Key thoughts on information marketing

There's a well-known marketing adage that states: Nobody buys a drill because they want a drill - they want a hole.

In other words, instead of supplying information about drills, you should provide information about making holes. (OK, so you're quite possibly not selling drills - but what is the "drill" and what is the "hole" in your business?) This strategy will give you more sales leads who are genuinely interested in your offering, and will build more rapport with prospective customers.

This approach can be incorporated into all your marketing efforts, from your sales collateral, to your face-to-face presentations, to seminars and white papers, adverts and press releases.

Information marketing is not a new concept. Magazines use information in the form of articles to sell advertising, and one of the most effective forms of advertising is the 'advertorial', which is an advert in the guise of an informational piece. Websites use information of all kinds (how to articles, checklists, directories, statistics, etc.) to attract visitors and regular readers. But information marketing is not often used in conventional marketing materials such as brochures, flyers, and direct mail.

There are several key reasons to use information marketing in your business:

- To establish your credibility as an expert in your field
- It gets people to ‘put their hands up' in the marketplace (to draw people in rather than force your offering on them - people don't generally like to be 'sold to')
- To demonstrate your ability to solve the customer's problems
- To differentiate you from the competition
- To build trust in your or your company's skills and ability

Your potential customers need to know exactly what you and your products and services are all about before they can make a decision. If they are not absolutely clear on what you are offering, they're highly unlikely to buy. By offering information both on your company's offering, and on related topics of interest to your customers, you can build trust and credibility, and start developing a relationship with your customers to boot.

A key reason for using information marketing techniques is to increase not only trust but familiarity in prospective customers. Not only do customers have vastly more choice than they had, say, 10 or 20 years ago, they are also more wary. They want to know that your company is trustworthy, and that you know what you are talking about, before they invest in you. Information marketing can help you reach that goal.

Here's a final key thought:
To market your products and services effectively, base your strategy on information about solving problems, and not on information about the product or service itself.