When running an RLSS UK course, it is essential to be well-prepared. You need to decide on a date, book the training space, make sure you hold the correct prerequisites, check your RLSS UK Licence to Operate Membership is still valid, and ensure you know the course content inside out. But what about the most daunting part? How do you get candidates to book on the course?!

To help you advertise your course and get as many bookings as possible, we’ve created this blog with suggestions and ideas to help you advertise your RLSS UK course – even if you have no marketing ‘know-how’ or experience!

Preparation and planning:

• Once you know the basic details (date and venue), create the course using the RLSS UK Course Management system. Guides and tutorials are available to support you. You can pre-purchase your course credits and order course manuals and resources via your RLSS UK Account, which will save you the worry nearer the course date. We recommend that this is done at least 12 weeks before the course commences to give you enough time to generate interest.
• When you create the course, select the ‘Public’ option; this is essential to enable it to appear on the RLSS UK Course Finder webpage, which receives thousands of monthly visits.
• If the course is regulated and you are delivering it at an RLSS UK Approved Training Centre/Provider (ATC/P), speak to the ATC/ATP Coordinator to find out if there are any existing marketing plans or activities in place that you can add your course to.
• Check out the Marketing Resource Toolkits within your RLSS UK Account, which include posters, social media graphics and photographs that you can use to promote the course. These are available in the ‘Marketing’ folder for the qualification you deliver in the Resources & Documents area.
• Identify the target market(s) for your course so you can target the places they can be found either virtually or in person (e.g. advertising to attract 16 to 18-year-olds at colleges vs advertising to attract parents re-entering the workplace at nurseries, child activity centres, job centres),
• Consider a reasonable distance that candidates would be willing to travel to go on a course. Research the physical locations within this radius where your target market(s) would most likely visit. Then you can contact these places and ask permission to put up posters to promote your course, (e.g. schools, colleges, universities, swimming clubs, gyms, sports clubs, scout groups, youth centres, community centres and groups, supermarkets, job centres, recruitment agencies.
• Ensure you have a professional way for interested people to contact you to request more information, and that allows you to stay in contact with candidates who have signed up for your course.

Employer or venue support:

Your employer or the venue where you will deliver the course may have a variety of places or marketing activities already in place that can help you advertise your course. It is worth discussing with the person primarily responsible for their marketing to see if they are happy to help you promote your course.

These could include:

• On their website – such as an upcoming events or calendar webpage/section, an announcement on their homepage, a banner on their homepage or another relevant webpage.
• Display posters in and around the venue, e.g., on notice boards, within the changing rooms or on public entrance doors, on A-frame display boards, within staff room areas.
• Send an email to their dedicated marketing list of people who have specifically requested to know more about courses/activities at the venue or as part of a newsletter-style email that contains a banner or text advertising your course. Before doing this, you must be aware of GDPR practices to ensure you are contacting people who have consented to receive this type of content.
• Post content on social media platforms to advertise your course to their followers.
• Add a video or graphic to their advertising screens in reception or public areas - e.g. café, canteen, waiting areas.
• Display pull-up banners and/or leaflets within their reception or other public areas and take to different venues where you want to promote your course.
• Provide you with marketing assets from previous courses that you can use within your own advertising activities (e.g. video or text testimonials, video clips from the day).
• Offering course funding options or training agreements based on staffing needs and requirements, e.g. fully funded courses with guaranteed employment that can include a learning/training agreement for a set period (e.g. 12 months).

Advertising the course yourself:

Even if you have the help of an employer or the venue, we recommend conducting your own advertising activities to ensure that you attract as many candidates to your course as possible and set yourself up for ongoing success.

Here’s an overview of the places where you can advertise your course and some helpful hints and tips for each:

Print and physical location advertising:

• Ask permission to put up posters in any local areas where your target market(s) will visit, e.g. schools, colleges, universities, swimming clubs, gyms, sports clubs, scout groups, youth centres, community centres and groups, supermarkets, job centres, recruitment agencies.
• Contact local newspaper organisations and community publications to ask them to add your course to their upcoming event pages or other relevant sections.

General online advertising:

• Contact the website administrators of local community event websites and ask them to add your course to their upcoming event webpages, calendar webpages, and email bulletins (if they send out any).
• Ask permission to post on local city/town Facebook or other online groups/forums (e.g. Reddit, Discord, Mumsnet) that your target market(s) may be members of.
• Reach out to your network (e.g. family, friends, and work colleagues) and ask them to refer a friend.

Social media advertising:

• To get started, check out the social media templates in the Marketing Resource Toolkits in your RLSS UK Account.
• Create a content calendar to help you plan, create, and schedule/post your social media content. Check out our helpful content ideas list below for specific posts you can create and share.
• Reply to all the comments on your posts and answer all Direct Messages (DMs) – try to do this at least once daily so that interested people get a prompt reply.
• If you have an advertising budget, you can pay to promote one of your social media posts or create a specific advertisement for your target market(s) within your local area radius.

Email advertising:

• Set up your email footer to display a text or banner advert for your course (email banner templates are available within the Marketing Resource Toolkits within your RLSS UK Account).
• Reply to all email enquiries for more information and send follow-up emails to anyone who has contacted you about signing up but hasn’t done so yet.
• Encourage people to sign up for a course waitlist and send them regular content to inform them when your next course is running. Check out our helpful content ideas list below for specific emails you can create and send.

Social media and email content ideas:

• New course available. Book now.
• Calling all [add your target market name here. e.g. students]! Sign up now to [enter a benefit or the course name here, e.g. want a job with flexible work hours?]
• Everything you need to know about [enter the course name]
• Share the benefits of the course, (e.g., start a career, progress a career, get back into work, have flexible working hours, give back to your community).
• What it’s like to be a [enter the qualification achievement, e.g. lifeguard] (You want to show rather than tell the benefits of the course achievements with this type of content piece).
• Spaces are filling up quickly for…
• Reminder: The course is happening soon.
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about…
• Reminder: Don’t forget to book your place on…
• Limited spaces left!
• Only a few places are remaining! Book now.
• Only two/one more week(s) until…
• Fully booked! The next course runs on…
• Behind the scenes (Share what happens on the day of the course)
• Recap of the day. Sign up for the next course on…
• Testimonials/reviews/thank you messages from your course.
• Congratulations to our newly trained [enter qualification achievement, e.g. first aiders]