I'm continuing my series of articles to take a closer look at WAV Group's excellent whitepaper about Edutizing. (You can read the whitepaper here.) Today, I'll be sharing the steps you need to take to launch an edutizing campaign. Ready? Okay, buckle your seatbelts and let's get started.

Step 1: Identify your unique position in the market and stick to it!

What do you do best? Is there a specific type of property that you focus on? Are you the go-to agent for a specific neighborhood? WAV Group recommends defining your unique position in the marketplace by completing this formula:

For [target audience], [your company name] is the only brokerage that [key benefit].

Step 2: Focus on the marketing tools that your specific audience will appreciate.

Know your audience! Not everyone is alike. If you're the neighborhood expert for a community that consists primarily of retirees, you're going to want to pursue a different campaign than someone who focuses primarily on families with young children.

As WAV Group says in their whitepaper, "If you work with younger first-time home buyers, your communication tools will need to be more focused online with social networking. If you work with an older, more traditional audience, newsletters, postcards and radio ads might work better."

Step 3: Provide valuable information to your audience.

I said it in the last article of this series. I've said it a thousand times actually. If you don't provide value, people will stop listening. After all, people are inherently selfish. There's nothing wrong with this; it's necessary for the continuation of the species – and it also gives you a very clear direction for your marketing. You need to create communications that answer one simple question: "What's in it for me?"

Terradatum explains this concept beautifully in their article about "Edutainment." They say, "Sending a Just Listed eFlyer to a recent buyer client isn't either educational or entertaining for them. Neither are customized sports team fridge schedules, agent calendars, recipe post cards, or QR codes on digital eCards. 'What's wrong with those examples?' you may ask. Well, the biggest problem is quite simple: they aren't taking the recipient into consideration. If your marketing materials don't provide value to consumers – in the form of entertainment, education, or both – they are not going to pay attention."

As a matter of fact, their Market Videos are an excellent example of edutizing. They fit all the criteria:

• They are in an entertaining format.
• They provide information that is valuable to everyone – whether or not they'll be engaging in a real estate transaction in the next year. Market information is one of the most appealing types of content for homeowners.
• They target today's consumer – someone interested in data and eager for the video format.

You can use the bullet points above as essentially a checklist for any marketing materials you create. If it doesn't fit the bill, you might want to rethink it.

Step 4: Allow your audience to become brand ambassadors.

You content should be shareable! Social media is one way that your audience can share your content – so feature buttons for social sharing prominently on everything you create.

Step 5: Deliver great service!

Obviously, all your marketing efforts are for naught if you don't follow up on your promises. You promise excellent service, and that's what you need to deliver.