How to Own the Educational Relationship with Your Customers

To succeed in today’s competitive market you need to own the educational relationship with your customers and prospects. Luckily, with today’s 24/7 digital economy there are lots of ways to connect with your audience. But when it comes to really building solid business-to-consumer relationships, one strategy that will bolster engagement, increase conversion and drive up customer lifetime value is not the most obvious one: online learning.  

Increasingly, brands, publishers and retailers are turning to online learning experiences to create a more informed audience. Product buying guides, new product onboarding orientations, certifications and in-depth industry-expert-led courses will help reduce churn and develop stronger relationships overall with your customers and prospects.

We work with a number of organizations that have built successful learning programs. Turning internal content and subject matter expertise into free and paid programs directly effects market education, and in many cases builds new profit centers. The best part? They can all be delivered in highly sophisticated white-label platforms, so content is on brand. 

Becoming the trusted source and thought leader for your industry is more critical than you think. 

Today’s consumers are savvy at seeking out and sharing information. They can run a google search, scan YouTube, trade tips in an online forum, post a product review, or ask a question on Reddit.  But is that what you want when your bottom line is at stake? Why encourage your customers to consume sub-par content on external sites—content that doesn’t present your brand, products and services in their best light? Or worse, let your sales leads browse their way straight into your competitor’s sales funnel.

Don’t let your customers take that U-turn. Instead, create value and steer them to your own curated consumer learning experience.  

Where to start? 

More good news—you likely have a vault of content that is just waiting to be repurposed for online learning. Here’s a starting place: 

• Those recorded sessions from your most recent conference? Bundle them and sell them via a tiered-subscription model.
• That recognized expert who gave the keynote at an industry event? Offer a members’ only Q & A session with her in your course forum. Or ask her to teach a course live!
• The DVD archive languishing in your stock room? Create a whole library of courses and offer monthly, yearly or even lifetime subscriptions.

Want to brainstorm other ways to “own” your audience and turn learning into a business driver for your organization? We’re here to help.