#ThisIsFutureLearning

Guidelines + Short Courses Toolkit

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FutureLearn

Marketing Playbook

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Contents

Introduction

The FutureLearn Marketplace

Marketing at FutureLearn

Setting yourself up for success with FutureLearn

The value of a combined effort

Partner Toolkit - Short Courses

Key Guidelines

Short Course Customisable Assets

Resources and Further Support

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Contents

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome

over 3,000 online courses, and partnerships with more than 250 leading global brands and universities, FutureLearn is a global learning platform with a mission to transform access to education.

We have a diverse learner base and �continue to update our courses to �reflect their lives. This goes beyond �course subjects – we actively work to �ensure diversity in the educators, �institutions, and partners we work with.

UK founded, with a global network of over�18 million learners,

OUR LEARNERS

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Under 26

26-45

46-65

Over 65

0%

20%

40%

60%

Our family of

products

These pathways are non-linear and learners may follow different paths to get to their chosen destination

How to write beautiful code

Prepare for coding interviews

Programming for Everybody

HTML, CSS & JS for Web Developers

Coding for Data Science

Machine Learning - CloudSwyft

Azure - CloudSwyft

Data Science

Cloud Computing AWS

Software Engineering

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An Intro to Programming

Intro to Cloud Computing

Programming Foundations: JS, HTML, CSS

Computer programming for everyone

AWS Fundamentals

Django for Everybody

System Security Design

Fundamentals of Computing & Programming

Java & Software Engineering Fundamentals

Python for Everybody

Intro to Programming

Cloud Security Basics

Cloud Computing Concepts

Julia Programming

Google IT Automation

Cloud Architecture with Google Cloud

Data Science

IBM Data Science

Object oriented programming

Intro to Programming in C

Learner stories: self-taught coding

The future of work: coding skills

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Getting into Tech

Gender diversity in STEM

Computer Science BSc/ MSc

What is computer science?

The future of work: coding skills

Algorithmic thinking

Learner story: Evelyn

Getting to grips with APIs

The 5 biggest mistakes people make in code

How tech is affecting the workplace

The most useful scripting languages

The future of work: coding skills

Women in tech

Short courses

Expert

Tracks

Micro-�credentials

Blogs & bite sized content

Degrees

The easiest languages to learn

Learning story: Brian

R Programming

Computer programming for everyone

Getting Started with Go

Algorithms, Data Collection & Coding

Crash Course on Python

Machine Learning

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I am a cloud engineer, looking to become an AWS specialist; how can I evidence my commitment to the field?

I have a humanities degree and I want to get into software engineering; what can I do to figure out if this is for me?

I am a self-taught software engineer; how can I keep up to date with programming trends and languages?

I am an accountant at a mid-size firm, what is all the hype around automation about?

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People have:

> Different motivations

> Different abilities

> Different levels of commitment

Meeting demand with stackable learning pathways...

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# min

# min

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Short course

4 - 24 learning hours

Start Learning for Free���

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Always available

Paid access

100 - 150 learning hours

Regular cohorts

Free – £99

£199 Unlimited Subscription

ExpertTrack

£36 per month

From £350 – £700

Always available

Monthly subscription, �7 day free trial�

Gain deeper knowledge and acquire in-demand skills

40 -- 50 learning hours

Paid access

1000 - 1200 learning hours

Regular cohorts

Prices range based on subject and institution

Learn flexibly with online degree courses created by leading universities

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Top-up your knowledge or get an introduction to a new topic

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Relevant to rapidly growing industries, acquire globally recognised qualifications to amplify your career

The FutureLearn Marketplace

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Over the last 8 years we've seen the rise of the digital marketplace, where suppliers and consumers are brought together online to exchange goods or services that dissolve global and physical boundaries. Some examples of well known online marketplaces are Ebay, Asos and Airbnb

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WHAT IS A MARKETPLACE?

A digital marketplace for learners

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2The value of a2

2marketplace2

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2The FutureLearn2 2marketplace2

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2What is an online2 2marketplace?2

When any course goes live on FutureLearn it benefits from value driven by our position as a marketplace and the organic traffic that comes with being one of the leading EdTech sites in the world

Due to their brand recognition, online marketplaces attract significant online traffic. In a connected global economy Marketplaces are the most frictionless way of suppliers and consumers finding what they want and getting what they need

Contents

OUR MARKETPLACE FLYWHEEL

Learner

demand generated

Learner demand captured

Learner acquisition and enrolment

Learner

opted-in

Learner engaged

Learner

retained

In order to maximise every stage of the learner journey on the FutureLearn marketplace, our learner-centric marketing activity is constantly on-going.

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This ensures that learners are:

• Driven to the site in large volumes
• Engaged by the CPDs (course description pages)
• Enrolling at scale
• Having their details captured
• Motivated to opt-in to FL communications
• Kept engaged with communications
• Becoming valuable engaged Future-Learners, who return to enrol on multiple courses on the platform.

Learner

Marketing at FutureLearn

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MARKETING AT FUTURELEARN

BRAND / CAMPAIGNS

CRM

DIGITAL

PARTNERSHIP MARKETING

Paid media

SEO

Social

Affiliates

BAU FL email marketing

Email automation

Lead nurture

Technical optimisation

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Annual campaign calendar and promotions

Events

Product launches

Press Releases

Talent / Influencers

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CREATIVE STUDIO

PLATFORM MARKETING TEAM

*Simplified view of FL Marketing team for illustrative purposes only

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AN INTRODUCTION TO PLATFORM MARKETING

Welcome

HOW PLATFORM MARKETING WORKS

• FL Platform Marketing focuses on consistently bringing as many learners to the site as possible and getting them to return. �
• We do this by focussing on our brand values and highlighting the benefits of the platform and products for lifelong learning. Like casting a big fishing net; once these learners are on the FL site, they find what fits their needs.�
• At times we run more specific campaigns that align with timely events in the learner calendar e.g World Mental Health Day, Black History Month, that highlight certain courses or product groups. �
• For more specific course marketing, we encourage partners to leverage all the channels they have to drive targeted learners to their courses-- ie learners you know are already engaged with your brand, or with the topic area of the courses you are launching.

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Contents

OUR PLATFORM MARKETING FUNNEL

This platform marketing funnel illustrates how we work with cold prospects, warm leads and hot leads in order to appeal to learners at all stages of their journey towards enrolling on a course.

• Appeal to millions of people
• Broad targeting and messaging
• Purpose led storytelling and / or creative hooks to grab attention

• Appeal to hundreds of thousands of people
• Category, theme, partnership level targeting and messaging
• Product benefits, expertise, differentiation

• Appeal to specific learner who are “in-market” for a course
• Course level targeting and messaging
• Urgency, relevancy, employability, offers

Specific / Urgent / Direct

Inspiring / Attention Grabbing

Awareness

Consideration

Sales

Introducing FutureLearn

‘Cold’ learner mindset

busy, distracted, browsing

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Establishing FutureLearn

‘Warm’ learner mindset

Searching for information

Driving conversion

‘Hot’ learner mindset

Ready to sign up and start learning

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OUR PLATFORM MARKETING CHANNELS

ORGANIC

SEO

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SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is our biggest marketing channel, responsible for 40% of our marketplace traffic.

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We optimise our course pages to ensure good rankings.

Our blog is also optimised to drive traffic, with posts being shared across our other channels.

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Social Media

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Across our owned social channels, we have an engaged global audience of +550k.

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We share content on a daily basis to build our social communities, celebrate learners and create conversation around popular and trending categories and moments that are relevant to learners lives

We drive growth across the marketplace using the following organic, paid and brand/comms activity.

Email

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We have +7m email database, with over a third actively learning each quarter.

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We segment and personalise our emails based on learners actions and preference across the platform. Our aim is to give learners relevant content so that they stay subscribed

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OUR PLATFORM MARKETING CHANNELS

Paid Media��Our Paid Media promotes our courses across different paid channels, including Paid Social Media and PPC

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We continuously optimise our Paid Media to reach prospective learners at scale and to drive +ROAS enrolments.

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Commercial Partnerships

�We grow our learner base by collaborating with relevant brands and organisations to bring our FutureLearn proposition and course offering to new audiences.

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These are often contra deals whereby brands want a select collection of courses.

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Affiliates

�Through our powerful affiliate network of over 2K+ websites, we drive brand awareness, traffic and purchases to the FutureLearn Marketplace.

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PAID

We drive growth across the marketplace using the following organic, paid and brand/comms activity.

OUR PLATFORM MARKETING CHANNELS

PR and Events

Our B2C comms drives awareness and traffic through mainstream press.

For maximum effect, we focus on brand led integrated marketing campaigns and a handful of calendar moment or topical / newsworthy courses. We also monitor the news and get in touch with partners when there are opportunities to be involved in a breaking story together.�

We host and take part in leading industry events, to directly increase learner demand and to share our learnings with other leaders in the industry.

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BRAND & COMMS

We drive growth across the marketplace using the following organic, paid and brand/comms activity.

Campaigns

Our brand campaigns introduce FutureLearn's offering and develop an emotional connection with potential learners. We use campaigns to drive brand awareness and also to drive conversion via promotional sales.

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Our campaigns are activated across many marketing channels to target audiences at various stages in the consumer lifecycle.

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CONTENT CURATION

Over and above our digital first platform marketing, we select courses to excite and entice learners back to our platform and draw in new potential learners via topics that matters to them most

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These curations are based on learner insight into specific audience motivations and are constantly evolving

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Examples Include:

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• What’s New - signposting to existing learners, familiar with our course portfolio, that there are new courses to explore
• Learner Favourites - highest rated and reviewed courses recommended to learners, by learners
• Calendar Moments - newsworthy, high traffic moments where we have 5+ courses from multiple partners
• Brand Collections - hand picked selections that suit a very specific story, publisher, brand or moment eg. The Big Issue: basic skills collection, or National Rail: learn on your commute

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We select the courses included manually, if you would like to have your course/s promoted on one of our channels, please reach out to your partnership manager about purchasing one of our marketing add-on services.

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Setting yourself up for success

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CREATING A COURSE

What should you ask yourself when creating a course?

• Is this course in an in-demand subject area?

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What is our unique selling point or unique value proposition?

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Who are our audiences and where will we find them?

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Have I submitted a detailed enough course proposal?

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Is the title of our course the best it can be for SEO results?

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What does success look like and where can I measure it?

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Can I leverage all of my organisation’s marketing channels to help support the launch?

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How can we encourage learners to share their experience of the course?

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HOW TO HAVE A GREAT LAUNCH

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HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF PLATFORM MARKETING

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This is a quick checklist to review before you commence any promotion

A PRE-LAUNCH CHECKLIST

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Create a plan:

• We encourage all our partners to create their own marketing plans, increasing activity in the lead up to your launch date but also incorporating always on marketing that will continue to drive learners to your course once it is open for enrolment. �
• Follow SEO best practice:
• Link through to your partner landing page or courses from your main domain (e.g. www.companyname.com)
• Link through to partner landing page or courses from your blog or news site (which might be blog.companyname.com or www.companyname.com/news)
• Select Open Steps and Highlight Steps effectively�

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• Use the correct UTMs
• Follow the steps on this article on how to use our tracking tool

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• Social Media:
• Follow @FutureLearn & tag us when posting course content on social media:

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

• Engage with and use our campaign hashtag:

#ThisIsFutureLearning

• Encourage your staff and academics to support on their personal social media channels

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Email:

• Make sure you are including email marketing in your plan, promoting the course in your institutions newsletters, to staff, students and alumni

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The value of a combined effort

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THE COURSE LIFECYCLE

A course which is available on the FutureLearn marketplace should naturally continue to grow in popularity and attract a growing number of learners over time.

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This is down to the constant activity to generate and capture learner demand and to drive enrolments and continued learner engagement which is being done by the Platform Marketing team (see this slide).

Please note: Ths graph is an illustrative example of growth over time.

Uplift from Platform Marketing

This diagram represents the pattern of growth courses can expect to see over time; courses gain momentum via SEO and more learners are driven to the FL platform via our platform marketing team/activity

THE COURSE LIFECYCLE

Platform Marketing combined with best-practice marketing from partner

When FutureLearn’s platform marketing efforts are combined with complimentary best-practice marketing from the Partner, this helps to maximise the impact of FutureLearn’s marketing and drives additional growth in the number of learners the Partner can expect over time.

Please note: Ths graph is an illustrative example of growth over time.

This diagram represents the type of additional uplift in learners a partner may see from investing and engaging in their own marketing activity using our checklist and asset toolkit before for launch and as a regular monthly drumbeat

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We hope this has been a helpful overview to show how we think about marketing at FutureLearn ��The remainder of this playbook contains our Short Course Toolkit. We have a family of playbooks & toolkits for every product which you can find via the links below:

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.Short Courses.

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.ExpertTracks.

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.Microcredentials.

View the toolkit���

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View the toolkit���

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View the toolkit���

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Short Course Partner Toolkit

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PROMOTING YOUR SHORT COURSES

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• The remainder of this playbook features guidance specifically around promoting your short courses.

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• This toolkit provides you with our suite of assets and gives guidance on how to use these effectively on your channels.

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• Remember that it’s not only important to promote your course prior to it’s launch date. The next slide covers key considerations pre, during and after your launch.

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• Please connect with your Partnership Manager if you have any questions or specific requests after reviewing this toolkit and the additional resources mentioned.

When you are planning your own marketing support for your Short Course, ensure that you have thought about the key moments in the course and learners’ life cycle:

SEQUENCING YOUR SHORT COURSE PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN

Pre-launch your course, drive excitement around its learning value and clearly identify its start date on your own platforms (pointing traffic to the FL Course Description Page)

1+ months pre course live

Course live

After course completion by learners

Use our templates for educator quotes & learner reviews to show how successful the course was/is in order to drive trust & confidence in current and future learners

2 weeks pre course live

Update to “last chance” messaging to drive urgency and send personal invitations from the brands and educators involved

Shout about the fact your course is officially live using our templated assets (provided within this toolkit) to drive enrolments and get the course off to a winning start!

TOOLKIT CONTENTS

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1. Key Guidelines:
• Partnership Logo Guidelines
• FutureLearn Brand Guidelines
• Brand Tone of Voice

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• Short Course Assets:

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• Short Course Customisable Assets
• A1 and A2: Introducing your Course Assets
• B: Course Name Assets
• C: Course Description Assets
• D: Learner Quote Assets
• E: Instructor Quote Assets
• Downloading your Customisable Asset Pack

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• Resources and Further Support

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Key Guidelines

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FUTURELEARN BRAND GUIDELINES

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• FutureLearn was founded in December 2012 and since then we’ve continually expanded our partner network to include universities, brands, specialist organisations and centres of excellence worldwide

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• To help aid your broader understanding of FutureLearn’s brand, we’ve developed a brand direction document that outlines our purpose, mission & values

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• To help support you on the development of marketing assets such as logo, font & colour references and how to apply templates, we’ve developed a brand guidelines document that is suitable for sharing with your marketing teams, agency’s and designers

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PARTNER LOGO GUIDELINES

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• We have provided a link to our logos and usage guidance here
• On certain assets, we encourage you to co-brand promotional activity by pairing your logo with the FutureLearn logo
• The FutureLearn logo should always be on the right
• Clear space rules should be followed
• The logos should be separated by a white vertical rule
• Your logo should be scaled to match either the width (x) or height (y) of the FutureLearn logo, unless it’s a square logo - guidance indicated in blue. It should not be larger than either measurement
• The logos should be centred on the horizontal axis

Lock up example:

Clear space example:

BRAND TONE OF VOICE

• The FutureLearn voice is one of mentorship, motivation, and inspiration.

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• We have four core tone of voice principles that help us to write well and connect with our audience.
• They are:
• Accessible
• Clear
• Expert
• Inspiring

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• We’ve put together a short guide to help you talk about the FutureLearn brand and our different products which you can see here

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Short Course

Customisable Assets

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As a Partner in our network, you’re welcome to use any of the assets included in this toolkit.

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Usage rights do not extend to paid media OR non-affiliated institutions and brands.

Usage rights do not allow you to use these assets to advertise any product other than FutureLearn Short Courses.

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Customisable Social Assets

• We have created a suite of customisable social assets for you to promote your specific course and talk about our partnership on your social media channels
• There are six different customisable assets on offer for each of the key subject areas most commonly taught by our partners
• These are designed to help you promote different aspects of your course, at different points of your promotional campaign
• We’re providing a layered file with imagery and guidance on how to add copy and apply logos for the following sizes: 1:1, 4:5, 16:9, 9:16
• The following slides explain how to use each of the assets.

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TOP TIP

Learner reviews and course ratings improve performance

A1 and A2: Introducing your Course Assets

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• These are customisable social assets for you to introduce your course and talk about our partnership on your social channels
• The asset is benefit-focused and highlights either online nature of the course (A1) or the free-to-join and online nature of the course (A2)
• Please select the asset with the benefit which is most suitable to your audience
• You can customise this asset with you own:
• Image
• Logo

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A1 and A2: Introducing your Online Course Assets

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A1:

Download assets here

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A2:

Download assets here

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B: Course Name Asset

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• This customisable social asset focuses on your course title, to help build awareness and recognition of the course among your audience
• You can customise this asset with you own:
• Course Title
• Image
• Logo

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B:

Download assets here

C: Course Description Asset

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• This customisable social asset features more room for copy, allowing you to describe your course in more detail
• You can customise this asset with you own:
• Course description
• Image
• Logo

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C:

Download assets here

D: Learner Quote Asset

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• This customisable asset allows you to highlight the successes of your learning community, positive reviews or unique insights
• You can customise this asset with you own:
• Learner quote
• Learner star rating
• Learner image
• Logo
• Ensure your student is looking happy & straight into camera and that you have written approval for usage

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D:

Download assets here

E: Instructor Quote Asset

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• This customisable social asset has been created to provide a platform to your course instructors and can be used for insightful highlights from your Short Course
• You can customise this asset with you own:
• Instructor quote
• Instructor name
• Instructor image
• This asset should be used as an ‘organic’ social asset and as a result, we’ve omitted our logos to drive engagement

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E:

Download assets here

Downloading Your Customisable Asset Pack

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• We have pre-populated the customisable assets with images which relate to some key topics commonly taught by our partners
• However, the assets packs are also fully customisable so that you can populate them with your own images, which best illustrate your course
• If your course does not fit one of the broad subject areas, please download the asset pack for the subject most closely related, and customise with your own imagery
• Please download the packs by clicking on the appropriate subject on the next slide.

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Example of the Fashion asset pack

Asset 1

Download assets here

DOWNLOAD YOUR CUSTOMISABLE ASSET PACK

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Short Courses

Generic Assets

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Customisable Social Assets

• We have created 4 different sets of non-customisable assets which you can use to promote your courses on social media without requiring any design work at all
• The next slides include links to download these assets
• Please have an explore in the pack and pick the assets which works best for you!
• Each of the 4 sets of assets comes in 3 sizes
• Portrait
• Landscape
• Square
• These are all designed to be used on social media, but have slight different uses. The best ways to sue the assets are explained in slides 57-59

Asset 2

Download assets here

Asset 3

Download assets here

Asset 4

Download assets here

Portrait

Portrait Images

Platforms it can be used in:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Stories

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Best use of this format: this can be used on Facebook and Instagram, as well as on Facebook and Instagram Stories.

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Asset 1 - Portraits - download here

Asset 2 - Portraits - download here

Asset 3 - Portraits - download here

Asset 4 - Portraits- download here

Square

Square Images

Platforms it can be used in:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Twitter Card

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Best use of this format: this is the most commonly used format for organic social media images and for Twitter Cards (these are the Twitter Images that include a link)

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Asset 1- Square - download here

Asset 2- Square - download here

Asset 3- Square - download here

Asset 4- Square - download here

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Landscape

Landscape Images

Platforms it can be used in:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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Best use of this format: this is mostly used for link shares on the aforementioned platforms, and as a Twitter & LinkedIn organic post.

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Asset 1 - Landscape - download here

Asset 2 - Landscape - download here

Asset 3 - Landscape - download here

Asset 4 - Landscape - download here

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Further support & resources

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LIST OF RESOURCES

• The FutureLearn Partner Site contains a wealth of useful information, hints and tips on how to promote your course(s).�
• Please see our Brand Direction to understand how we approach our brand.�
• Our first Trend Report provides invaluable insight into The Future of Learning, combining interviews with academics from our global network and key consumer data.

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ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

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We have a family of toolkits, covering each of our products

OUR TOOLKITS

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.Short Courses.

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.ExpertTracks.

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.Microcredentials.

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.Degrees.

View the toolkit���

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View the toolkit���

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View the toolkit���

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Coming soon���

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Please see these separate toolkits for our other course types below:

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