Marketing in this day and age is about relationship building, not selling. Why? Well, because relationships last longer than once-off sales. Providing your clients with online educational programs is an excellent marketing tool.

When your company provides something as valuable as an online course, many doors are opened and leads are generated. Information about a user which is requested from a landing page, offers little variation. However, when users register for an online course, you acquire much more details about them, which allows you to pinpoint exactly what your customers are after – this allows you to cater to their needs and lay a foundation for a sturdy relationship.

In contrast with blog articles, which fluctuate in consumption, e-learning content is consumed as it is provided. The sequential nature of e-learning programmes, allows you to create increasingly complex content. You do not necessarily have to focus on keeping everything simple as users expect to learn from the content. The referral nature of e-learning is more trustworthy than that of viral content. It offers the consumer more value, meaning they may feel inclined to recommend the program on social networks, which in turn leads to more users subscribing to your offering. It must be noted that e-learning endeavours do not suit all business types – it is important that your service offering coincides with the e-learning program, this way, the content proves more valuable and easily relates back to your business. One such example is that of Robertsons – a supplier of cooking ingredients, providing an online cooking course.

Robertsons Herb & Spices, a brand of Unilever, is South Africa’s leading Herb & Spice brand. With the onset of Masterchef South Africa in 2012 (of which Robertsons is a proud headline sponsor) they saw the opportunity to promote the brand in a different manner. They launched ‘Masterclass’ an e-learning initiative which is described as ‘a simple and easy to understand way for people to take their cooking skills just a little further than they currently do’.

Robertsons Marketing Manager, Deeolan Govender gave us an overview of the success of this endeavour. He pointed out that the idea behind this program was to provide people who watch Masterchef, but do not feel that they have the necessary skills or time to recreate some of the dishes themselves, with the know-how that they need. The campaign is so popular, between June and September of 2013, they saw an increase of 64 000 visitors in relation to the ‘test’ period, which took place between January and September 2012. The number of unique visitors shot to 100 000 and page views increased by 100% in 2013. Robertsons was able to identify the mind-set of their customers, realising that this was more important to their marketing department than the age group they seemed to be targeting. With the upper hand of being involved in Masterchef South Africa, Robertsons made use of TV call-to-actions, 3^rd party banners and of course, their social media campaigns. This e-learning program, gave the Robertsons brand a fresh, exciting aura in the eyes of its customers.

E-learning programs will not produce the same number of hits as a viral cat video would, but the relationship aspect of the program offering, means that you are more likely to gain a customer than you would have with the viral campaign. It is true that these campaigns require more development and maintenance, but as seen with Robertons, who received excellent stats in terms of the country they cater to, it is a worthwhile, lasting investment.

Are you interested in the Robertsons Masterclass? Follow this link to register.

Sound Idea Digital specialises in Learning Management Systems and eLearning developments | soundidealearningmanagement.co.za