Customer story: Durham Continuing Education

How Durham Continuing Education Found a Digital Marketing Tool for Presenting Information

Durham Continuing Education (DCE) offers adult daytime and continuing education programs to Ontarians over 21. If you need to get high school credits in Ontario, DCE is the clear choice. Excellence, communication, and mutual respect rest at the core of how DCE operates: students excel at studies and build lasting respectful relationships with their fellows and professors.

Challenge

Informing prospective students about the various learning opportunities at DCE was one of the main tasks at hand for the marketing team. DCE’s research showed that more and more people were looking for information online, so the organization needed a fast digital tool to present their publications. It had to be a complex solution, too: DCE wanted to embed video testimonials into their documents to encourage viewers to check out the website, reach out to the team or register for a course.

We felt we had to go “digital” in some of our marketing tactics. We used to produce a paper Course Guide book, and we decided that an online book would be appropriate for our marketing needs.

Apart from being link- and video-friendly, a publication had to be accessible online on any device. That way, it could be easily pulled up during a presentation or a meeting with community partners and stakeholders.

Data that we were tracking suggested that more and more people were looking for their information online and also that mobile devices were used more often than desktops or laptops to search for information.

Search for solution

During their journey to digital publications DCE got a tool that seemed to suit their needs, and discovered that presenting information in online documents wasn’t the only thing that mattered. If something went wrong with their publications, they needed assistance to fix it, so they turned to the support team of the software they used at the time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very helpful.

We were with FlipHTML for two years, and I wasn’t happy with their service and support. We always had issues with the actual publication, whether it was uploading a file or publishing it. And I could never get a hold of anyone if I needed to, if there was a problem. It felt like I was just on my own.

What DCE needed was a powerful marketing tool for presenting documents online that had not only a great set of complex features, but also a helpful support team.

Solution

From contacting the support team at FlippingBook and trying out the product to the actual purchase, Robert Hanna, Head of Computer Training, eLearning and Marketing at DCE, felt confident that he’d found the solution he needed.

I liked the customer support, the level of service, the professionalism of the website, the live chat. FlippingBook – even before we paid for the subscription – was very responsive to my needs and my questions. So I felt like it would be a good fit.

The interactive brochures DCE now creates in FlippingBook Publisher have video testimonials, course outlines, pictures, and links. Easy to access and comfortable to view, the documents are embedded into the DCE website, shared as links via email and presented at meetings. They are a great digital marketing tool that helps prospective students and community members learn about the courses on offer.

A publication basically gives people information about the types of programs we have, allows them to see video testimonials from students who took the programs previously, it allows them to link up to our website, where they can register or call for more information. It’s an initial information piece for them about what our school has to offer.

Results

DCE uses FlippingBook for marketing purposes: to raise awareness about the organization, inform prospective students about the courses and programs they have, and get them to register for classes. Plus, the organization’s community partners share online publications with their clients to let them know about the continuing education opportunities in Ontario.

We send the actual link for the publication to a variety of community partners, so that they have access to it. If they’re sitting in front of the computer with a client, they can pull that information up, take a look at it and then advise the client about the courses we have.

Soon, DCE’s education partners will also be able to share an annual publication with their clients. It includes information about the programs DCE offers.

A yearly summary of our programs is in the works, which could be shared out to a variety of education partners and stakeholders. This will allow us to highlight the successes we have had in our various programs.

DCE now makes accessing information easy for the people in their community. This way, they can share their values and aspirations online, and, thus, connect with their target audience better.

As the world becomes more and more digital, we are trying to position ourselves so that anyone seeking information about our Adult Education programs – day school, night school, eLearning, language instruction and Pathway training programs – will find our information easily and will feel a positive connection to our community of learners.