In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to measure the ROI of training as used for customer marketing. First, what does “training for customer marketing” mean?

Content marketers are entrusted with the responsibility of educating potential and existing customers with valuable resources related to their industry, but the content marketing toolbox hasn’t changed in recent years—ebooks, webinars, blogs, and videos.

Today’s customers are expecting more interactive experiences and are also looking to get demonstrated value from the time they spend with your company. According to Demand Gen Report’s 2015 Content Preferences survey, 91% of buyers prefer content that is visual and has an element of interactivity.

So, innovative marketers are experimenting with the next evolution of content marketing – offering on-demand training. This strategy provides your prospects with demonstrated value from the time they spend with your company, even prior to entering a buying cycle.

Increase your brand awareness by offering industry thought leadership that is scalable, convenient, and interactive. You can even offer industry certifications and accredited professional development hours.

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A learning management system like Skilljar makes it easy for prospects to display their certifications on their LinkedIn profiles, and to integrate data with marketing automation systems. This is a great way to turn prospects into advocates, and eventually into customers.

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Measuring ROI

Marketers typically measure, by channel:

  • Cost per lead
  • Cost per marketing qualified lead (MQL)

A lead can be as simple as an opt-in email address, whereas an MQL meets demographic, firmographic, or behavioral criteria. Note that costs, when measured in a marketing context, are typically only variable costs (not fixed content creation costs or headcount costs).

For training as marketing, your primary metrics will likely be number of leads and number of MQLs that sign up for training. On the cost side, use the variable costs of promoting the training through your various marketing channels.

Other metrics that may be of interest:

  • Hours spent in training
  • Number of certifications received
  • Cost per converted customer (revenue)
  • Satisfaction and brand awareness ratings

Conclusion

In today’s world, using training for marketing is an innovative new way for organizations to provide value to their prospects, particularly in B2B environments that involve longer buyer education and nurturing cycles. 

While training and education have historically been reserved for post-purchase customers only, today’s technology has made it possible to offer lightweight, interactive, on-demand training for content marketing purposes as well. What better way to educate your customers than actually providing them with real training content?

Next week, we’ll discuss how to measure the ROI of training when used for the next phase of the customer journey – customer onboarding. To learn more, download How to Measure the ROI of Customer Training today!

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