By Lynn Corbitt, Account Executive

Have you ever created a marketing campaign that you thought was going to hit it out of the park? You were able to touch on all the benefits of your product without being too salesy, and your tone and word choice was spot-on. When you finally rolled it out, though, it fell a little flat with your audience.

Before you assume you don’t know what your audiences want, consider that they might not know what they need.

Let’s consider a hypothetical example. Let’s pretend that you sell projectors, and you’re creating a marketing campaign around how your projectors can easily replace a television in someone’s home, especially with all the streaming services becoming more popular. However, when you put out that messaging, your audience mostly ignored it because they think want the bigger and better TV screen.

When you say, “projectors are great, you should buy one when you’re ready for a new TV,” you’ll probably catch people off guard. They aren’t familiar with this idea, and their television is a comfortable choice for them.

Your job shifts from simply marketing your products to educating your audience about why your projector is a viable (and potentially better) choice than a TV. It’s portable, it’s a cheaper way to seamlessly watch your streaming services, and you can use it for more than just TV. (Or you can always lead with the fact that you can use a projector to watch a TV show on your ceiling. That’s what my sister and her roommate do in college, and they love it!)

Marketing isn’t always just telling your audience about your brand, products, or services. It’s also about educating them on why they might need something they don’t understand or haven’t thought of before. There are a few ways you can structure your education.

• Lead off with the messaging you know your audience will agree with, like “Smart TVs make it easier to watch your streaming programs.” Then, show them how projectors make it even easier to catch up on “The Queen’s Gambit.”
• Create a post that feels too obvious, like “Five Reasons Projectors are Better than TVs.” It’s surprising, and it will probably inspire your audience to click.
• Focus on Q&As or customer testimonials so people can have all their questions answered and understand how your product can really work for them.

Educating your audience can take some extra time, but it’s an important step that can move them closer to becoming customers. Are you creating content that’s based in education? If not, it might be time to try it out.