It is believed that the training industry is going through a boom, yet if you are a trainer you may have already experienced that starting your own program and a sustainable career in training is not really everyone’s cup of tea. There are many challenges involved before one actually starts generating profits. To set up an established practice many take some months or a year and in most cases maybe even more.
Marketing for Trainers
Whether you are taking your first steps in this field or you are already an established trainer you will find these tips to promote your work useful.
- Organize awareness programs:
It is a good idea to conduct awareness talks so that people understand the importance of your field and actually get to know you. You can always start with your society, schools in your area or any other place of your choice. To begin with, the talk could be free of cost and later if you like a minimal rate could be charged.
- Authoring:
Share your expert opinion with readers of local publications. Magazines and newspapers welcome professionals to educate their readers about various topics of interest. You may even pitch the kinds of things you train people for. Sooner or later, you should aim to publish a book on topic related to your areas of training.
- Join varied social media and online groups of trainers
This adds on to your visibility and gives you referral work through other trainer belonging to different areas. Some maybe paid some are free. However both are helpful, the search engines serve the purpose of giving your clinic information to probable clients. You should look at using google adwords and ads on other social media specially facebook and linkedin for greater visibility. Though when it comes to linkedin, we recommend joining relevant groups and becoming active on the same. This is the single biggest factor to help you establish credibility as a trainer. Connect with your participants on linkedin and ask them to recommend you for your skills as a trainer.It is a good idea to join initiatives that are created for promoting trainers. One such initiative that we can recommend is the International Trainer’s conclave.
- Advertisements in papers and magazines
This option is generally more expensive and may not be financially feasible to all. That said even in this digital age, print ads specially in form of published articles is a very effective way of establishing credibility and promoting your work. You would need excellent deals or well crafted articles to get best out of this media.
- Write blogs and educative articles
Blogs and educative articles revolving around your specialty or just mental health in general can create a lot of buzz. Enroll & register on sites which let you post blogs & give you opportunities to interact with others. Share your blogs on social networking sites as well. Writing blogs and articles could in the beginning may make you overwhelmed but becomes a lot more easier with time.If you are not sure of topics for writing an article, begin by reading articles by others in your industry. This will help you in finding topics for your articles. You can also begin your journey as a blogger by posting articles on why you agree or disagree with other articles that you have read.
- Create a website for yourself
You don’t need to be tech savvy or have a great financial backing anymore. A personalized website is a few clicks away. There are many free sources which help you create your own customized website in a matter of few minutes. Post your blogs on your website and connect it to your social network. Use google analytics to monitor the viewing patterns of your visitors. Find the posts that are most visited and see how you could post more on related topics.
- Add company / program info as footer to in email correspondence
Emails are the most common mode of communication that we use. You add visibility and create awareness about your programs, add a custom footer which gets automatically added to all emails sent by you. Since many of us are using mobile phones to reply to emails, footer should be added to the email application on mobile phones as well.
- Volunteer in NGOs and other organisations
Many institutes and NGOs need volunteers on and off. You can always offer your services to them for free. This will add on to your experience and confidence in dealing with people. At the same time details about these programs can be posted on your website and social networks to create goodwill & visibility which would lead to getting more clientele.
- Keep a stack of visiting cards
Make it a habit to carry a stack of visiting cards having your name, contact details and training specialty. Many people even add the names of training programs they conduct on their cards. However, keep the visiting cards simple and concise. As when you meet people, pass one on. Let people have your details, let them know your nature of work. This will bring you more business.
- Be willing to do everything and yet learn to delegate what you can
For a new trainer, this by far is the most important and yet confusing suggestion. If you do not have a team, it is important to do all that needs to be done, be it content designing or organizing, promoting, conducting & following up for a program. You can’t keep waiting for others to do this for you. You may just want to focus on conducting programs but remember you can’t conduct one for too long without focusing on the other areas.That said be on a lookout to see how you can delegate some work. Hiring people, outsourcing to an agency or using automated software’s can come in handy. Only because you can do everything doesn’t mean you have to do it in the long run. Once you have the resources to delegate or outsource work, do it so that you can focus more on revenue generation activity.
All the points mentioned above are general guidelines to promote your programs. Some may work for you and some may not. Pick up those which suit your need and are doable. Marketing a product (in this case your workshops) is undoubtedly an acquired skill; yet not as difficult as it seems.
You can also develop advanced coaching competencies and create an additional avenue for generating clients and income.
