October 2010 Newsletter
Welcome back to the ed2go Partner newsletter. In previous issues we discussed different marketing techniques ranging from print and web site to government and business opportunities. Moving forward we will focus on Search Engine Optimization and Social Media marketing. If you have not had a chance to review this information you can find the feature articles in previous issues of the Partner newsletter beginning with March 2010. We will also be including the articles and WebEx PowerPoint presentations at your Online Administration Center marketing tab in the next few weeks. If you have any suggestions on marketing topics that you would like to see addressed, please let your Account Manager know.
We recently saw an article at InfoWorld.com titled “7 skills every IT manager needs to survive the 2010s”. This article pointed out that “Many IT managers focus solely on mastering new tech skills to increase their value to their employers—a strategy that makes perfect sense, but only up to a point. Once you reach that point, you can damage your career by becoming viewed as only technically proficient and being perceived as unskilled in business planning and learning how to communicate and collaborate well with customers, coworkers, and service providers. But if you have a balance of these "hard" technology skills and "soft" business and people skills, you can go a long way toward insulating your career from recessionary woes.” The article indicated that many IT managers should posses the ability to “continuously learn and possess a broad range of valuable tech and leadership capabilities, according to IT experts interviewed by InfoWorld.com.”
This scenario is being played out not only in the IT world but among many business disciplines. With the competitive job market, employers are looking to hire or promote individuals who are not only educated in their individual field but also have strong leadership and people skills. With your ed2go courses you have the ability to reach out to individuals in your community who may need fast, cost effective “soft” skills enhancement education. Your ed2go catalog offers a number of business, leadership, and management classes that will meet this need. We have developed a new marketing template focusing on the management and leadership courses to assist you in reaching this audience.
Suggestions to help promote to this audience include: send a press release out to your local print media, especially any business publications, to let them know you have a variety of “soft” skills classes; use the template in an email blast to your database of students; email the template to your business contacts in your community. Your Account Manager can help you develop a marketing plan to meet your time and budget needs.
