During the last few years, the world has gone through a lot of changes…like, A LOT!
One of those changes is the way we view education. The online education market is meant to reach $350 billion by 2025…
Crazy right?
This shift in how we view learning has highlighted the disadvantages of traditional education. For example, you have to physically be in a location, you need to retain information in a timeframe, and there’s less interaction.
SO, e-learning is the future! This should be a key part of your nonprofit marketing plan. It’s time to say goodbye to commuting and awkward waiting times before class. The new era is all about online learning.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Online Courses
Not only has the pandemic changed the way we learn, but it has also made us even more addicted to screens. But, what exactly are the benefits of online courses?
First, let’s talk about the downfalls of traditional education.
For example, to attend a University you need to pay expensive tuition fees, living costs, and cope with endless amounts of examinations. All of this can be overwhelming and might even stop people from pursuing further education.
That’s why the magical world of the internet is essential to making learning accessible and affordable.
The stereotype that students who earn degrees online are lazy, dumb, or not “real” degrees couldn’t be further from the truth!
It is important to highlight exactly why online courses are important so people are encouraged to switch to this way of learning.
Here is a list of some advantages to e-learning:
- More course options are available
- Comfort
- To improve your resume
- You can study at your own pace
- Less expensive
All of these are convincing reasons why nonprofits should include them in their marketing strategy. Especially as they are proven to help people further develop their skills and achieve success!
It’s a no-brainer, really.
Why Your Nonprofit Needs Online Courses
Even though online courses are mainly about allowing people from anywhere, of any background, and any financial situation to pursue their dreams…
There is also another important factor to including them in your nonprofit marketing plan. It helps you reach more audiences!
And, that’s the golden ticket to marketing success.
1) Cheap and Effective
If there’s one reason to incorporate online courses it’s this…
They are affordable and effective.
Did you know that people spend around 145 minutes per day online?
Seeing that people are already using the internet in their daily lives, creating an online course has a higher success rate for reaching your target audience.
2) Increase Awareness
Although the online world has made it easier to connect with people all over the world, it has also made it harder to get attention. Meaning, marketing for a nonprofit has become even harder because you need to be innovative…
All. The. Time.
This can be challenging as coming up with new ideas takes time away from other important tasks. An online course provides something valuable to the reader, but it also gives you a chance to direct people onto your page.
And, this gains you more clicks.
You can do this by sliding into the DMs of supporters via newsletters, emails, social media posts, or your landing page. This will help people discover more about what you do and build better engagement rates.
3) Showcase Your Expertise
Creating a high-quality online course not only shows your value to your audience, but it showcases your expertise and develops trust within your community.
In other words, it makes you look like a pro!
Just remember to make your courses relevant to your cause. For example, if your goal is to help climate change, you should design a course based on environmental topics such as recycling, scientific research, or green living.
There is a better chance of engagement after people have received something useful for you. Especially if you include a call to action at the end of the course.
4) Improve Brand Loyalty
Nonprofit e-learning allows you to build better connections with potential supporters. This can lead to a loyal community where people spread the word about your organization.
This gives your supporters the space to ask questions, make suggestions for future fundraising opportunities, and makes them feel part of a community.
This is particularly useful in the context of learning so people feel comfortable asking for advice and tips about how to study.
Compared to traditional learning where people often feel anxious to ask questions, the online setup makes it easier to voice any concerns or queries someone might have about a topic.
This will then transfer into trust with your brand. Cha-Ching!
What could be better?
5) Make an Impression
Every nonprofit needs to create a memorable impression, but it can be hard to reinvent yourself in the modern internet space. Online courses are a great way to get people’s attention without being too obvious.
First, they can learn about something new. Then, they can reach out to you.
There are no magic tricks. It’s as simple as that!
Now, you might be wondering, how do you start?
Content Creation for Online Courses
The first stage of creating an online course is making a plan. You have to brainstorm about what you want to offer, the value you want to provide, and who your target audience is.
Once you know this information, then you want to do some market research.
Does your course already exist? Is the topic popular? And, will it stand out against the other courses?
A good way to test the idea amongst an audience is to release a tester course. This will give you the chance to see how people react to it and if it gets attention.
You also want to search in forums and blogs to figure out what your target audience is looking for.
Film the Content
Next, comes the fun part!!
After you have made the final decision about what your course will teach, the next step is filming the content.
Thankfully, you don’t need to invest in expensive equipment to do this part.
Smartphones include wonderful cameras nowadays so the only thing you need to worry about is location, lighting, and what to wear. Plus, you need to decide on who will present the course and be the teacher.
You might want to do this yourself, but you can also hire a freelancer to be the instructor.
There is amazing software available online so you can keep it as simple as you want. As soon as you have the final product, you can promote it on your social media sites and find other platforms to advertise it on.
How to Level up Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan
Not only do online courses boost engagement and help you reach more people, but there are also other ways to upgrade your marketing plan.
For instance, have you considered making improvements to your website?
You can either do this yourself, or you can use a nonprofit marketing agency to ensure you get the most out of your website design.
Marketing is not just about putting pretty pictures online, there’s a whole strategy behind the process. Everything a viewer sees or clicks on should have a purpose and lead them in the direction you want.
A marketing strategy should be seamless and guide your audience through different stages with ease. Therefore, you need a professional who knows what they’re doing.
We’ve all clicked on those websites with glitchy animations and slow loading time…
No one likes that, right?!
Time is precious and people get impatient with overwhelming or distracting websites that don’t send a clear message. One of the ways you can enhance your website is by boosting speed.
Otherwise, people will leave within minutes before reading anything else.
Yep, it’s that quick.
Optimize SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is another effective way to drive more traffic to your website. You can test this by using a browser and searching for your nonprofit name.
Does it come up first? What other nonprofits are there? And, what content is displayed beside the links?
This is a fast way to see what people are looking for and how you can implement it into your marketing plan.
Mobile Use
As mobile users are spending more and more time scrolling websites on their phones, the same is said for nonprofit audiences. Another important factor in upgrading your website is double-checking that it works well with mobiles.
Security
Most of the time, the internet is a safe place but sometimes files get lost, data is corrupted, or the firewalls shut down. If this situation might arise, you want to make sure that you have backups in place.
Treat Your Website to a New Look
BrashBerry can help you with everything from building a nonprofit marketing plan to web design. We can help you at every step of the way!
That’s one less thing to worry about on your to-do list.
