New Approaches in Consumer Education – A Marketing Tool

AllenComm, a leader in consumer and brand education strategy, is pleased to release a new series and report on the New Brand Landscape, highlighting how new consumer education strategies are dramatically improving marketing ROI, as well as leading to increased competition in many industries over ownership of key educational resources.

SALT LAKE CITY (April 24, 2014) – The latest industry data shows that consumer education is playing an increasingly critical role in consumer behaviors. Drawing on data from recent consumer education projects with many Fortune 1000 companies, as well as new industry findings, AllenComm’s Brand Landscape report shows how top companies are moving quickly to ensure clear ownership of prime educational tools in their respective markets, create strong competitive advantages, and generating much higher returns on their marketing portfolios.

A necessity in supporting today’s always-online, information-driven buying behaviors, contemporary consumer education strategies center on providing objective, useful information to improve brand loyalty, product differentiation, sales, and lead generation. Allen Communication’s project experience shows three key consumer education emphases that correlate closely with strong business results.

Controlling Messaging

In today’s markets, one-way marketing communication has largely given way to two-way conversations in which consumers actively “pull” information to justify or support purchasing decisions and evaluate brand differences. To account for this shift, organizations must invest in education before the moment of purchase. Research from Next Century Media and Powered, Inc. suggests that targeted, educational assets create consumers who are as much as 29 times more likely to buy and are more apt to be loyal to the brand.

Improving Brand Affinity

Consumers actively seek out product messages when associated consumer education is objective, relevant, and clear. As a result, contemporary brand strategies deliver focused content to the consumer through functional online applications and tools, rather than ads alone. When executed correctly, such strategies dramatically improve brand perception and sales, and they typically cost 60% less than traditional marketing strategies of similar reach. Industry data also shows that consumers who encounter valuable educational tools freely provided, are 97% more likely to tell friends about their experience and 94% more satisfied with their purchases.

Designing the User Experience

Lastly, AllenComm’s experience shows the user experience design of educational assets can be a powerful, shaping force in the way consumers think about brands and products. As a result, in many markets, Allen works with its partners to create market-facing educational portals that focus on providing educational content for specific consumer needs. Often, such resources are tied to the broader product experience rather than the product itself.

“Strong consumer education assets are creating measurable competitive advantages for our partners,” notes Ron Zamir, AllenComm CEO. “AllenComm therefore advises its partners to implement proven strategies and create prime customer education assets quickly, since these assets will increasingly inform buying decisions in the new brand landscape.”

To follow AllenComm’s discussion of the Changing Brand Landscape click here or follow on Twitter (#NewBrandLandscape), Facebook, or LinkedIn.

About AllenComm

For more than 35 years, AllenComm has led the learning industry, providing pioneering educational strategies, technologies, and analytics. With extensive experience across every major industry, AllenComm’s award-winning projects for the best-known companies in the world drive lasting business results and documented ROI. Businesses trust AllenComm with their most critical learning and performance projects, because AllenComm aligns agency-quality media design, best-in-class instructional strategy and technology, and a proven design process centered on alignment with quantifiable business results.