In a competitive market, training professionals need to ensure they are constantly growing profile and showcasing their expertise. As the appetite for digital content increases on a daily basis, trainers without an online presence could be missing a trick.

My daily commute to work begins with a battle. Seats and leaning posts are scarce - it's dog-eat-dog from the moment the train doors slide open, and if you want exclusive space you need to merge a ruthless attitude towards fellow passengers with precise timing and positioning. I always end up standing.

Not all bad though, despite the funky smell and lack of space, standing up for the 20-minute journey allows me ample opportunity to people-watch, one of my favourite hobbies.

From my vantage point I'm able to spot developing trends in activity among commuters, with no pattern quite as obvious as the migration online. Because, apart from the 10% catching flies, the vast majority are tucking into some sort of online news and article feed during their commute, getting their daily dose of information from their smartphone or tablet. So what does my sharp observation en route to London Euston mean for the training and development industry? Well, it proves the point that today the public is demanding to be communicated current and up to date information on-the-go, and while some industries have caught onto this trend, from what I can see much of the training sector is falling behind.

 

Without some kind of strategy in place to engage with their target market online, trainers are missing a huge trick. That's not to suggest that everyone is constantly searching for advice on training, they're not, but they are engaging with something or someone online, so why not with you?

Selling training programmes into large companies is not a quick-win, it takes time to develop strong relationships and to encourage training budget decision makers to engage with the key concepts of your development programmes. Just as important, however, is how the profile of you, the trainer, and the more of a thought leader and 'celebrity' you can become, the better.

There is no better way to showcase the benefits of a training and development programme than by discussing it and offering potential delegates a sneak preview of the kind of impact your training can offer, so having an online content strategy should become something of a no-brainer.

So how can you get started? Once you've made your mind up to start engaging with your target audience on the internet and effectively growing your online profile, it makes sense to set some realistic targets – say two blog articles (around 500 words) per week. There aren't too many other industries where being able to showcase expertise is quite as valuable, so you should think about the message you're looking to get out, and then look for ways to weave it into the articles. So, for instance, if leadership development is one area of particular expertise for your training company, keep an eye out for any opportunity you have to jump on an already topical leadership issue. An analysis of the England football captain just before a major tournament is a great example of how to market your own expertise within a topic that already has a significant following.

Once the content has been written, it needs to be posted and shared in the digital world – and this is the clever part that could get your content channelled into the right areas. Identify key websites where your target market 'hangs out' (TrainingZone is the obvious starting point), and look for ways to get the article posted. Never ignore the might of social channels like Twitter and Facebook to get the message spread far and wide and read as many times as possible – in effect, it's free PR.

Be clever, everything online can be monitored at ease, so keep a close watch on the type of articles that get you plenty of traffic back to your site, or substantial read-rates, and then look to develop the popular ideas and topics, while cutting loose those that generate little or no interest. In a way, the content strategy will actually offer you a pretty unique insight into the hot topics within the market you're trying to operate in – so make sure you collate the feedback accordingly.

 

Where the content and topics covered are strong, there is no way to lose when it comes to content creation, and this kind of marketing approach lends itself so well to the training world. Just by spending an hour a week writing up articles and commenting on topical issues from a training and development point of view, you'll be able to grow profile in the right places, generate quality traffic back to your website, and quickly start to market the key features of your training offering.

Next time you're forced to stand on a packed train, take a look around. I guarantee the vast majority of travellers will be logged in, plugged in and tapping away. The question is, who are they plugged in to?