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Education

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Education​

Definition & Summary: Educating the market or users to overcome their inertia to change by informing them of benefits or risks . In essence, it's using truthful information and training to create demand or reduce resistance for a new idea.

Detailed Explanation: Originating from the observation that there are many forms of resistance to change, education addresses those by raising awareness. The purpose is to enable adoption -- for example, teaching customers why a new technology matters so they are willing to try it. Key principles include clarity, credibility, and relevance: the message must resonate with user needs. Education can be morally positive (e.g. public health campaigns) or strategically self-serving (preparing customers for your product) . It often precedes or accompanies the introduction of change.

Real-World Examples:

  • Historical: Banks in Europe ran campaigns about online security, teaching customers not to share passwords. Ostensibly "for public good," this also cut into fintech upstarts like Sofort by educating users on risks of those new services . By the time fintechs caught on, users were wary -- a defensive education play.

  • Hypothetical: A renewable energy firm educates communities on the harms of coal and the benefits of solar via workshops and free courses. This creates a knowledgeable customer base that later supports and adopts the firm's solar solutions, overcoming "status quo" bias.

When to Use / When to Avoid:

  • Use when: Customers lack awareness or have misconceptions that block adoption of your offering. Education is ideal if your solution is genuinely better but inertia or ignorance holds the market back . Also use it to build trust as an authority.

  • Avoid when: The value proposition is weak -- educating won't help if your product doesn't actually meet user needs (it may even backfire by raising difficult questions). Also avoid if time-to-market is critical and lengthy education would slow you too much.

Common Pitfalls:

  • Preaching without engagement: Dumping information on users without making it relatable or interesting will be ignored.

  • Slow impact: Education campaigns take time; you might educate the market only for a competitor to swoop in.

  • Credibility risk: If users suspect your "education" is just marketing spin, trust erodes (e.g. a biased whitepaper could be seen as propaganda).

Related Strategies: Brand & Marketing (to amplify the educated message), Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt (FUD) (the "dark side" alternative of influencing perception with fear), Open Approaches (sometimes educating about an open standard to drive its adoption).

Further Reading & References:

  • Wardley, S. -- On user inertia and education as a gameplay . Describes how education can overcome the 16 forms of resistance to change.

  • "Public campaigns and hidden agendas" -- Example case of banks educating users for security (Wardley Maps Forum) .