in the form of blog content. Blog articles are relatively easy to produce, free to publish, drive traffic to your website, and can be shared on a variety of other platforms.

This type of multifunctional asset represents the perfect foundation for your educational marketing approach.

E-books and downloadable offers

Education-based e-book-and-download-marketing offers

Where blog posts create an excellent foundation to build on, ebooks and other downloadable resources are the perfect next step.

If you can pique your prospect's interest with a blog post, an effective call-to-action can lead them to the perfect place to continue their education.

Their downloadable resources should be of the highest value and provide a complete solution to any problem they are designed to solve.