Training Course Marketing: 3 Ways to Increase Bookings

A successful training course marketing strategy is the key to letting your target market know why they should be getting the qualifications from you, and maximising the bookings and registrations you need to fill every space on every course you run.

After all, you may have the most amazing selection of courses, at amazing venues and delivered by established trainers and experts in their field. But if you’re not showcasing them well enough, then it may be that your target audience is not just unaware of their quality, but of their very existence.

So, what can you do to bring your courses out from under the bushel and encourage more registrations and let more people discover your value-adding training?

Content Marketing & Blogs

Consider a regular flow of industry specific content and blogs as an integral part of your course marketing. Blogging and similar content that appears on your website can help your business, your marketing strategy and, ultimately, your sales.

  1. It helps your search engine optimisation (SEO) – Fresh, new and relevant content, such as blogs and articles are a proven method of increasing your ranking in the search engines, providing new avenues for your clients to find you online.
  2. It boosts your reputation as an industry leader and expert – Providing valuable, industry-specific information in your blogs demonstrates that you have your finger on the pulse of your sector and can be an effective way to cement your reputation as a trusted leader and voice of authority.
  3. Broadens the reach of your brand – Well-written, informative and engaging blogs have the potential to reach far and wide once released into the digital wild. They have a tendency to be found lurking in searches that you hadn’t factored upon, or to be shared across social and digital platforms.
  4. It increases sales – Good content writing increases sales and new bookings. Whether through engaging with regular customers to encourage repeat bookings or increasing inbound opportunities, 4 out of 5 companies that use regular blogging in their strategy have acquired new customers as a result [SOURCE: me].

Being Active on the Right Social Media Platforms

It should almost go without saying that your business needs to have a presence on social media. The question, however, is making sure that you have the right presence on the right platform for your business.

For marketing training courses, consider the content sharing and community building potential of Facebook and LinkedIn.

Both platforms allow you to create company pages to help increase your online brand awareness, and to build a following with whom you can share all that amazing content and blogs that you’re publishing on your website.

They’re also excellent platforms to further enhance your reputation as industry leaders and training specialists. A place to engage with clients, get involved with industry-related discussion and directly promote your courses.

Indeed, while the emphasis on social medial marketing should remain on the social side, when you have established a community and reputation on the platforms, if you have an online booking system where each course has its own URL, then direct linking from your social page can create a smooth, user-friendly booking journey for those ready to sign-up.

The Continuing Power of Email Marketing

Related to the quality of your content and the establishment of your reputation as a training provider, building a list of email contacts remains a hugely powerful way to engage and generate bookings onto your upcoming courses.

It’s a way of maintain a personal connection with previous attendees, retaining contact with them and ensuring your brand, business and training courses remain visible.

With the right booking system and training management software, email marketing and engagement can be effectively applied without it becoming unduly time-consuming, utilising tools such as:

  • Automated confirmation and reminder emails – While these are practical tools that help you save time in your admin, don’t underestimate the power of automated confirmations and reminders when it comes to the customer experience. Keepin the customer informed and updated before and AFTER the training course will go a long way towards encouraging them to use you again in the future.
  • Adhoc Messaging – Booking and training management platforms such as thinkBooker will have tools to help you send out messages to cohorts or individuals for a range of reasons from simple informational purposes (e.g. a change to a course) to a direct opportunity to promote related products and courses.
  • Feedback & Surveys – Does your booking system provide the ability to send out feedback requests or post-course surveys? Again, these are powerful tools for continuing engagement with your clients to demonstrate you’re taking their opinions into account and constantly improving and finessing your training offering.
  • Integrating with your CRM and Digital Marketing Platforms – Your booking system should be the most powerful source of data collection in your organisation. This is where meaningful contact and transactions are occurring. Where customer profiles and learner’s course histories are gathered. This is the gold dust data when it comes to future marketing and personalisation. If your system is therefore able to seamlessly integrate with your CRM or an e-marketing tool (such as MailChimp or Dot Digital) then you can simplify the way you target content and courses to the right people at the right time. Increasing the chances of filling your spaces.

Naturally, your list needs to comply with GDPR and similar data protection laws, and it’s imperative that you have the consent of the subscriber and an easy process to unsubscribe.

Conclusion

Promoting your training courses and driving clients new and old to take up placements can be a constant challenge when the competition for spaces is fierce. It can also be a time-consuming business in amongst the plethora of other tasks that you need to do in your daily work.

Which is why it’s so important to have a well-thought through course marketing strategy, based on quality content, social sharing, engagement with your customer-base, and building your brand and reputation across all channels.

However, to successfully and efficiently manage this strategy, you need the right tools in place. A booking system and training management software that makes it easy for customers to search, find and register onto courses, while providing the tools for communication, feedback and future engagement.  A training course marketing strategy built on quality content and simplified processes, nurturing your brand, showcasing your courses and delivering on customer experience.

At thinkBooker, we specialise in online booking systems for training courses, classes, activities and events – optimised for efficiency, growth and ongoing client satisfaction.

Browse the site to learn more about course booking systems, sports booking systems, event booking systems and more, or get in touch directly to find out how we can help you.

Share the Post:

Related Posts

Find out more?

We promise we don’t send spam