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Education

Educating the market or users to overcome their inertia to change by informing them of benefits or risks.

Overcoming user inertia to a change through education. There are 16 different forms of inertia and many can be overcome directly with education. Don't underestimate this.

  • Simon Wardley

🤔 Explanation​

What is Education?​

In essence, education is using truthful information and training to create demand or reduce resistance for a new idea. 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.

Why use Education?​

  • To overcome user or market inertia that blocks adoption of a new product, service, or idea.
  • To build trust and credibility as an authority in the domain.
  • To reduce support costs and improve customer satisfaction by increasing user competence.
  • To shape market perception and create demand for a new category or approach.

How does Education affect the landscape?​

Education can shift user expectations, reduce resistance, and accelerate adoption. It can also inoculate against competitor FUD or, if poorly executed, inadvertently benefit competitors.

🗺️ Real-World Examples​

European banks' online security campaigns​

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.

Renewable energy firm community education (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​

🚦 Education Strategy Self-Assessment Tool

Find out the strategic fit and organisational readiness by marking each statement as Yes/Maybe/No based on your context. Strategy Assessment Guide.

Landscape and Climate

How well does the strategy fit your context?

  • Our map shows user or market inertia as a key blocker to adoption.
  • There are widespread misconceptions or lack of awareness about our solution or its category.
  • Competitors are using FUD or misinformation to slow adoption.
  • Adoption rates are low despite strong product/market fit.
  • Support or onboarding costs are high due to lack of user understanding.

Organisational Readiness (Doctrine)

How capable is your organisation to execute the strategy?

  • We have the capability to produce high-quality, accessible educational content.
  • We can commit to a long-term, sustained education effort.
  • We have channels to reach and engage our target audience effectively.
  • We are able to measure and iterate on educational impact.
  • We can maintain objectivity and credibility in our messaging.

Assessment and Recommendation

Strategic Fit: Weak. Ability to Execute: Weak.

RECOMMENDATION
Consider alternative strategies or address significant gaps before proceeding.

LowHighStrategic FitHighLowAbility to Execute

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.

🎯 Leadership​

Core challenge​

The core challenge for leadership in employing an education strategy is committing to a potentially long-term investment with uncertain or indirect ROI, while ensuring the educational content remains objective, accurate, and genuinely valuable to the audience, rather than devolving into mere product marketing. Leaders must champion the creation of high-quality, accessible information that empowers users or the market, and resist pressures to prematurely measure direct sales impact or overly bias the content.

Key leadership skills required​

  • Patience and long-term vision
  • Commitment to transparency
  • Communication prowess
  • Curriculum development oversight
  • Thought leadership

Ethical considerations​

Education as a strategy must be approached with a strong ethical compass. The primary ethical imperative is to provide accurate, truthful, and comprehensive information. It becomes problematic if "education" is used as a guise for spreading misinformation, FUD about competitors, or subtly manipulating users towards a specific commercial outcome without their full awareness. Transparency about sponsorship or a company's role in educational initiatives is crucial. The goal should be genuine empowerment of the user or market, not indoctrination.

📋 How to Execute​

  1. Identify knowledge gaps or inertia points.
  2. Define learning objectives and target audience.
  3. Develop high-quality, accessible content.
  4. Choose appropriate channels for dissemination.
  5. Measure effectiveness and iterate.

📈 Measuring Success​

  • Adoption rates of new practices/products
  • Changes in customer vocabulary and understanding
  • Quality of customer feedback/leads
  • Reduction in misinformation or FUD
  • Website traffic to educational resources & support ticket reduction

⚠️ Common Pitfalls and Warning Signs​

Preaching without Engagement​

Simply dumping information on users without making it relatable, interactive, or interesting will likely result in low engagement and minimal impact. Content needs to be tailored to how the audience learns.

Slow Impact and Impatience​

Market education is often a long-term play. Expecting immediate results or a direct, short-term ROI can lead to premature abandonment of the strategy. Leadership must be patient.

Loss of Credibility​

If educational content is perceived as overly biased, inaccurate, or merely a veiled sales pitch, it will quickly lose credibility and can damage the organization's reputation. Maintaining objectivity is key.

Educating for Competitors​

Generic industry education, while potentially growing the overall market, might inadvertently benefit competitors equally, especially if your own offerings don't have clear differentiators that the education subtly highlights.

🧠 Strategic Insights​

Education as a strategic play is a powerful tool for shaping markets and user behavior over the long term. By investing in the knowledge and understanding of potential customers or the broader ecosystem, organizations can cultivate higher-quality demand. An educated market is more likely to appreciate nuanced value propositions, make informed decisions, and potentially become more loyal, reducing the need for aggressive sales tactics and lowering support costs as users become more self-sufficient. Furthermore, an educated user base can become a valuable source of feedback and co-creation, driving innovation that is well-aligned with genuine needs.

Education can be wielded both defensively and offensively. Defensively, it can inoculate a market against competitor FUD by providing clear, factual information, or it can reinforce the value of an established ecosystem by highlighting the complexities and risks of switching or adopting piecemeal solutions. Offensively, education can shape new market categories by defining problems users didn't realize they had and positioning a new type of solution as essential. It can also subtly highlight competitor weaknesses by educating the market on criteria where the educating company excels. The interplay between education and trust is critical; consistently providing valuable, objective information builds an organization's reputation as a thought leader and trusted advisor, which is a significant competitive advantage.

The effectiveness of education strategies often varies with market and product evolution. In early stages, education is crucial for explaining the "why" and "what" of a new offering. As a market matures, education might shift towards "how-to" advanced usage, or differentiating based on deeper technical understanding. However, the risk of "educating for competitors" is real if the knowledge imparted is too generic and does not subtly steer towards the unique advantages of the educator's solutions. Therefore, successful education strategies often involve layered content, from broad conceptual knowledge to more specific, solution-oriented information, carefully guiding the audience without overtly selling.

❓ Key Questions to Ask​

  • Primary Goal: What specific inertia, misconception, or lack of awareness are we trying to address with this education initiative?
  • Target Audience & Channels: Who exactly are we trying to educate, and what are the most effective channels and formats to reach and engage them?
  • Content Objectivity: How will we ensure our educational content is perceived as credible and valuable, rather than just marketing material? What is our process for maintaining accuracy?
  • Measuring Impact: What are the key leading and lagging indicators we will use to measure the success of our education strategy, beyond direct sales?
  • Competitive Angle: How does our education strategy differentiate us or address competitive threats? Are we inadvertently educating the market for our competitors?
  • Long-Term Commitment: Are we prepared for the sustained effort and investment required for a successful education strategy, even if tangible results take time to materialize?

🔀 Related Strategies​

⛅ Relevant Climatic Patterns​

📚 Further Reading & References​

Author

Dave Hulbert
Dave Hulbert
Builder and maintainer of Wardley Leadership Strategies