Perhaps the single most common marketing mistake made in business today is the failure of the business owner to educate their customer. 

If you want your prospect to buy your product or service, you must teach them what to consider when buying this kind of item and what the value of your particular version of the item or service is, as compared to your competitors. 

For example, you may have analyzed 50 different competitive products before you designed yours, and perhaps you incorporated the 10 best features, or the 20 most frequently requested features into your product.  That’s a lot of research and it shows that you care about your customer and the quality of your product.  Your customer will be impressed to find out that you did all that work just for them. 

Or maybe your warranty is twice as long as any of your competitors.  That has value to your customer.  So, tell them about it!
Most of these concepts are things you might consider obvious to others, but they are rarely used by your competitors so you’ll have an advantage if you leverage the value you offer and educate your customer on why that value is important to them.
Here are some ideas to get your started: 

1. Using the warranty example I mentioned above, let’s say that you sell ceiling fans.  You know the kind that have the paddles on them and circulate the air?  have done your homework and you know that warranties are really important to your customer. 

You decide to extend your warranty to five years (which is 2 years longer than any of your competitors).  You’ve talked to your product development and manufacturing team and you feel your fans have an 80% chance of standing up for the 5 years, so your exposure is limited. 

Extending your warranty gives you an longer relationship with your customer, as you can send them information in the mail or via email using the information they’ve given you on their warranty registration card.  You can offer them discounts on new products or an extension to their existing warranty. 

The fact that you have agreed to assume the risk on your product is valuable to your customer.  They can own your product, risk free, for five years. 

So, if a warranty or guarantee is the concept ‘of value’ to the customer, you need to educate them on that.  Tell them how often ceiling fans break down within a five year period, so they know that you are helping them to avoid a risk they might take with another manufacturer. 

Tell them what the warranty gives them.  Perhaps you will provide free customer support for installation questions or some other bonus that goes along with the warranty.

1. If you know your customer well and you know that they like to give their business to a service provider with whom they have already had a positive experience, you may want to bring them into the fold and educate them further about your products and services by giving them periodic information about your new products. 

How about a mail-order business or a catalogue website where you can go into more ‘marketing’ detail about the value and features you offer, when you describe your product?  This gives you another channel through which to sell AND you can educate your customer at the same time. 

You can use your home page to highlight a product and provide lots of information on how wonderful the product is and what value it offers.  Maybe you can even give them a comparative chart that illustrates your benefits as compared to your competition!

Some companies use their mail order catalogues and websites to offer ‘size charts’ to figure out what size you have to order, or free gifts with a purchase, or discounts available ONLY through their catalogue or website.  These benefits are clearly outlined for the customer and the customer feels pampered and special. 

So, whether you establish a new sales and distribution channel, add features or special ‘deals’ when a customer buys through that channel, or simply promote the value of the features and benefits of your product, you are teaching your customer why your product or service is better, and how best to take advantage of those benefits. 

If they have all the facts, they can figure out for themselves why your product or service is the one they want to buy.  Marketing with smoke and mirrors and keeping your customer in the dark, is a sure way to lose business!

Now, take this concept, and apply it t your business, and your product or service:

1.   What are the values, features, benefits of my business and/or product or service as compared to my competitor?

2.   How can I leverage or modify my product benefits and marketing strategy to take advantage of the value I offer?  Are there new sales channels or offers I can make to promote this product or service value?

3.   How can I educate my customer on this value so that they know why it is important to them?  What information can I incorporate into advertising, marketing campaigns, sales pitches to get this information in front of my customer?

4.   If my customer has more information about this product or service, how is it likely to impact me?  Will they be more likely to buy my product?  Will they buy MORE of what I have to sell?  Will they take their education and spread it around to other potential customers?