Partnerships are an important strategy for any business, helping drive revenue, opening new opportunities, and fostering innovation. The same holds true for professional associations and the growth of their certification programs.
A solid partnership results in mutual benefit, so the trick is to find partners with goals that converge with yours. Your certification department wants to build awareness, demand, and adoption of your programs locally, nationally, and even globally. What other entities are invested in helping professionals elevate their skills and career potential?
Three types of partnerships have been proven to make a positive impact on certification program growth: education, corporate, and industry partnerships. Let’s explore how these partnerships can grow the market and serve the interests of your association and the respective partner.
Education Partners
A wide variety of organizations’ business models focus on delivering education. The ones most aligned with your certification goals are your association’s chapters, college and university continuing education departments, consultants, and independent training organizations around the world. Offering certification preparation courses through education partners can be an excellent source of ongoing revenue as candidates enter your program.
Here are a few ways education partners and your association can benefit from working together.
Your Association’s Benefits
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Education Partner Benefits
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Corporate Partners
Good employers invest in training, and your certification program should be perfectly suited for the job. The first place to look for corporate partners is your membership database. If you don’t have enterprise membership, simply look at the employers most represented by your members. You can expand your scope even further by looking at organizations that serve your members, such as manufacturers, distributors, and service providers.
Employers deliver training and support certifications for many reasons. By working together to offer certification preparation, you and your corporate partners achieve important goals.
Your Association’s Benefits
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Corporate Partner Benefits
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Industry Partners
You probably know of smaller associations or regional-specific membership groups that operate in your industry. Rather than thinking of them as competitors, consider them to be potential industry partners. Perhaps they don’t have the resources to develop and offer certification and training programs, but their members could benefit from your programs.
Working together can offer several wins for both parties.
Your Association’s Benefits
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Industry Partner Benefits
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Working together with education, corporate, and industry partners is a great way to build certification awareness, trust, and adoption without a significant marketing investment. But choose your partners wisely, as they will be a reflection of your brand, and set formal guidelines and expectations around communication frequency and sales. A partnership that isn’t fruitful won’t last, so make it easy for them to communicate the right messages by providing images, marketing templates, and support.
If you’d like more information on building a partnership network to grow your certification programs, Holmes Corporation can help. We partner with more than 800 global training providers and 1,300 employers to elevate the careers of individuals and increase certification demand around the world. Visit HolmesCorp.com to learn more or contact us at [email protected].
