Celebrating the New Year with Exciting New Marketing Initiatives

[GenefaMurph976]

Hello Instructors!

As we embark on a new year, I wanted to share a quick note of thanks and also a look ahead at what’s to come in 2024. 

Our goal for 2024 will be to create what we call “Sustainable Hype”. What is Sustainable Hype I hear you ask? Well, hype as we all know is about creating an overwhelming amount of excitement, swagger, and interest. However, hype is often momentary. Our goal is to create hype that is sustainable (aka that will last not just for a moment in time but throughout 2024 and beyond). Why? Because, the more sustainable hype we create, the more interest in Udemy, the more interest in your courses and hopefully the more positive outcomes for us all. 

Our focus in 2024 will be on 4 key areas; Brand, Global Campaigns, Learner Investments, and Promotions.

1. Brand:

We are excited to be kicking off 2024 with a number of activations that we hope will elevate our global brand identity. Through these activations, we want to focus on the Udemy mission and vision and highlight the key differentiation that having a creator economy model fuelled by instructors from around the world and from different backgrounds creates. We look forward to positioning Udemy as a thought leader in the transition to a skills-based economy and creating lasting excitement for the brand in the global market.  Your association with our brand signifies a commitment to quality education, the power of diversity, and the power of choice for learners and organizations alike, and we are honored to have you as a part of the Udemy community and to showcase your stories and talent. 

2. Global Campaigns:

Our team has been hard at work conceptualizing and crafting captivating campaign themes that not only resonate with our learners & organizations but also bring a fresh and engaging perspective to your instructional content. These themes are designed to spark curiosity, foster active participation, and create memorable learning experiences and moments in time that we and hopefully you can leverage to focus key messages to the market.

In 2024 we’ll be focusing on 6 key themes that will run at different points in the year. These themes are based on market research and surveys which we’ve used to understand what people are looking to learn both personally and professionally. From this, we’ve devised 2 overarching/underlying themes and 4 sub-themes.

Overarching Theme for 2024: Skills

This includes the acquisition of skills and certification or validation of skills - this will be a vehicle for us to highlight content on technical skills in particular around AWS, Google, coding, data science, and analytics as well as other core functional skills such as marketing and finance amongst others. 

Underlying Theme for 2024: Social Impact 

This will not only be about highlighting the work Udemy is doing with non-profits but also the vehicle for content associated with key topics such as diversity and inclusion, sustainability, and others.

2024 Sub-Themes: 

• Gen AI: This includes establishing a POV on how GenAI will impact the world of work helping individuals and organizations to take advantage of this technological change in a practical way based on their needs e.g. general understanding or the application of Gen AI in specific functions like marketing or retail as an example. 
• Leadership & Management: This focuses on the role of first-line leaders, new and established leaders, and the skills needed to be successful e.g. how to manage in a hybrid world, how to manage with AI, change management, etc.
• The Multi-Generational Workforce: This is about helping individuals, leaders, and organizations prepare for and build the skills for a multi-generational workforce. This can include functional expertise in areas like marketing, social media, HR, coding, etc, building digital literacy, skills for entrepreneurship, or how to enhance productivity skills.
• Leadership Excellence: This is about establishing a POV on key leadership topics ranging from more advanced content for specific functions to key leadership skills such as data analytics and insights, communication skills, design thinking, and more. 

We will continue to support the broader marketplace and when we see new trends or themes emerging we will adapt our approach but the themes listed above will get some dedicated attention in 2024. 

3. Learner Investments:

In our commitment to the growth and success of learners, we are introducing new and enhanced investments in learning resources. This includes updated course materials and advanced assessment tools, some new AI-based learning features to complement the support our learners get from instructors, and continued enhancements to the overall UX and UI to make navigating Udemy easier. We believe that by providing learners with valuable resources, we can empower both instructors and learners to achieve even greater heights of excellence. Your dedication to teaching and bringing a variety of styles and content is at the core of our learner-centric and choice-centric approach.

4. Promotions:

To amplify the impact of your courses, we are launching targeted promotions to reach a wider audience. Through strategic partnerships, focused marketplace campaigns, and exclusive offers, we aim to increase the visibility of your instructional content. This not only benefits you as an instructor but also rewards your learners with access to enriching educational experiences. Stay tuned for personalized promotional strategies that align with key market themes and moments in time (such as World Education Day) and your unique teaching niche.

We are confident that these marketing initiatives will not only elevate the partnership you have with Udemy but also contribute to the overall success of the shared educational community. As we continue on this journey we want to ensure that you have a voice so please continue to share your thoughts and feedback. You can do so via the community or directly with me at genefa.murphy@udemy.com. 

Thank you for your continued trust and partnership. Wishing you a wonderful year ahead filled with endless possibilities!