Generate more training course bookings by nailing your marketing message

Training providers can secure more sign ups for their courses at higher profit levels by implementing these key marketing tips

Training provision is a competitive market – especially on accredited courses, where a lot of companies offer the course because there’s such an obvious commercial need for the training.

Plus, with online courses continuing to grow in popularity, competition isn’t confined to just your local area.

So it can be very easy to get sucked into a race to the bottom on price – there’s always another company which will offer the course cheaper!

In order to sell more at higher prices, and really become a businesses’ ‘go to’ training partner, you need to get three key messages across in your marketing.

Know the target market for your training course

As with any industry, knowing your ideal client inside out is key to nailing your marketing message.

If you’re not sure about how to come up with this, a good way is through ‘personas’.

Look at your past clients, and see if they can be grouped into different business types/training requirements.

For example, you might recognise that you do well providing asbestos safety training to roofing companies. So a HR director/Health and Safety officer at a roofing company could be a target client for you.

By knowing what role your ideal client has, and at what sort of company, means you can decide how to market your courses (e.g. email campaign, social media, printed adverts); and what kind of messaging to go for depending on the common pain points for them.

Focus on the transformation the training course provides

There’s always going to be customers whose key priority is price. You’re likely very familiar with this website enquiry: “Hey, how much for X course for Y number of participants?”

Unless you’re trying to be the cheapest, these customers aren’t your target market.

So for other customer bases, you need to get across the transformation that working with you provides.

You’re not just selling a training course.

You’re selling better work practices, through staff working safer and more efficiently.

You’re selling opportunities for growth for their members of staff; making it less likely they leave the company because their roles have stagnated.

You’re selling peace of mind that if the worst were to happen on site, there are employees who are well-trained to deal with it (which is also important from a legal point of view).

Businesses can buy a training course from anywhere. So instead sell them the transformation, the end goal.

Hammer your USP

What’s your USP? Amazing customer service? A series of courses no-one else offers? Phenomenal trainers/resources?

When you’re selling to businesses who are more concerned by the transformation offered than the price, it gives you an incredible opportunity to hammer home the reason they should work with you, rather than any other training provider.

This really ties into the transformation you offer. If your transformation is improved staff engagement and better work practices, you could talk about how all of your trainers have recent industry experience and can tailor the courses to make them bespoke and relatable.

How to find businesses who aren’t just focussed on price

Now if you’ve really nailed your messaging on your website, you might get leads who get in touch with you who have already bought into the service you offer.

However, a big part of your sales should be proactive outreach, and a great way of doing this initially is through direct marketing, so cold emails or cold calls. 

Find a business that fits your ideal client mould, find the person in the business who’ll be responsible for booking training, and get in touch with them.

At this point you’re just looking to start a conversation, so open with something like: “hey, we’re X company and we specialise in doing Y. A lot of people we work with have Z problem, would love to have a chat with you to see how you’re finding that.”

This kind of direct marketing can be topped up with a LinkedIn presence; connect with the people you’re talking to in your emails, so they can see your day to day posts and insights.

And then finally, once you’ve delivered on a few projects for your ideal clients, if you’ve done a good job then you’ll start to get word of mouth referrals from them into similar organisations.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

But it all comes down to the marketing message: if you nail that, and share the message in the correct places, then you’ll start to attract better clients.

Need some help working on your messaging, or producing marketing materials like case study videos? Get in touch for a free 30 minute video marketing review.