As a business owner, you fuel the success of your employees, customers and ultimately your business simply by sharing your knowledge of your products and services. Afterall, knowledge is power and, when communicated effectively, your insight can bring about sales opportunities as you flex your impressive brand muscles. In addition, some of the best sales leaders understand that sharing knowledge has a greater impact on consumers than annoying sales pitches. Knowledge sharing benefits include:
- Inspired product innovation & development within your company.
- Engaged employees who feel they are a crucial component of your big picture.
- Employee collaboration & better workload distribution.
- Less wasted time as employees are able to strategize much faster.
- Greater speed & accuracy in meeting the needs of consumers.
- Clearer, more accurate business-to-customer communication.
- Decreases mistakes allowing staff to clearly identify potential problems before they arise.
- A faster means by which to obtain pertinent knowledge pertaining to the current market & the efficacy of your marketing campaigns.
- Enriched company culture as all opinions are heard. This opens up a broader platform for development & creativity within your company.
- Recorded failures & successes leading to a more tailored company trajectory.
- Refined practices & procedures.
- The production of company experts: your shared knowledge boosts your workforce standards, allowing your staff to become experts in your business.
As a business owner, you can’t afford not to share knowledge. When you have an effective knowledge-sharing structure in place, the right people – your staff and customers – get the right info at the right time. Furthermore, it is up to you as the captain of the ship to ensure everyone knows where to find pertinent information and how to share it.
One of the most important keys to effective knowledge sharing is to utilize multiple platforms.
- YouTube Videos
If you type in “clogged sink” on Google, the search engine will likely produce multiple YouTube results full of plumbers who will have simple solutions for your problem. While none of the plumbers are selling you anything, they are visually establishing their place as experts while leaving you with their contact info in the event you’d like to enlist their services.
The benefit of knowledge sharing via YouTube is that it allows you to be more creative with more memorable information, has a greater potential to captivate your audience and it doesn’t have to be lengthy. In fact, the shorter, the better! You are getting your knowledge and brand information out to the general public.
- Explainer Videos
Explainer videos are a great way to share knowledge in a brief, informative and entertaining manner. Simple cartoon what-we-do and how-we-do it videos are known to work better than text because they require little effort on the part of your audience in order to obtain information quickly and they are easily shareable. Consult your marketing professional regarding explainer videos.
- Podcast
Podcasts are an especially effective means of education, self help and shared interests and are quickly becoming all the rage across all demographics. Consider starting your own podcast featuring weekly tips or benefits of your products and services. You could even enlist the help of some of your frequent customers and feature them on your podcast on a frequent basis. Consumers will appreciate hearing from fellow consumers as to how your company has played a role in solving a problem and adding value to their lives
- Books
Book recommendations are a great way to communicate your expertise to both staff and consumership. Knowing that you are well read builds consumer confidence in a world where research is becoming increasingly important to customers. Learn about various ebooks, current books in print and even audio book options you could recommend to clients which serve to highlight your knowledge and expertise. You could even offer a free book to first-time customers as a thank-you gift for their business. Consumers love freebies!
- Digital Product
Digital products are crucial to knowledge sharing, identifying current consumer problems and presenting them with an instant solution. Digital products are also very easy and quick to create in ratio to the impact they can achieve as they deliver value quickly, offering consumers an immediate return on their investment. Digital products benefit your brand by:
- Delivering passive income.
- Decreasing work time as a digital product can be created once and sold repeatedly for an indefinite time frame.
- Serving a broader number of consumers at a faster rate.
- Allowing you to work from anywhere, affording you flexibility and a stronger balance between your work and personal life.
- Allowing you to start selling products/services immediately.
- Lowering overhead such as: office space rent, utilities, warehouse fees, employee salaries/benefits, possible insurance fees, etc.
- Knocking out the middle man & maintaining direct lines of communication with your customers.
- Unlimited stock & total elimination of stock/restocking fees!
- Courses
While creating a course can be quite an investment of your time, there are many successful companies who offer various courses to their customers, further compelling consumer loyalty and purchases. Home Depot, for example, has experienced billions of dollars in increased revenue nationwide upon commencement of their in-store “DIY” classes, creating additional profit far beyond what they were experiencing in product sales. Whether online or in-person, consumer courses are a great way to monetize your expertise while further working to build a lifelong relationship with them.
Knowledge is only powerful when it is shared and goes a long way in making employees and consumers feel that their voices are heard, they are individually valued, stirs creative juices, addresses problems quickly and is an effective way of producing a greater stream of income for your business. Don’t clam up! Share your pearls of wisdom and reap the benefits!