How Digital Credentials Can Help Your Training Programs Stand Out

In today’s fast-paced world, staying ahead of the competition is crucial, especially when it comes to the training and development industry.  

According to the Training Industry Benchmark Report 2022, 36% of respondents claim that the increase in competition in their respective industries is one of their biggest challenges. 

As more training providers have adapted to online learning, learners can enrol themselves on a course from anywhere in the world. As a result, many training providers will now be competing for learners on an international level. With an increasing number of industry skills, courses and training providers for individuals to choose from, it's becoming more challenging to stand out from the crowd. 

Digital credentials are here to provide a unique solution for training providers, enabling them to offer their learners a more engaging, measurable, and shareable learning experience.  

How can digital credentials help? 

Digital credentials are secure, portable, and verifiable digital badges that learners receive upon completing a training course, professional qualification, or other learning certification. They provide a digital representation of skills and knowledge and can be easily shared on social media, professional networks, and resumes.  

This shareability provides a unique opportunity for training providers to utilize their credential earners as an organic marketing channel to boost brand awareness and engagement, as well as highlighting a provider as innovators looking to support their learners in new ways. Here are three ways leveraging digital credentials can help your training programs stand out and grow your business: 

1. Organic Sharing and Reach 

Digital badges from digital credentials are highly shareable across social media and resumes, allowing training providers to utilize an organic marketing channel they weren’t previously able to measure: their earners. When learners share their badges on social media, it creates a ripple effect, with their peers seeing the badge and discovering the course. These digital badges can also be built to link back to your course landing pages, boosting traffic from future learners. 

Snowflake, a global data cloud training company, have received more than 125,000 views on their digital badges shared by earners. Just imagine how much your marketing team could save on their advertising spend. 

2. The Halo Marketing Effect 

Learners sharing their digital credentials also create a halo marketing effect, which is crucial for brand awareness and credibility.  

A "halo effect" occurs when a company or product finds marketing success due to its association with a successful company, product or other recognizable elements.  

When earners share their digital credentials online, they connect the training provider’s website to wherever the badges are shared, creating backlinks.  

Backlinks are important for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because search engines like Google use them as a ranking factor to determine the relevance and authority of a website. When other websites link to your website, it signals to search engines that your website is valuable and trustworthy.  

All these backlinks created from digital credential sharing will improve the training provider’s website’s discoverability, which can lead to more traffic and higher search engine rankings. Over time, as digital credentials gain more recognition, they become a stamp of quality for customers. This can increase the training provider’s brand recognition and create a positive feedback loop where more learners want to complete their courses to gain valuable digital credential. 

3. Position your program as digitally innovative 

When looking to invest in professional development or training, whether it’s an individual or business, learners want to know they can easily take those skills and demonstrate them to future employers or recruiters. On completion of a digital credential, your earners are provided with a digital badge that includes relevant skills tags attached, is easily verifiable, and can be quickly added to a social media profile or digital resume.  

On the other hand, training providers or courses that still follow manual processes of printing certificates for proof of qualification cannot adequately support today’s learners’ needs. Therefore, these traditional training providers will miss a huge demand in the market when learners nowadays are looking for credentials that allow them to build skills and easily communicate with organisations when looking for their next opportunity.  

So, what can you do next?  

With digital credentials, training providers can differentiate their training programs, build their brands, and attract more customers. By embracing digital credentials, training providers can also leverage the positive influence of online sharing to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Not to mention digital credentials can also help to retain the customers they have brought in. Learners who engage with the program and apply their knowledge learnt in their companies allow corporate clients to see the power of digital credentials in motivating learning, which drives loyalty and repeat business. 

The opportunity for training providers to expand their business is growing, but with these increasing needs comes fierce competition. Now that you are starting to understand more about the importance of digital credentials in today’s competitive landscape make sure you don’t stay on the side-lines and download our latest whitepaper with a strategic checklist. We explore in greater depth how digital credentials could help you to drive and secure more business.  

Download it here: Strategic Checklist: How Training Providers can Grow their Business Using the Power of Digital Credentials

Schedule a demo to learn more today.