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Digital CPD within the building product and construction industry has grown in popularity since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Providers, like RIBA CPD, have seen exponential growth in uptake as more and more specifiers seek to gain their CPD points remotely.
If you’re a building product manufacturer, you’d have undoubtedly considered the benefits of shifting your CPD to a digital format.
As with most things ‘digital’, simple, efficient and economical benefits can all be gained.
However, choosing to become a CPD provider for an authorised body such as The RIBA is another consideration entirely.
You’ll have to overcome hurdles associated with gaining accreditation and, of course, a cost is involved.
Before we begin, it’s important to note that there are many CPD providers to which your material/seminar could belong.
CPDUk, Specifiedby and the new Barbour Product Search CPD Accreditation are just a few reputable organisations that offer an accreditation scheme.
As such, many of the points highlighted in this post will be applicable to the providers mentioned above, as well as The RIBA Academy.
Let’s begin…
#1 RIBA CPD = Exposure
Firstly, you can’t ignore the exposure you’ll get from gaining RIBA CPD approval. According to Wikipedia, there are currently 44 thousand practicing members of the association.
In other words, thousands of architects will be trawling the RIBA CPD website monthly, searching for a CPD with which to obtain their mandatory points.
For argument's sake, let’s say you choose to host your CPD on your website only.
The chances are you pick up a few thousand website visits a month.
But, how much of that traffic is relevant? What percentage of that traffic is architects looking to gain CPD?
By having your CPD hosted on the RIBA CPD platform, you’re boosting your chances of getting good-fit prospects’ eyes on your brand.
We recently completed a RIBA CPD for a client, and they were astounded at the number of views it received.
#2 RIBA Will Take Care of Marketing and Advertising
When you host your CPD on your own website, it’s down to you to promote it. If you don’t have a sufficient tech stack in place, automations set up and a strategic marketing plan, you’ll find it a challenge to promote.
In hosting you CPD on the RIBA CPD website, your CPD will be visible to see for any architect perusing the list of suitable courses to undertake.
In addition, you get permission to use the RIBA CPD Providers Network logo on your materials and website – which some say is a respectable accolade.
Side note: RIBA CPD don’t appear to promote their CPDs on any social media platforms. This is a potential limitation – particularly when you consider how active Specifiedby and Barbour Product Search are on LinkedIn.
So, yes, it’s good to have your CPD on the RIBA Academy, but do they go above and beyond to promote it in a similar way to other accreditation schemes?
#3 You Get A Backlink To Your Website
Backlinks are like candy to any SEO nerd.
But they can be invaluable to your online authority. They represent a ‘vote of confidence’ from one site to another.
But what are backlinks?
Put simply, backlinks are ‘links’ from one website to a page on another website. If you can get a highly authoritative website – such as RIBA Academy – to link to your building product website, Google will recognise this as a good thing. It essentially says,
“If The RIBA Academy thinks they’re good, then they must be.”
The RIBA Academy has a Domain Authority (DA) score of 71. To put this into perspective, the highest DA score you can get is 100.
So, it’s a highly authoritative source.
Your goal should be to get as many high-quality backlinks to your site as possible. Google will favour this and place your site ahead of your competitors in the search engine results.
#4 Your CPD Will Be Perceived as High Quality
Getting your CPD RIBA approved is a challenge.
Trust us, we know.
You have to overcome a variety of hurdles to ensure you include the right content, the right legislation and the right learning outcomes.
For that reason, it may be perceived as higher quality and, thus, more attractive to architects looking to gain professional development.
Not to mention the fact that a RIBA approved CPD that is delivered remotely is still worth double points to RIBA chartered architects. This, some may say, will provide a distinct advantage over non-approved CPD materials: architects can still gain double CPD points from the comfort of their own home.
#5 RIBA CPD Added Benefits
The NBS also notes that another benefit for joining the RIBA CPD Providers Network is the access you get to exclusive events, alongside opportunities to present at 25 CPD roadshows around the country.
This has the potential to significantly increase your networking opportunities, opening the doors to architects and specifiers and strengthening relationships with your existing network.
Other CPD Providers
To reiterate the point made in the introduction, this is not an advert for the RIBA. These are simply points for consideration – if you were thinking about joining the RIBA CPD Providers Network.
Be sure to check out other CPD providers such as CPD UK, Specifiedby, Barbour Product Search to ensure you make the right decision for you.
For further information, take a look at our recent blog posts on this topic:
WHAT ARE THE RIBA CPD REQUIREMENTS?
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO DIGITAL CPDS FOR YOUR BUILDING PRODUCT
About Insynth
At Insynth we deliver a predictable flow of leads, customers, and specifications for building product brands through our inbound marketing approach, proven to reach a technically demanding audience.
We use the latest marketing techniques such as construction inbound marketing, to equip building product companies to grow sustainability in this era of digital transformation.
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major in construction marketing. We have a proven formula of bringing a variety of functionalities together including CRM Implementation, Web Design, Sales Automation, SEO, and Email Marketing to achieve your ultimate aim: Growing your business and gaining new specifiers and customers.