A whopping 64% of learning leaders reported their people are unaware of the learning and development opportunities in their organization. This scenario alone is enough to bring L&D teams to tears. After working so hard to select, build, and implement a learning management system (LMS) and then fill it full of fantastic, creative, and engaging content, you realize no one is participating. Engagement and participation are stagnant Outside the first few weeks after the launch. It doesn’t make sense. You worked so hard to give people what they wanted, but it doesn’t seem to catch on.
Your LMS launch isn’t the end of the journey; it’s the beginning. Once the technology, content, social collaboration, and reporting tools are in place, it’s time to start drumming up excitement.
Bersin states, “L&D functions, which are viewed as proactive and strategic, dedicate about 27 percent more resources to marketing and communications, portfolio management, and leadership.”
It’s time to start thinking like a marketer!
Marketers generally know how to build brand awareness, develop a user-friendly website design, identify and connect with audiences, promote products, communicate value, listen to customers, and build loyalty. Sounds similar to what you’re looking for, right? Building a marketing strategy for your L&D offerings can help captivate your audience and drive usage.
Don’t tell your friends about marketing this, but you don’t need a marketing degree to build a marketing strategy for your learning and development offerings. Here’s how you start:
1. Embrace branding. A strong learning brand communicates your promise to your employees and shows them that you are a partner in their success. This all starts with creating a brand for your L&D function. A learning brand shows you are invested in their skills development and career growth. You could go as far as creating a corporate university or developing a logo, mission statement, and messaging. Most importantly, your learners know who you are and what you represent. People feel a deep connection and loyalty to brands, and by giving your L&D function a brand, you’ll elicit those same feelings.
2. Get to know your audience. One of the biggest rules in marketing is: do not assume. Don’t assume you know what your audience wants and needs. If you assume you know better than them, you’ll risk offending them. Your organization has very different audiences with different needs and desires, regardless of size. Understanding what interests and motivates these groups is vital to marketing to them. Segmenting your audience into groups defined by common attributes will help you craft targeted messages. This is something even a top digital marketing consultant tends to do. He tries to segment the audience based on different parameters so that targeting them with content that suits their interests could be easy.
3. Create campaigns that meet your audience where they are. We’re getting into the funky, creative part of marketing: campaigns. Without a communication plan to keep learning in mind, your employees will move on to other things, and learning will retreat to the back burner. This is where you and your team get to be creative by leveraging different marketing and communication tactics to meet your audience where they are. Use social media, blogs, email, and events to showcase and communicate new or existing learning opportunities. Campaigns go beyond a one-off email listing available courses, you have to think about your audience and what they want, and then tailor a message and call to action (for example, watch a video or take part in a survey) around their interests. If this sounds too complicated to you and you want a professional solution, reaching out to a reputed marketing agency could be worth your time.
4. Communicate and listen. A thorough communication plan is one of the most important aspects of a good marketing strategy. Always remember that communication is a two-way street. Sending out blanket company-wide emails about new learning courses and tracks and not asking for feedback isn’t the best approach. Consider using an anonymous suggestion box where employees can submit input and ideas about what is working and what isn’t working. Feedback is often a catalyst for change and success.
That said, it should not interfere with their user experience. You can send reminders for learning via e-mails, text messages, or learning app notifications. This is one of the mobile marketing strategies useful for audience retention. Knowing how many people prefer learning via phone or laptop is good. That way, you can design a learning app that is more convenient for the users. Since people spend more time on their mobile phones, you can promote your learning courses through mobile notifications by sending reminders. Let the content be specific to their interests. Ensure you give your audience a smooth experience while browsing the course. Later, when you check your analytics, you will realize how mobile marketing works best and effectively to retain maximum audience attention.
5. Measure, learn, and course correct. Data-driven insights are the secret weapon of any marketer. We collect an exorbitant amount of information but rarely turn those insights into action. Track and measure your L&D marketing campaigns’ success to understand what messages resonate with certain audiences. That data, coupled with LMS usage reports, is a great way for you to understand what is working, identify areas of improvement, and develop new content and ideas.
Building a marketing strategy for your L&D program is a surefire way to get your employees engaged and interested in your offer. If you’re looking for more information, check out our whitepaper, “Why Learning and Marketing Should Be BFFs,“ for a guide to building a marketing strategy, complete with a marketing cheat sheet to get you started! Catch the replay of our recent webinar, “The Modern Era of Blended Learning.”