How to Convert Your Content into Paid Learning

If your organization already has ample content on hand -- from whitepapers, webinars, the customer support knowledgebase, new product specifications and documentation and similar materials -- it could be time to consider converting those resources into a revenue stream. Whether your business focus or segment is B2B professional training, extended enterprise learning or direct to consumer, the online learning you deliver can be a powerful way to engage and expand your customer base while building a high-margin business with assets and expertise you already have.

In this post I lay out a case for converting your content into online learning that somebody would be willing to pay for.

First, you have to expand your definition of "customer." Who would pay for your content? Consider the self-starter seeking professional advancement; organizations training workers for compliance; and companies seeking ways to train their customers as well as their "extended enterprises" -- distributors, retailers and others that sell and service their products. What ties them together is that they're seeking training like the kind you can offer them, and they're willing to pay for your expertise. You just need to figure out how to reach them and deliver your online learning content in a scalable way while still catering to their unique needs.

Second, you need to consider several forms of monetization as you build a business case to turn your content into paid learning. Each of the following monetization options can be deployed singly or stacked with others, as long as your technology platform for ecommerce and distribution can accommodate the variations.

B2P Learning: Business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) have long been understood. Business-to-professional or B2P is a newer phenomenon, selected and paid for by individuals to stay on the top of their professions. They provide a credit card directly and you sell them a digital product. In this business model, the transaction is with an end user. The product they're purchasing may be served up in ala carte form (one set of lessons) or it may be sold as a continuing annual subscription, giving the customer access to digital courses for a set period.

Seat licensing: Whereas B2P targets the individual customer, this business model pursues the entire company that wants effectively trained employees. In this case, your organization has developed an entire catalog of content, which you license to other organizations for use in their corporate training.

Sponsored Learning: This takes a couple of forms. The learning company creates content that's made available to the learner either through the funding provided by a sponsor or by serving up ads. For example, if your business focuses on generating content related to finance, you may develop a course using pre-existing content about a specific subject -- saving for retirement, funding a college education -- and have a financial services company sponsor it to make available to their clients and prospects. Similarly, the course may include advertising from one or more companies and fed to your prospects and theirs.

Content Marketing: This business model emphasizes lead generation by making the learning content free in return for registration information to build your database.

No matter which layers turn up in your stack, the overall idea is to repurpose existing content into courses and assembling those courses to sell in a variety of packages.

Learn more about turning your learning content into a revenue-generating online professional learning business by downloading the free Thought Industries ebook, "Turning Learning into Profit."