subject: Putting The Four Learning Styles To Work - Part Two by:Neil Asher [print this page] Psychologist David Kolb's research at Harvard University enabled him to identify the four learning styles: Why? What? How? and What If? These are important to you in information marketing because, if you don't address all four, you may be losing the attention of a large percentage of your prospects and customers.
The third style Kolb identified was the How learning style. It asks the question, "How do I do it?" The way that how-learners take in knowledge is by learning action steps.
How-learners appreciate step-by-step systems. They learn by seeing the steps and then practicing them. That's how they actually learn. That's how they figure out the what and the what if of things. How-learners will tolerate the why and the what information that you show them, as long as they believe you're going to get the how. So, that's important. You've got to promise that you're going to show them the how, too.
In my previous article, I talked about the why learning style. I mentioned how I had crafted the opening paragraphs to capture the attention of why-learners, by telling they were missing the boat and that's why they needed to know about the four learning styles.
Specifically what I wrote was, "you can see why it's important to know these four styles and how to apply them to your information marketing." There you see how I set up an expectation for the how-learners, while addressing the needs of the why-learners. That's how to use these styles in a real application. (And now the how-learners are breathing a sign of relief, because I came through on my promise to deliver specifics. Whew!)
You need to keep in mind that the how-learners are waiting. They're always waiting until they get their how-to action steps. So make a promise to show them how to do whatever your information product is teaching, and they'll keep paying attention. Just be sure to deliver, too.
Then finally, the last learning style is what if. The what-if-learners want to know the consequences of action. They are always asking, "What if I went and implemented this right now." They're action oriented.
What-if-learners don't really care too much about the why, the what, and the how, although they do need to learn those things, too. Mainly, they just want the piece that they can put into action. They're always putting puzzles together. They're the entrepreneurs of the world. They want to see how something works and get feedback, so that they can go out and make it happen in the real world.
For these what-if types, you have to give them the action steps. Answer their question, "Now that I've learned the why, the what, and the how, what can I go do right now?" Provide them with prescriptions. Give them an action plan to set into motion. It's for their benefit, at the end of any information product or seminar on information marketing, that I always wrap up by saying, "Now get out there, and do this immediately!"
So, now you've got the formula: why, what, how, and what if. What's next?
Well, suppose you were going to offer an e-book called "Make Money Online." Now you can easily think of four ways to promote it to the different learning styles.
"Why some people make money online, while others fail."
"What you need to know to make money online."
"How to make money online in three easy steps."
"What if you could make money online today without spending a dime?"
See how each one appeals to a different learning style? Which one is yours? And what are you going to do, now that you've got this information? Why get out there and use it immediately, of course!
About the author
Neil Asher (http://www.neilasher.com/freestuff.htm) has built five multi-million dollar companies from zero, including one he took to $8 million in sales in under two years. He has created and sold successful franchises in England, Italy, Ireland, Australia and South Africa. Visit his web site for access to 17 FREE videos, 6 FREE books and two hours of audio training, revealing "How To Make BIG Money Selling Information Products On The InternetEven If You Don't Have A Website And You've Never Sold Anything On The Internet Before."
