How To Leverage Training As A Marketing Tool
While most companies focus on promoting their products or services, integrating training into a marketing and sales strategy is a real opportunity to stand out from the rest of the competition by offering unique added value.
By offering training and sharing useful knowledge, the company positions itself as an essential expert in the market. This position will strengthen the trust of customers and prospects in the brand and increase customer loyalty and retention. It therefore allows each company to strengthen its authority and assert its expertise with its target.
Why Training Needs To Be Part Of Your Marketing Strategy
By nature, training significantly increases the engagement of prospects and customers: educational content generates stronger interactions than "classic" communications. People become more engaged when they learn something new, especially after they have taken the step of registering and participating in the training. This connection with the brand translates into more frequent points of contact.
Finally, taking the form of webinars or physical workshops, training often attracts hot prospects, who are already interested in your area of expertise, increasing the chances of conversion. Unlike other communication channels, the results are often more easily quantifiable because the list of participants and registrants is normally downloadable.
To sum up, training therefore presents significant advantages in terms of business development:
- Strengthening authority and expertise
- Increased commitment
- Competitive differentiation
- Acquisition of qualified leads
However, before launching a training strategy, it is crucial to understand the needs and challenges of the target audience. What problems are they trying to solve? What skills would they like to develop? The topics must be directly related to the company's products/services while providing clear added value to users.
Choosing The Appropriate Training Format
Depending on the audience, the target, and of course, the company's resources, training can take several forms.
1. The Face-To-Face Format
Face-to-face training during which prospects or customers travel for one day or more is an interesting format but quite complex in terms of organization and costly to set up. This format involves having a suitable location, planning meals and snacks, perhaps accommodation, transport, and paying the trainer(s).
It is therefore quite difficult to offer free face-to-face training—unless you reserve it for VIP clients! In this case, the training must be considered as a real event that must mark the minds of the participants. That is to say in a special place, with quality meals, possibly evening entertainment to make VIP clients feel special. The experience surrounding the training will thus be just as important as the content of the training and will significantly enhance the brand image.
2. The Webinar
The webinar is a particularly interesting tool, suitable for companies wishing to reach a broad target at a lower cost. By relying on specialized solutions, a webinar is relatively simple to set up and allows for direct interactions with participants by answering the various questions asked throughout the event. Normally quite short (30 minutes to 1 hour), webinars are more accessible since everyone can attend the event, from the office or at home.
Webinars can be used as powerful commercial prospecting tools because they allow you to address in-depth topics while highlighting the services or products marketed by a company. They thus promote the company's expertise and develop its reputation while generating potential leads that can be exploited by the sales (SQL) and marketing (MQL) teams.
Webinars can also be used with people who are already customers to, for example, provide best practices or explain how a product or certain features work. In this case, the webinar makes it possible to increase customer satisfaction and effectively fight against churn.
But for companies that really want to stand out from the competition, it is possible to combine webinars and assessments to create truly unique learning experiences!
3. eLearning Training Courses
The creation of eLearning modules is an often costly and time-consuming task. However, this digital training format can be a real vector of growth for a company. A company that has real expertise can offer digitized training courses based on eLearning courses, quizzes, and assessments. These free or paid training courses can even lead to the delivery of a diploma or certification that can be used in professional life.
eLearning modules can be used in two cases, which are integrated into a marketing and sales approach:
- To develop its notoriety by offering content with high added value. Prospects who acquire new knowledge, thanks to the company's eLearning training courses, will have a positive image of the brand.
- To educate customers on products/services and ensure customer satisfaction.
To set up and deliver eLearning modules to prospects and customers, it is essential to rely on powerful and reliable digital learning tools to offer seamless experiences.
4. Other Possible Formats
Other possibilities, less expensive and more easily implemented, can also be used. Here are some popular options:
- Articles, eBooks, and white papers
Being static, these formats are ideal for in-depth content or practical guides. - Tutorial videos
They allow information to be transmitted quickly and are very popular, especially for product demonstrations or tips. In BtoC, for example, DIY brands use tutorial videos to develop their notoriety and acquire customers. - Podcasts and interviews
The audio format allows you to share thoughts, discussions, or case studies with industry experts.
Final Words
Integrating training into a marketing strategy is an excellent way to provide value to your audience while strengthening your position in the market. By sharing knowledge and helping customers develop their skills, each company goes beyond just selling products and becomes an essential resource and reference.
The key lies in creating suitable content, in an appropriate format, and in effective promotion to reach the right audiences. The future of marketing lies in knowledge sharing, and companies that know how to capitalize on this aspect will have a head start. Will you seize this opportunity to increase growth in your business?
First published on elearningindustry.com.