E-learning has ceased to be something innovative long time ago. There is probably not a single person who is not directly or indirectly familiar with it.
Today, you can find a huge number of training courses in any direction on the Internet. E-learning has become so popular that some people even prefer this method of education and refuse to go to universities. Scientists suggest that in a few decades, e-learning will completely replace higher education institutions and become the main way to get education.
So it is not surprising that people are creating more and more of their own educational programs and opening whole e-schools.
In this regard, a very important question arose on the agenda: how to effectively distribute and sell these e-courses?
Working in a highly competitive market forces entrepreneurs to introduce new tools for interacting with the target audience for the purpose of selling into their marketing strategy. And direct marketing has become that strategy.
What is direct marketing and how it works with e-learning – we will try to explain in this article.
What is Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is a direct personal communication of market participants, the purpose of which is the object of marketing. It is one of the main means of marketing communications.
Direct marketing has this name because it does not use intermediaries for communication and assumes feedback from the consumer.
This is a marketing tool where the seller communicates with the target audience by directly addressing each representative of the target audience personally.
Direct marketing tasks:
- filtering communication subjects from a large target group
- lead generation;
- conversion of communication subjects to clients;
- acquisition of new clients;
- retention of clients and further development of relations with them;
- forming the necessary opinion and decision.
A special feature of direct marketing is the personal selection of potential buyers to establish direct two-way communication with them, as well as regular maintenance of individual relationships with this buyer.
The main tool of direct marketing is an organized and constantly updated database of consumers of educational services. Educational institutions use these databases to identify potential consumers of their services, select a group from the total number of consumers a specific offer can be sent to, increase customer loyalty, and promote sales of educational services and products. With complete information about the characteristics and preferences of the consumer, manufacturers can make a special personal appeal to the buyer, who otherwise will remain indifferent to advertising.
What is Good About Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is perfect to use in case the personal value of the subject of communication is high. When as a result of direct communication, it is likely to get a new buyer. The cost of direct communication, in this case, is significantly lower than the benefit from selling the marketing object to this buyer. E-learning is one of these market segments.
Direct marketing is an indispensable tool for spreading e-learning for a variety of reasons.
First of all, direct marketing speeds up the process of attracting potential customers. Direct marketing campaigns allow manufacturers to quickly connect with their target audience and make the right offer at the right time.
Secondly, direct marketing contributes to the effective promotion of services and products. Unlike other strategies, direct marketing allows manufacturers to create targeted campaigns to attract only interested leads. This is really effective, given the fact that the owners of electronic schools know their buyers exactly. This ensures maximum efficiency when sending promotional mailings to a segmented audience.
Third, it allows to send personalized content. Marketers collect information such as age, income, and behavioral factors to send personalized messages. Thus, with minimal effort, brands show interest in each client. In that way, they win their trust and stimulate the desire to purchase their product.
And the last but not the least, it is easy to evaluate performance. Brands track the success of campaigns based on indicators such as the number of customers who responded to ads and the revenue generated. In addition, direct marketing lets you know how many customers are willing to spend on certain products or services.
Direct Marketing Types
- Personal sales – direct interaction with one or more potential consumers of e-learning services in order to organize presentations, answer questions, and conclude training contracts;
- Direct mail advertising is an advertising message for one type of e-learning service distributed by mail can be simple (a letter on one page) or complex (a package consisting of a multi-page letter, a brochure, additional advertising leaflets, etc.);
- Telephone marketing – to make personal contact with a potential consumer of e-learning services, electronic schools use phone calls. In this case, both incoming and outgoing calls are used. In incoming calls, a potential customer may ask for a more detailed description of the product and service, and in outgoing calls, the product is advertised.
- Trial lessons are also a great way to promote e-learning due to their visibility. A potential customer not only gets a beautiful fairy tale about the product, but also can independently verify its quality and convenience. Such free trial lessons give a potential client time to think and compare the services with other e-learning services, so, first of all, it is necessary that the lessons are of high quality, interesting, illustrative and memorable.
- Unique offers-discounts, coupons, promotions, etc. These tools will also serve as a great way to attract customers. After noticing such offers, a potential buyer is unlikely to refuse to buy. After all, everyone loves profit.
Of course, these methods work best together. However, we can also use them separately.
Advantages of DM
Earlier in the text, we have repeatedly said that direct marketing is the best tool for promoting e-learning. Now it’s time to tell you why this type of marketing in this case is simply irreplaceable.
- Direct marketing allows you to build long-term relationships with the client. Due to the fact that this method allows to identify the needs of each individual client, they become not one-time, but regular customers. Accordingly, the same customer will use the services of a particular e-learning company more often.
- Due to the fact that communication with the client is direct, you can adjust a particular service or product, taking into account customer complaints and suggestions. In addition to the fact that this will probably improve the company’s e-learning service, it will also let the client know that their wishes are being listened to. This means that they will stay with the company longer.
- This marketing strategy is suitable for promoting any type of e-learning (and not only e-learning).
- Relatively low costs. This is achieved due to the fact that the ad aims at an already interested person.
Hopefully now we have finally managed to convince you that direct marketing is the best assistant in promoting e-learning. Due to its unique advantages, this type of marketing has become one of the most popular in the field of e-learning advertising. That’s undoubtedly not the only way to promote e-learning, but, as experience has shown, it is the most effective. Therefore, using it in addition to other advertising methods, you will definitely succeed in engaging new customers.
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