In today’s digital age, consumers are inundated with information. When you search a query you will see millions of results at your fingertips from different people and companies, all of which are trying to give you the answer you need and hopefully encourage you to purchase their product or service.
Choosing your source of information, and potentially which product or service you purchase, will come down to which website you trust the most, which is usually the page closest to the top of the search engine results.
To cut through the noise and capture consumers’ attention, businesses must adopt a more strategic approach to content marketing. One such approach is educational content marketing, which involves producing content that offers users the answer to their query.
What is educational content?
Educational content is any type of content that aims to inform, teach, or explain a specific topic. It can take many forms, such as blog posts, articles, videos or webinars. The key to effective educational content is to provide value to the reader without explicitly promoting a product or service.
Why is educational content important?
We often find that clients ask us why educational content is so important when what they really want us to focus on is producing sales-focused content, heavily geared towards getting their audience to convert. The answer is that it allows them to meet their audience at every stage of their journey – not just when they’re ready to buy.
While sales-focused content with clear CTAs is essential for driving conversions, educational content captures the broader search queries and peripheral keywords that often bring new users to your site in the first place.
By answering their questions, solving their problems, and providing value without a hard sell, you create opportunities to:
- Build trust and credibility: by providing valuable information, you establish yourself as an authority in your industry. This trust can lead to increased brand loyalty and customer retention.
- Engage your audience: high-quality, informative content keeps your audience engaged and coming back for more.
- Improve SEO: search engines reward high-quality content. By creating valuable, informative content, you can improve your website’s search engine rankings.
- Generate leads: educational content can attract potential customers to your website. By offering valuable information, you can entice visitors to sign up for your email list or contact your sales team.
- Increase sales: educating your audience about your products or services can help them make informed purchasing decisions.
All of these things help you stand out from the competition. Taking the time to address your consumer’s concerns proves that you are not just trying to push a product or service under their nose. It allows you to justify the purchase and tell them how your product or service will help them.
Types of educational content
Educational content comes in many forms, each designed to inform, engage, and guide your audience. Whether your goal is to answer a simple question, solve a problem, or showcase your expertise, using a mix of content types ensures you’re meeting the diverse needs of your potential customers. Below, we explain some of the most effective formats for educational content and how they can contribute to your overall marketing strategy.
- How-to guides: step-by-step instructions on how to complete a task or solve a problem. (You can see our example in this essential B2B marketing planning guide for 2025)
- FAQs: easy to find answers to common questions or concerns. (We answered this common question here, on which is best, content first or design first when building a website.)
- Tutorials: in-depth explanations of a specific topic or skill. (In this example, we give a tutorial on how to write SEO-friendly product descriptions)
- Case studies: real-world examples of how your product or service has helped others. (Such as this case study on our work with BlueSky)
- Whitepapers: in-depth reports on a specific topic.
- Webinars: live or recorded online seminars.
Creating effective educational content
The trick to creating effective educational content is knowing what your target audience is looking for, and what they believe to be useful. For example, if you are selling cleaning products then how-to guides would be effective as they allow you to explain how using your product will solve an issue.
If you sell household furnishings such as lamps then you may wish to focus on interior design inspiration pieces, showcasing what your product would look like in a home setting and explaining why it is the perfect choice over another lamp for achieving a certain style or feel.
If you sell a software that aims to streamline processes you may wish to provide a video demonstration that highlights how much time and money you could save by utilising the product.
To create effective educational content, consider the following tips:
- Know your audience: understand their needs, interests, and pain points.
- Choose the right format: select the format that best suits your topic and audience.
- Keep it simple: avoid jargon and technical terms.
- Use visuals: incorporate images, infographics, and videos to make your content more engaging.
- Promote your content: share your content on social media, email newsletters, and other channels.
How we can help you with educational content
We have helped many of our clients with Educational Content Strategies that target relevant keywords. We have seen some amazing results, with blogs being some of the most popular pages on client websites.
By implementing consistent posting of high-quality educational content, we can help you target the questions your target audience are asking around your products and services.
Our process:
- Audit: the first step is to conduct an audit which delves into keyword research and competitor analysis. This helps us find the questions that are commonly being asked, and see who else is currently ranking highly to ensure your content matches and exceeds what is being offered to users.
- Strategy: from this research we can create a 12 month plan of blogs to be posted throughout the year. We suggest creating and posting at least 2 new educational pieces every month to keep your website up-to-date and improve your authority.
- Retainer: we understand that writing is not everybody’s forte, which is why we can schedule a monthly retainer for you that ensures our content team will post consistently on your behalf. You can decide what you would like to spend each month, and the team will ensure the pieces are in keeping with your brand and tone of voice.
- Reporting: content is an investment, and it should be aiding your business. We will give reports about how your content is working for you. We hope to see more visibility in the online space, an increase in traffic to your website and an increase in conversions of the products or services you are promoting.
