Smart clients come from educational marketing, but smart clients do not necessarily purchase your services. There is a danger in not understanding the crossroads of educational marketing and paid advertising, including pay per click. Educational marketing and pay per click should only be mixed carefully. If you spend too many resources targeting information seekers, then you will miss out on the people interested in your services. This is a recipe for business disaster.
The Difference Between Educational Marketing and Paid Search Advertising
Educational marketing is the use of information to build trust with targeted prospects who may want to hire a service provider. A person who is seeking information and education is not necessarily ready to purchase a service.
Paid advertising is a highly targeted way to market requiring you to pay for a prospect to view your web site. You can directly target people who need your service and want to set an appointment now.
When Does Education Marketing Become Profitable?
Education marketing becomes profitable when someone who needs a service finds information and ties the information to a trusted expert to make a purchase. The goal of the service provider is to create this connection. For example, a prospective client goes to Google and is researching cosmetic dentistry and learns about a cutting edge procedure. An article written by or mentioning a dentist who provides the procedure appears. The searcher clicks on the article and a connection has been made between the client and a trusted expert. When the client clicks a link in the article to the dentist’s web site, they land on a page that reinforces the expertise of the dentist in the procedure. The client calls to make an appointment.
Should I Pay a Prospect to Read My Educational Marketing?
You could, but you are now spending money to educate someone on a service or information in general. They may already know a preferred service provider or may not even be in the market for the service. This is less targeted than writing an ad and paying someone to come to your web site who wants to “find a [your service here] in Denver.” My advice is to stay away from paying people to read what you have written. Put your money towards targeted prospects, offer information and articles on your web site to entice lead generation, and move the leads through a marketing funnel to purchase.
