Strategically launching your new eLearning course may be as important as building the course itself. After all, what use is that shiny new course if nobody enrolls in it? A well-planned course launch can improve student engagement and motivation. A report by EdTechXGlobal found that students who are provided with clear expectations, structure, and support at the start of an eLearning course are more likely to remain motivated and engaged throughout the course.

A successful launch can also increase the overall effectiveness of an e-learning course. According to a study by the University of California, Riverside, courses that are well-designed and effectively launched are more likely to achieve the desired learning outcomes and produce better student performance.

Think of an eLearning launch as a way to generate the buzz and excitement that is important to the success of your course by attracting learners and establishing your course as a credible and valuable offering for your corporate learners.

A successful course launch can and will be the determining factor between good visibility and reach and poor reception.

Amazon Technical Academy is an upskilling initiative launched by Amazon with the intention of creating more technically sound employees. The idea is to build technical skills in their existing workforce which can aid employees to advance in their careers not only within the company but in external job markets as well. Amazon Technical Academy was launched as an internal training program to upskill about 100,000 employees by 2025.

First and foremost, Amazon went into building the training program with all its heart and soul. It wasn’t hindered by the thought of losing employees once it had successfully trained them. Rather, Amazon was more focused on the benefits that their completely trained and retained workforce would present.

Amazon successfully interested its employees by building value into its course program and then it took a set of well-thought strategical decisions.

Here’s what they did.

• Tied up with training partners across the US
  Amazon understood that training its employees on a whole range of technical topics won’t be easy, especially when the workforce is so geographically dispersed. The company also understood that building specific training in anticipation of learners enrolling is a huge risk without first assessing learner needs. As a result, they offered to pay full tuition charges for employees who enrolled with any one of Amazon’s selected training partners across the country.
• Offered limitless training opportunities by paying upfront for training costs
  Amazon never set a cap on how much one employee could learn. The ability to learn and build skills was limitless for every employee qualifying under this training program and amazon made this clear before the program was launched. The icing on this cake was Amazon’s promise to pay upfront training costs instead of compensating learners after course completion.

  Once Amazon made its intentions clear, it was time to inform employees about the launch of the training program and it’s more than likely that Amazon went about doing this as normally as anybody would. However, the Value and Proposition it was offering its employees to learn and build their skills were so tempting that they never needed any crafty marketing tactics to collect pre-enrollments. Employees just did it anyways.

Value and proposition are considered two of the best marketing tactics because they address two of the most important concerns for potential customers – what’s in it for them and what sets the product or service apart from others.

1. Value
   Marketing based on value focuses on highlighting the benefits and features that a product or service provides to the customer. In Amazon’s case, the biggest value that learners in the training program received were their ability to become ‘technical’ skill holders. A skill that is only increasing in demand with time.
2. Proposition
   Marketing based on proposition focuses on differentiating your product or service from others in the market. In Amazon’s case, the proposition was to learn as much as one wanted without any cap holding learners back.

When these two promotional tactics are combined, they provide a comprehensive and compelling case for why a course is worth enrolling in.

1. Not creating a clear value proposition
   It’s important to articulate the benefits and value of the training course to potential participants. A clear value proposition can help differentiate the course from others and make it more appealing to potential participants.
2. Failing to use a multi-channel approach
   Relying solely on one marketing channel can limit the reach of the training course promotion. It’s important to use a multi-channel approach, such as email, social media, and advertising, to reach your audience.

Both value proposition and marketing techniques are important for a successful course launch, but the relative importance may depend on the specific situation.

A clear and compelling value proposition is crucial because it establishes the unique value that your course offers to its target audience and why they should invest their time and resources in it. If your value proposition is weak, people are unlikely to engage with your course, even if you have excellent marketing techniques.

On the other hand, marketing techniques are crucial for spreading the word about your course and reaching your target audience. If you have a strong value proposition but poor marketing techniques, you may not be able to effectively communicate the value of your course to your target audience and attract enough students to make your launch successful.

We are an eLearning development and technology company with a focus on designing and building custom eLearning products used by global businesses as training and upskilling solutions for employees.

We are one of several companies in the eLearning and training technology market, but we have been in operation since 2007 making us one of the first and oldest eLearning development companies.

Our customers know us for our innovative approach to corporate training and development and also for our incredible expertise in eLearning design and development.

To Launch New eLearning Courses, you need a combination of great looking eLearning and smart marketing techniques, we can help you with both!

Contact us for you eLearning development needs at contact@enyotalearning.com or click on this link to fill a callback form.

We also offer a cloud-based platform – Abara LMS which excels at creating and delivering interactive learning content, and also comes with tools for tracking and reporting on employee training and development.

Abara LMS is designed to be user-friendly and accessible, making it easy for organizations to create and deliver engaging and effective training programs always.