Some marketing teams resist the idea of giving away free online content that has educational value, fearing that it will result in less revenue. Well, the fact is that providing educational content to your audience has been proven to increase visits and sales - read on to learn more!

What is educational content?

Educational content is the term used to describe content that educates the audience, either by explaining concepts or by providing instructions for completing processes and solving common problems.

Educational content should solve a problem or fill a knowledge gap that the reader has, preferably questions or problems that arise frequently. This is because educational content works better and generally achieves better results.

These results can translate not only into visits and views, but also into shares, your website's ranking and social media algorithms.

Educational content has to be of high quality to really provide value. High quality content will gain the trust of both users and search engines. On top of that, providing high quality authoritative content will open the door to external resource sharing. This helps to cement the reputation of your business as one that can be trusted.

Unlike website copy and marketing content, educational content is not created with the intention of converting leads into sales. Before making a decision, customers want to be well-informed about their options, and providing them with educational content is an ideal way to demonstrate your expertise in the field and show them why your solution might be exactly what they might be looking for.

The purpose of educational content is to raise awareness of customer pain points and define possible solutions. This will instil a sense of trust in consumers' minds about your brand.

Examples of educational content:

1. Common problems and concerns

Educational content about common problems and concerns your customers experience will convince them that you know exactly what you are talking about and can meet their needs with confidence. It may also push them to consider solutions they didn't know they needed or that weren't available. While you may not be able to solve every problem, if you swoop in with the perfect solution to a problem that is very identifiable to them, they will go straight for it.

2. Knowledge gaps

Another type of educational content is that which is less directly related to the products or services your company offers, but still fills an important knowledge gap that your customer might have.

Providing free content will build trust and convince the customer that your company cares about their well-being and independence, not just about generating sales and revenue. Give your customers a deeper understanding of what your business does, as this will indirectly allow them to get to know your industry a little better.

3. Social Causes

Many companies have taken it upon themselves to contribute to great causes that affect us all, such as inequality or climate change. In general, companies want to find success without having a negative impact on the environment and to be as inclusive as possible. In this way, customers will consider their values when they spend their hard-earned money.