Well, popular Hollywood logic says, “If you are good at something, never do it for free.” But don't just go by that advice without considering the full picture. The online education industry has become highly competitive. Enthusiastic learners see digital learning as a convenient alternative to the traditional classroom model and many are willing to pay a premium to increase their skills. If you are an expert in niche domains, such as block-chain, machine learning, and cybersecurity, you have an opportunity to capitalize on your expertise. Moreover, a training business that caters to remote learners is operationally low-cost and easily scalable.
With this in mind, here are 3 key steps to implementing a successful training business.
The online world is populated by self-proclaimed pundits and gurus of every subject, so much so that professionals seeking answers for business problems have too many choices. To cut across this digital noise and to establish yourself as a thought leader, it is vital to send the right signals to your corporate audience. Conducting paid webinars establishes you as a veteran in business consulting, thus helping separate you from the pack.
After establishing this reputation in the corporate ecosystem, it's imperative for trainers who want to expand their partner base to present the learning community with their training course's value and potential. This way, your global audience and potential customers will trust your organization and the high value attached to your training.
As a trainer and business owner, creating your own unique website and domain name is key to maintaining a strong, unified brand. Using your website to host your online courses creates a digital home base where you can communicate with your virtual classroom and remote learners. Having your own domain name also increases your brand's positioning and reach through search results on top search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Prospective customers will more readily pay for courses from an organization with a professional, established online presence. This custom domain establishes your name in your area of subject expertise, helping you promote your courses and build brand recognition with your global audience. In addition to having a custom domain, a professional email address from your business domain boosts the credibility and impact of your training organization. This leads to more people paying attention to your training emails, trusting your business, and reacting faster to the emails you send.
In our increasingly competitive market, professional trainers need to differentiate themselves if they are to succeed. One way to do this is to focus on innovation and deliver an ideal learning experience. By developing a renowned certificate program providing learners with a specialized skill set for a particular industry, both trainees and future prospects will recognize the trainer's leadership in that field. This can help with long-term growth, revenue generation, and even marketing and branding.
The WorkHuman Research Institute’s study on ROI of achievement recognition found that 82% of employees are more engaged, and 79% involve themselves more when they receive regular recognition for their work. Certification is a convenient, tangible form of achievement recognition in digital learning which can motivate and reward people for the initiative they take to learn new skills. By incorporating certificates into your digital learning course, you’ll make learners feel their training is important and their efforts are appreciated. The motivational benefits of certification will help learners keep track of their own progress and development goals.
There are many ways to begin generating a steady flow of revenue from your training courses, such as adding tickets to your trainings and webinars, customizing your eCommerce by running promotions, and setting up a refund policy. Better still, you can also award certificates to people who attend your trainings under your own domain.
With the right branding activities, achievement recognition, and leadership expertise in your subject matter, you can start monetizing all your trainings and expanding your professional training business today!
Originally published at www.zoho.com.
