Yet another feature release this week: special use promo codes! In this article we identify four ways you can incorporate special use promo codes into your marketing plan.

The feature releases continue... We are excited to announce four new features that launched on Skilljar this week.

It's been a busy month! And we are happy to announce the launch of Skilljar's course analytics in addition to three other highly requested new features.

In earlier installments in this series, we covered 3 methods for creating videos. Today we look at a fourth technique:
1. narrated powerpoint
2. screencasting
3. talking head
4. animated video

We are happy to announce two new features on the Skilljar platform.

Online courses are a valuable method of delivering instructional content well beyond the education space. We’ve identified three unique ways in which companies can utilize online courses to revolutionize their business strategies.

Photo by Stefan Erschwendner / CC BY
 

1. Offer a new product - Consider how e-commerce retailer Amazon.com has diversified over the years; it may be hard to remember when the company was known almost solely as a bookseller. There are many reasons to diversify your company’s product line: changes in the market, customer expansion, competitive advantages. Online courses are a great way to grow your business by introducing a new product offering. And by using an all-in-one technology solution to deliver your courses, you don’t have to spend the resources to build a solution yourself, so the time to market is reduced to the time it takes to create the course content.
2. Content marketing - What is content marketing? It’s a type of marketing in which a company create and distributes valuable content to customers to drive brand awareness, thought leadership, and build/retain customer relationships. A recent article from Forbes states that an estimated 60% of businesses incorporated content marketing in their marketing strategies in 2013, and predicts this number will only increase in 2014. Convert the content that you have already created into online courses for a new way to deliver your information. Offering online courses in addition to other forms of content can reach additional customers that prefer that format.
3. End-user training - Delivering training for a new technology comes with many challenges. What’s the best way to gain a high adoption rate while using your resources efficiently? Using online courses to deliver end-user training may be a more efficient method for training. And because end-users can define the pace by which they take a course, the training may be more effective as well.

You've published your online course, what’s next? Marketing. In a previous article we identified five marketing strategies that would benefit from promo codes. Today we take a look at four channels you can use to implement these strategies.

1. YouTube - Already have a YouTube channel? Great! If not, that’s ok too. You can check out YouTube support for information on setting up your own channel. And the promo videos for your courses are the perfect content to upload. Display a link to the discounted course in the Description section of the channel homepage, the “About” section of your channel page, and the “About” section of each video.Tip: For Skilljar instructors, once you create a promo code, you can offer a link directly to the discounted course if you add ?pc=promocode to the end of your course url.
2. Newsletter - If you have been maintaining an email list, this is a great channel to utilize. You’ve built an audience who is waiting to hear from you! Spread the news that your online course is available, and grab their interest by offering them a deal on it and including a promo code for a discount.
3. Blog - Your blog is a great place to include a link with a promo code. Publish an article that complements the subject of your online course. You can captivate your readers by demonstrating your expertise in a subject, and then provide a discount link at the end for readers to learn more.
4. Facebook - Announce a deal on your online course in a Facebook post with a link to the discounted course included. An article by Socially Stacked, a Facebook page designing company, stated that 42% of people like a page in order to receive discounts. Additionally, if you can allocate any budget toward a paid campaign, you can increase your post’s reach by targeting other users who might be interested in your course.

Track Each Promo Code's Success

Should I allow downloading of my videos?

At Skilljar, instructors often ask us whether they should allow downloads of their videos. And since almost all of our instructors include at least 1 video in a course, it’s a very popular question.

We’re excited to announce that Everpath has rebranded to Skilljar! In this blog post, we provide insight into what motivated our name change, how we made the transition, and what to expect for the future of Skilljar.

Welcome to the next installment of our How to Create Great Video Content series. Enter screencasting, technique #2.