Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Can't Generate Demand, For Unique Free Service

Posted by Anonymous on 250 Points
We offer employability IT training in India, which helps the seeker to become a programmer with-in 3 months.

At the end of training, interviews are arranged with our clients.

Whoever gets employed (receives offer) they are asked to pay for the training, that's 4 months equivalent of their pay. Whoever fails to secure job, they walk-away FREE.

Our numbers are still 10 to 15 per quarter, I have capacity to train 50, and scale it up if more job seekers come to us.

I am running this organization for 7 years, the number of students wanting to join are not scaling up.

Please check our presence on internet,
https://academy.in4i.com
https://www.facebook.com/ExInFI
https://in4i.wordpress.com
https://www.in4i.com
https://pro.in4i.com

Dear fellow members, please help me to get momentum. I am committed to make many more unemployed youth employable.

Thanks in advance
PV

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on Accepted
    To figure this out, you need to conduct a bunch of research: what has been the experience of graduates? What is the perception of your organization? Who is likely to be interested in your offering - and how likely is it to be "time well spent"? What other options do these people have? What type of marketing are you doing? How well are you able to explain your offer & share success stories?

    From this initial information, you can begin to develop a marketing plan that would address your problems and turn around your situation.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on Accepted
    To start with - I was unable to open many of the web sites you listed (including FB page). The main site (https://www.in4i.com) did open, but I didn't see anything about the service you talk about in a quick look there. So this will limit what I can talk about.

    You are not actually offering a free service, but a service with lower up front costs. To the students, they still need to find the time to take the classes (and have an opportunity cost of lost wages they could have made if they worked instead of studied) and the cost of the class should they be successful. They also presumably still have living expenses, and may not be able to afford their food, rent, etc. to be able to take the course. So you are taking away a large potential objection (paying for a class up front), but still have other objections in the forms of costs that may be stopping someone from joining.

    One way around this is to promote the output of the program. What percentage of students go on to get jobs soon after graduating, at what sort of companies, at what sort of salary, etc? Get this information out so people can understand what the benefits are.

    Also, make sure the cost of the class is paid in some means that is palatable to the students. Taking the first 4 months of pay and not allowing them money to cover their expenses and such would not be good, but a payment plan would be preferable. Likely you do this already and I couldn't see this info on the web.
  • Posted by mgoodman on Accepted
    Stop thinking of the service as "free." It's not free at all. Something that's free is usually worth what you pay for it.

    And consider changing the positioning from "unique training company" (i.e., what you do) to "your ticket to a rewarding and lucrative job" (i.e., the benefit to your target audience). The latter will have a lot more value to your target audience.

    What percentage of students who complete your training get jobs? How many who start quit before completing the course? Is there a way to suggest that virtually all who complete the course will get a job?
  • Posted by Shelley Ryan on Moderator
    Hi Everyone,

    I am closing this question since there hasn't been much recent activity.

    Thanks for participating!

    Shelley
    MarketingProfs

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