How An Extended Enterprise Can Turn Your Online Training Course Into A Revenue Stream
The world is moving online. Chances are, your organization already uses a Learning Management System to train in-house employees or members. However, you can also use an Extended Enterprise solution with strong distribution technology to increase your profits. Here are 5 tips to transform your online training courses into a revenue stream with Extended Enterprise Distribution Technology.
1. Improve External Partner and Organizational Performance
Improving external sales channel performance is a more indirect way of generating revenue with your online training course. External partners, resellers, affiliates and other distributors can purchase your course in bulk or promote your products and services to their audiences. This translates into more audiences, more revenue, and an extension of your brand.
2. Offer Advanced eCommerce Features
Many LMS solutions have eCommerce features, but an extended enterprise with distribution technology can offer more advanced eCommerce. For example, you can allow organizations to easily purchase courses in bulk and distribute courses to their learners. Or, you can provide tools that let partners, resellers and other distributors order your courses on demand. Advanced eCommerce should come with reporting dashboards and engines to track sales by individuals, organizations, channel partners, as well as sales by each eLearning course.
3. Firm Up Your Sales And Marketing Backbone
Often, an extended enterprise LMS refers only to technology or platforms, but if an LMS was the catalyst for revenue, organizations would be rolling in the dough as soon as they published an online course catalog. Extended enterprise distribution technology is a powerful engine that is driven by sales and marketing efforts focused on building awareness and demand for courses. If you don’t have the expertise internally, look to eLearning sales and marketing experts who can provide both technology and eLearning growth services.
4. Turn Existing Training Content Into Revenue Generators
You may already have online training materials that you can sell for profit. For example, a webinar you recorded last year becomes an online training course series. Break a recorded live event into sections, add media, and create a companion course guide. Or, turn your live event training into a blended learning model where you offer up online course material as a precursor to an in-person skills or learning session.
5. Business Analytics Is A Must
Business analytics enable your organization to evaluate trends and make informed decisions, so you can leverage your eLearning content to drive increased revenue. There are two essential ingredients: real-time access to data and a streamlined, accessible and customizable dashboard that centralizes critical information.
For example, business analytics may show your organization that eLearning traffic is heavier in Q1 versus Q4. Or, perhaps data indicates that eLearning sales were higher last year. Armed with this information, you can make knowledgeable decisions about which content to roll out and when and where you need to focus more marketing efforts.
On the learning analytics side, you can see the completion rates for your courses and the amount of time spent on each one. Your data might indicate that learners spend more time on the video portions of your course than those sections that are text-heavy. Consequently, as you develop new courses, you may want to include more video and fewer text-only sections. Or perhaps you find there is a question that has a level of difficulty that is too high. Analytics can help you identify where you need to refine the content. In short, analytics can take the guess work out of quality improvement.
Extended Enterprise is more than the LMS. With distribution technology and services, you can turn your online training materials into a steady source of profit. Take advantage of what extended enterprise specialists have to offer.
