Just like any other product, training courses require compelling marketing in order to reach their key audience and accomplish their intended purpose. It can be difficult to convince people to take time out of their day to participate in a training course, especially if it isn’t mandatory and/or free. Here are our top 3 tips on how to effectively market your online training courses to reach your target audience.
Identify your target audience
Before you actually create the marketing content for your training course, it’s important to figure out who you would like the message to reach. Identify the demographics first, or the relevant physical characteristics that define your typical learners, such their as geographic location, socio-economic status (if your training course has a charge), or age.
It’s also helpful to think of psychographics, or the psychological characteristics of the target audience. What is their background knowledge of your product? Why would they want to take this training? All of these considerations can determine the best strategies and incentives to attract your inteded audience to your training course.
Emphasize why your training will benefit them
This point is pretty simple; if users do not perceive value in your training, they won’t want to spend time or money to participate in it. One great way to get people to see how beneficial your training is is through testimonials. Ask some of your current and previous learners to write endorsements for the course and share how it helped them. Then you can use their quotes in your marketing materials. Just like with any other online purchase, people are much more likely to buy (or download, sign up, etc.) after reading the reviews.
Create more than one encounter with your marketing
Utilize as many channels as you can to get your marketing content out there. One free and easy trick is to use your company’s social media pages to promote the course. Additionally, paying to create and promote a few Facebook and Twitter ads will prove beneficial because even people who do not follow your company’s page will be able to see them. Be aware of all of your advertising options (online, tv, radio, email, social media, etc.) and research which channels are the most effective ways to reach the audience you’re trying to market to. If a user receives a marketing email about your training, they will most likely ignore it and forget about it. But if the next morning they see an ad on Facebook for it as well, the message is more likely to stick. Having multiple opportunities to leave an impression with an audience member makes them more likely to take action. That’s why multiple marketing mediums are necessary to ensure message retention.
Have any other ideas for marketing your training courses? Tell us in the comments!
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