Creating brand awareness is an important component of marketing. In some businesses however, a large part of brand building also requires creating awareness about the product itself. This is especially true in the case of industries like healthcare and technology where customers depend on the seller to understand more about the product and to know how it works. In this article, we will take a look at four strategies that can help a marketer create better product awareness among their customers.
Product Helpline
The first step towards building better trust among consumers is by setting up a product helpline that focuses on educating customers and not on selling your products. Such helplines address the concerns that customers may have without being pushy about sales and thus help customers understand the product better. If you own a brick and mortar store, your helpline may also be in the form of product consultants who can answer questions from walk-in customers.
Free Product Catalogs
Not all customers are forthright about their lack of knowledge about your products. For such customers, it is a good idea to make free product catalogs available which they can browse through at their own pace. Take the example of this flagpoles company - to a first time buyer, there is not much separating a sectional fiberglass flagpole from a telescoping aluminum. A free product catalog explaining the difference among the several alternatives and their use-cases provides the customer with the much needed product information to make the right purchase.
Explainer Videos
Another fantastic way to help customers understand the product better is through explainer videos. A typical explainer video is hosted by a product consultant who takes the viewer through all the important features and utilities of the product. Explainer videos is best suited for remote purchasing decisions where the customer and the salesperson are not in the same room. It is also a source of inbound marketing since explainer videos hosted over platforms like YouTube are a fantastic source for generating leads.
Webinars
Another way to execute the video strategy is through live webinars. Webinars are video sessions that are organized by product consultants and host a live remote audience who can ask questions and get them answered by these consultants in real time. One advantage of a webinar over an explainer video is that it talks to real customers and so address legitimate questions that they have about a product. These webinars may also be archived and be used as an explainer video for a non-real-time audience. Webinars are most popular among industries with a niche and captive customer-base; mainly B2B.
Free Trial
Sometimes, no information is sufficient enough to help customers make an informed product purchasing decision. In such instances, customers trust businesses that are ready to let them try the product before buying them. This helps customers understand how the product works and if it is a good fit for their needs before taking a call about purchase. Besides, free trial also helps create a sense of ownership among customers and this is likely to push them towards purchasing the product.