Multi award winning training provider, delivering high-quality online and practical training courses.
Business overview
| Location | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Social media | |
| Website | spearheadelearning.com |
| Sectors | Content & Information Mixed Digital/Non-Digital Mixed B2B/B2C |
| Company number | 08757572 |
| Incorporation date | 1 Nov 2013 |
Idea
Introduction
Spearhead are an Award Winning Training Provider backed by Poundland founder Steven Smith. We deliver high-quality online and practical training courses via our network of experienced trainers, and also via our online training platform (www.spearheadelearning.com). We have over 30 online courses and 250 practical courses we are currently able to deliver nationally.
Businesses can be fined for lack of staff training and our experience suggests that the majority of job applicants are turned away due to not having recognised and relevant qualifications. The Spearhead eLearning platform aims to change that. Our clients range from individuals all the way through to large corporate clients, including the Ministry of Defence, The Range Home and Leisure, West Midlands Safari Park, Poundshop.com, and many more.
Intended impact
Spearhead founders John and Paul left the military with no recognised civilian qualifications and struggled to find employment. They found that this was not just the case for former military personnel, but also for those not in the military. Spearhead aim to qualify thousands of individuals to help them progress into a new career or even progress in their current career.
After leaving the military, John and Paul qualified as freelance First Aid Instructors and noticed that the industry was full of training providers that offered an “off-the-shelf package”. They then decided to launch Spearhead, with the aim of building a training business with military standards. Spearhead never deliver off-the-shelf practical training. We take pride in ensuring that the training delivered is measurable and has an impact on the individual or business.
Substantial accomplishments to date
Since launching Spearhead in 2013, we have been quoted by Solihull Observer as “one of the UK’s most promising Startup enterprises.”
We have featured in the national press and won multiple awards such as:
- Birmingham Business of the Year 2015.
- Most accelerated business - Entrepreneurial Spark Awards.
- Entrepreneurs of the Moment - Entrepreneurial Spark Awards.
- 6 of the Best Business Award - Solihull Observer.
- Solihull Business People of the Year - Solihull Observer.
-We have qualified hundreds of individuals.
- We are very proud to support those that serve and have signed the Armed Forces Covenant, becoming an approved delivery partner to the Ministry of Defence.
- We have welcomed Steve Smith, the founder of Poundland, to our board and he has introduced us to large organisations such as The Range Home and Leisure, West Midlands Safari Park, and Poundshop.com, resulting in large training contracts to qualify over thousands of staff from those organisations over the next 3 - 5 years.
- We have grown our database of trainers nationally, with each trainer having been through a rigorous selection process. This enables us to maintain the extremely high standards we have set as a business.
- We have a very high client retention rate.
- We have a 98.2% pass rate on courses.
- We have become an approved supplier of courses on Reed.co.uk.
Monetisation strategy
Spearhead has four active revenue streams
- Online eLearning eCommerce sales.
- Practical training courses.
- Apprenticeship funded referral fees.
- Compliance Consultancy (developing policies and procedures for our clients to ensure they are fully compliant).
The nature of our training and the fact that the courses are a legal requirement for businesses mean that both customer profiles – B2B and B2C – are relevant at all stages of our customers' training needs analysis.
B2C customers purchase training in order to improve their CV, gain a new role/job, or even progress within their current job role.
B2B clients purchase training in order to become/remain compliant with regulatory authorities, auditors, and environmental health officers. Businesses with no training can be open to large fines and even prosecution.
Use of proceeds
We are seeking crowdfunding investment of £93,000 for 8% of our company. Creation of the brand and development of the website has already been paid for using prize money that was received for winning Entrepreneurs of the Moment. We have extremely low overheads, being based in a free business accelerator for the next 3 years, meaning we have no office, internet, telephone, printing or stationery costs due to the founders gaining Community Member Status.
The crowdfunding investment will be used for two important activities:
- 84%: A marketing, advertising, and communications campaign, primarily focusing on SEO, PPC, Trade Magazine advertisements and social media campaigns.
- 16%: further course development enabling us to expand our course portfolio.
Please note that the company has an outstanding loan of £20,000. The money raised in this round will not be used to pay back this loan.
Market
Target market
Our market consists of both individuals seeking to gain employment or a promotion in their current role by upskilling, and corporate organisations looking to qualify their staff in order to remain compliant.
The main sectors that we are targeting are those that are heavily regulated by various authorities such as Financial Services, Hospitality, Food and Drink, Health and Social Care, and Retail. These sectors often need, and must have, training to remain legally compliant.
Research has shown that the eLearning industry isn't showing any signs of slowing down. In fact, an increasing number of individuals, corporations, and institutions are turning to eLearning, as they recognise its effectiveness and convenience. Below are some important eLearning statistics and facts for 2015, some of which may even surprise you!
The Global eLearning Industry Market:
- The global eLearning Market was estimated to reach $107 billion in 2015.
- The global self-paced eLearning market reached $32.1 billion in revenue in 2010, with a five year compound annual growth rate of approximately 9.2%.
This means that the self-paced eLearning market should see estimated revenues of $54.4 billion in 2016.
The Mobile Learning Market:
- The worldwide market for Mobile Learning products and services reached $5.3 billion in 2012. With a compound annual growth rate of 18.2% for the following five years, it is estimated that the worldwide mobile learning market will reach $12.2 billion by 2017.
It is for this reason that we need a prominent online presence, and this will be achieved using the investment raised. We expect that this will enable us to open up to the global market via online sales.
Characteristics of target market
Online Corporate Training:
The online corporate market is expected to grow by 13% per year up to 2017. Today, 77% of USA companies offer online corporate training to improve the professional development of their employees. Large companies are the main purchasers of eLearning products and services. In fact, these companies make up roughly 30% of all eLearning buyers.
The MOOC market (Massive Open Online Courses) has exploded. Not only is there a proliferation of courses, there is now an expansion of MOOC platform providers and tools.
lynda.com is one of the best known online education companies, offering thousands of video courses in software, creative, and business skills. On April 9, 2015, LinkedIn announced its purchase of lynda.com for $1.5 billion.
The MOOC and online training model is well established now in the USA, with brand leaders such as Lynda, Udemy, and Alison leading the way.
Notably, a number of the most successful businesses are offering their own certificated courses, something which Spearhead offers alongside fully accredited qualifications. We believe that this shows that the MOOC and online training model is something that the market is already very familiar with and has adopted widely in the USA. However, we believe that it is relatively untapped here in the UK, and there doesn’t seem to be a stand-out company known for such training as our US competitors.
Therefore, we aim to execute on this and become the go-to provider in the UK.
Marketing strategy
We intend to use Digital Marketing Campaigns focusing on social media, direct mail campaigns, advertisement, SEO, PPC, and also social media influencers. Spearhead has a good social media presence (over 16,000 organic social media followers across 4 active channels – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) and has already been featured in a number of mummy blogs, YouTube channels, business magazines, SKY TV, and National Newspapers. With the investment we plan to drive sales by:
● Creating awareness through PR and sponsored social media activity, such as paid adverts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to a carefully selected audience.
● Our PR focus will be on trade magazines and websites, as well as business profiling with national news and digital publications.
● We intend to spend 84% of the investment on SEO, PPC, and mail campaigns. We believe that this is key to our growth and our SEO and Marketing team are confident we can reach our estimated targets by the end of year 2.
● We aim to utilise social media influencers to promote and review our courses. In addition, we intend to offer a uniquely designed digital card that can be posted and shared on social media saying “Just completed a course with Spearhead”. We intend to give the user that posts it £10.00 credit on the site to use on any course.
Competition strategy
Spearhead aims to differentiate itself in both the quality of the courses and the user experience, both on our website and during the learning period itself.
We offer qualifications that are recognised internationally and that are a legal requirement for businesses to ensure that their staff are trained and up-to-date. We also aim to deliver practical training and apprenticeship-funded training via our partners and consultancy services, which adds 3 additional revenue streams that our main online training competitors don't offer. We are one of the only providers to our knowledge that can offer a full training solution that includes online elearning, practical training, apprenticeship/funded training, and compliance consultancy.
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