How are you coordinating successful training programs with Academia in the US?
We are seeing a big adoption of our Academia Program offering in EMEA and APAC and a very low one in US. What is your recommendation in terms of how to connect with academic institutions in US to have a conversation about adding more courses to their curriculums? How do you generate leads?
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HI @Ana Howes , great questions. I'd be interested to hear what types of tactics you've used so far. @Elise Lostutter do you have any insights you could share on Ana's question?
Here's two webinars that you should take a look at: Education Subscription Offers - https://www.tsia.com/webinars/education-subscription-offers-knock-knock-who-s-there and Optimizing Education Revenue in the New Normal - https://www.tsia.com/webinars/optimizing-education-revenue-in-the-new-normal
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Could you in addition drop us a link to your program? We see in the Academics world in general a big difference in various program approaches between the Geos, which confirms the difference you're seeing. But I the US is one of the Geos, where both free and fee based programs are working well. Are you trying to sell or do you want to get free materials positioned?
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Our eLearning offering is free of charge and instructor-led is fee based. Usually with Academia, the approach we are taking is for Educators to be trained on the products and they would then take over teaching the course. But first we need to get to academia to be able to have those conversations.
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Thanks for the details @Ana Howes . As you described the setup my experience shows two factors that are key: The first is that you run all the enablement / training free of charge for the staff. I have seen once two programs running in parallel from the same company and free training for the staff that is supposed to teach is a key prerequisite. But the second is probably even more important: you need a (or more) relationship manager in the US who knows in general the academic world, and in detail he need to be very knowledgable around the grants/funds that are available to Universities based on your content. If he speaks to the University the discussion must be "I have a proposal how you can get access to the following grant for 1000 of your students by using our product, it will general $xxx for you - and by the way our software allows them to do XYZ in their career and this will be great for your marketing..."
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I assume this is for universities executive training programs and not as part of their regular curriculum, right? I think there are a couple of tactics I have seen work. (i) You need to generate the demand for the first few offerings. At first they will provide the supply but not the deman. Once they see success this can change. (ii) Engage one of their academics in research and thought leadership, perhaps by sponsoring research. (iii) Sponsor a thought leadership summit at the university.
Basically, universities are looking for revenue but are not good at marketing (there are a few exceptions but they are mostly costing on powerful brands), they are looking for funding for their research, they are looking for ways to build their brand as thought leaders and industry partners. You need to leverage those needs to get them to collaborate.
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