How to promote your freestanding course
KTH's freestanding courses are marketed at a general level, but many courses have niche topics and specific target groups. As course coordinator, you may have valuable insight into which target group or industry is interested in your course and in which channels they are located. Here we gather tips on how to market your course and what communication help you can get.
When should I promote the course?
It is best to promote the course when it is open for registration. Preferably, do not advertise it too late towards the last day of application.
Courses are open for regular registration specific periods on antagning.se and universityadmissions.se - usually around 15 February–15 March for the summer semester, 15 March–15 April for the fall semester and 15 September-15 October for the spring semester.
Key dates and deadlines (universityadmissions.se)
Most courses also open for late registration. Late registration usually opens a month after regular registration closes, except for the summer semester, which opens for late registration a few days after the regular registration closes. Registration is usually open until a week before the start of the course, so there is plenty of time to get more applicants for the course.
Review course information
It is important that information about your freestanding course is filled in in a clear and compelling way to ensure that as many people as possible find it and want to apply for it. When prospective students are looking for courses to apply for, they will find information about the course on the course's webpage in the Course and programme directory, also known as About course. Here you can find out how to fill in or update course information for the course.
Checklist: Course information for freestanding courses
Finding the right target group for the course
As course coordinator of the course, you are an expert on the topic and who the course is aimed at. Think about the target group that might be interested in taking your course.
Parameters for the target audience could be, for example:
- Industry – does the course topic fit certain industries?
- Job title – does the course target specific job titles or roles?
- Prerequisites – does the course require specific prior knowledge or can anyone take it?
- On-campus or distance learning – if the course is entirely distance learning, the course automatically has a much broader target group as they do not need to be close to KTH.
Consider which channels we can use to reach the target group
KTH markets freestanding courses at a general, aggregated level to a broader professional audience. If your course has a more specific or niche target group, there are probably specific channels they use or visit to a greater extent. Think about what channels exist where we can communicate the course. This could be for example:
- Newspapers/magazines
- Newsletters
- Social media groups, for example on LinkedIn
- Conferences
- Networking groups or associations
- Trade unions or transition organizations
In the next step, you can investigate the possibilities of reaching out to these channels yourself or with the help of a communications officer. This could include your own organic posts, paid advertising or tipping off an editorial team.
Reach out to your own network
As an expert in the subject you teach, you probably have a network of industry colleagues, teachers, researchers or former classmates you can market the course to. They in turn can tip off their network, increasing awareness of the course.
For example, it may be possible to reach out to your contacts via LinkedIn, Discord, Facebook, email or networking events.