30 Promoting your course
If promoting your course for internal consumption, for example, to support existing teaching, make the most of existing communication channels to let staff and students know when it will be available.
Hosting platform providers will, by default, market your course to their existing channels. They will alert existing learners and highlight your course at launch. For example, FutureLearn asks their partners to provide short trailer videos highlighting what learners can expect and they can support search engine optimisation tasks to increase visibility of your course.
You may also want to widen your efforts to attract learners who might not otherwise have reached your course by that route. For example, you could:
- publish social media posts,
- distribute campaigns by email,
- promote the course at face-to-face events.
You may also choose to undertake a paid marketing campaign if the topic of your course has the potential to recruit students or because you feel it’s important for the course to be promoted as widely as possible.
The table below provides suggestions on the communication channels you could use promote your course. There may be others specific to your field that you can use to help you promote the course and recruit learners.
| Channel | Your planned approach(es) |
|---|---|
| Staff newsletters | |
| Student newsletters | |
| Students’ union | |
| Intranet | |
| Schools and faculties | |
| Professional services | |
| University communities of practice | |
| Personal contacts | |
| Launch events | |
| Outreach and educational engagement | |
| External professional networks |
Discuss approaches to promoting your course with colleagues and engage with marketing and communications teams who will be able to recommend how best to maximise the reach of your course.
