Prospect Education – Sesame Street For IT Security

Believe it or not but children education shows like Sesame Street can be used as subtle marketing tools (and have). When I was a kid, I still remember those little segments of the show where they show how something is made (e.g. crayons, milk etc). There are also those conversations muppets have with certain professionals.

How is that marketing? Well, in the basest sense of the word, you are drawing attention to something that is meant to be sold. Now in the context of B2B marketing and enterprise software, it shows that there’s a lot of room for prospect education and traditional forms of marketing can blend in.

You may not necessarily see a brand logo or mentions of a specific company. However, you are showing something that is much more significant. You are showing your products and services at work. Just like how Sesame Street talks about a person’s job or shows how cheese is made, prospect education allows you to demonstrate what your industry has to offer.

For example, say you decide to share information on proper IT security policies. In today’s internet age, businesses big and small are all vulnerable to cyber attacks. That is, if they’re not trained and equipped well enough to protect their information. With prospect education, you already accomplish several significant marketing goals such as:

• Established credibility – You obviously need to know your stuff. But on the other hand, no amount of tech expertise will be recognized unless you draw attention to it first. The best way to do that is to share it and many business owners will surely like to know how to make IT more secure.

• It creates better users – Similarly, no amount of good tech can substitute for bad user habits. Passwords can be easily guessed if they’re not well constructed. Files can be shared illegally if it is so much as put in the wrong folder. Warning against these bad practices will make your technology easier to use and you less liable at the same time.

• It can be applied across all channels – The best thing about education is that, like business, it grows to adapt with technology. You can integrate it across many channels from event marketing to social media. And with social media heading this revolution, sharing more will get you more sales opportunities.

This may not even be the first time you’ve been told to use marketing as a form of education. Putting it into practice though isn’t always so common (especially given the complexity of business software). That’s why it bears repeating. Why not lead with a Sesame Street-style approach and use education to promote your industry?

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/prospect-education-sesame-street-security-0629773?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prospect-education-sesame-street-security