As with individuals, before you can market to businesses you’ll need to know:
- the types of businesses in your area
- the types of training they might require
It’s a good idea to start with a review of the local market. This may seem like a slow start – but most businesses you contact will employ several people who need training – so the return on your effort (in terms of eventual learning episodes) is potentially far greater than with the general public.
A good source of information about local businesses could be the chamber of commerce or the local enterprise company.
Try to categorise businesses into groups that are alike in some way, or are likely to be responsive to similar messages. For example, local shops might be the right audience for information about book-keeping or customer service training.
Next, establish the broad training needs of your target organisations. Begin by focusing on a selection of businesses from each group you have identified, ideally ones that you think will represent the others. For each business, establish who deals with training and arrange to visit or phone them at a convenient time to find out their training needs. The information to get includes:
- confirmation that they (rather than a head office) make training decisions
- number of employees
- areas/departments they work in
- key skill areas for each
- their commitment to training – many businesses agree training is important, but far fewer commit budget to it
This will allow you to get a feel for which business categories represent the biggest opportunity for your learning centre and are likely to be most receptive to your marketing activity.