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Creating a Digital CPD offering can be an effective way to engage a wider audience of decision-makers within the construction industry. Yet, this transition will require you to closely consider your tech stack.
An effective tech stack (i.e. the technologies you use to build and run a project) doesn’t just help you deliver your CPD in an easier way, it can influence the perception of your company – from how professional you’re perceived to be, to how efficient you’ll be to work with.
In this post, we highlight the essential and must-haves, to get your digital CPD off to the right start.
Essential #1 PowerPoint
We’ll begin with the most obvious piece of tech: PowerPoint. PowerPoint is a versatile presentational tool that allows you to showcase information in a clear, accessible way. You can incorporate your own branding elements, experiment with transitions and incorporate other forms of media – such as images and video – to bring your presentation to life. We have found that great content (photography and videography) is one of the first things specifiers gravitate to when they visit a manufacturer's website.
It’s easy to use and doesn’t take a tech wizard to use the software to its fullest potential.
What’s more, it’s pre-installed with most Microsoft Office packages, so it won’t be an additional charge for your organisation.
Of course, PowerPoint is only available to Microsoft users, so if you have a team of Mac users, an alternative program will be necessary.
Here is a list of presentation alternatives to PowerPoint:
Essential #2 Video Conferencing Software for Webinars
The construction industry’s move to the webinar format is consistent with the trend in many organisations as part of their learning and development strategy, rather than holding traditional face-to-face workshops/demos.
When it comes to video conferencing software, the obvious choices are clear: Teams or Zoom. And this will normally be dictated by what software you chose to conduct your internal meetings during the height of the pandemic.
Thankfully, both Zoom and Microsoft Teams come with adequate webinar hosting capabilities, making them excellent platforms for conducting virtual events.
Personally, we use Zoom here at Insynth. It’s very easy to create events (such as webinars). You can view a bit more about how to set up a Zoom event here.
Essential #3 Graphic Design Software
Whether it’s a digital or face-to-face CPD, utilising graphics in your presentation is a great way to convey complex information. And through the use of tools such as Canva, you can create eye-catching infographics – without needing a graphic design degree to make them look good.
There’s a reason why Canva’s slogan is, ‘online design made easy’. By watching some of their educational videos, you’ll soon be on your way to design mastery.
If you wish, you could even design your whole presentation in Canva. It offers much more design features than PowerPoint, giving you the potential to create something more visually engaging. Once you get the hand of Canva you could even transition to software like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to raise the visual level of your presentations.
Essential #4 CRM Software for Promotion and Lead Nurturing
Designing and creating a digital CPD is one thing, but promoting it is a whole different ball game, you've probably experienced this challenge? You need to ensure that you’re promoting your CPD – whether live or on-demand – across multiple touchpoints, from social media to email.
To do this at scale, you will need a solution that allows you to schedule out social media posts in bulk. Buffer and Hootsuite are examples of social media schedulers.
You’ll also need to utilise a platform that allows you to create marketing emails to promote your event. Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor are examples of email marketing software.
However, a CRM that allows you to do these things all under one roof will streamline and speed up your processes.
We recommend HubSpot as a good all-in-one platform with a host of benefits that you’ll struggle to find elsewhere.
Nice to have #1 Modular Learning Platform
If you’ve ever had to sit through an hour-long CPD, you’ll know that they’re not the most riveting forms of media. As humans, our attention span can’t take much more than twenty minutes of focus time.
With that in mind, modular learning platforms such as Teachable can split up your CPD into small, bite-sized chunks.
Whilst this is not essential, it can be a great way to maintain engagement amongst participants and give the perception that you’re a serious education provider within the industry.
Nice to have #2 Video Editing Tools
Creating an on-demand digital CPD will require you to take several elements (voice-over, script, presentation, music) and combine them into video format. Software such as Adobe Premiere Pro will enable you to do this, but it is a fairly specialist skill.
It is time-consuming, too, so outsourcing this task is probably a more cost and time-effective option, and DEFINITELY a less stressful one, too. Talk to us about video conversion.
Conclusion
This post aims to provide the basic technologies you’ll need to get your digital CPD off the ground. Using a studio and having someone present the CPD against a presentational backdrop is another great way to bring your CPD alive.
We’ve got a studio here at Insynth if you’d like to explore this option for your CPD.
Converting your traditional CPD into a digital offering can be a rewarding and worthwhile activity. If you’d like any help or support from a team of experts, don’t hesitate to speak to us today.
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.
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