5 Quick How-To Tips: Marketing Your New Learning Program to Attract New Talent

Marketing learning is usually the very last phase of course design. After all of the design, development, sign offs, and pilots, it is the afterthought before the next project is started. This usually means a hastily written couple of paragraphs thrown into the LMS before the files are uploaded. Unfortunately, without a basic strategy, the return on investment on your content will never be realized simply because no one is aware it even exists. Using tips from marketing, you can vastly increase engagement, enrollment, and ultimately, results.  

Write course descriptions to engage

Nothing is dryer than reading a list of learning objectives. While they are important for course design and expectation setting, you have a split second to capture the attention of your audience before they scroll to the next email. Instead of technical learning-speak, think about your course descriptions as HBO or Netflix show synopses. They should be compelling and enticing, with light storytelling elements to encourage interest in enrollment. 

Talk to Marketing or Communications

Chances are your Marketing or Comms departments have software they already use to reach employees’ inboxes. They will have a ton of data on what methods work best, including the best time of day to send an email, and what types of emails have the best click-through rates (this is when an email is both opened and the link is clicked by the reader). Use their expertise to structure a solid approach to getting the word out about your program. 

Find the virtual water cooler

If you want to capture the attention of your audience, ask your IT department one simple question: what is the intranet or employee web page with the most visits? If possible, put a relevant teaser description, visual and link to your course there. 

Think beyond email

Do not underestimate the power of other modalities to reach your learners. If your company is using Slack or Teams, perhaps you build a simple chatbot to prompt reminders about upcoming courses on a weekly basis. Likewise, create a #learning on any of the internal social platforms used to promote learning experiences.

Ask Me Anything

If you find engagement with learning is waning, this is a good time to hold an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session. These are popular on Reddit. It is a fixed session on social media when anyone can post any question about L&D and get an answer. One caution: you may get some uncomfortable comments if employees are not pleased with their development opportunities. That said, it can reveal insights you can act upon.

When you take the time to build or procure quality content, it is not enough to wait for learners to uncover it. Be proactive and create connections with your end-users. Likewise, the more you prompt learners about what your team has to offer, the better engagement and strategic profile you will have within your company.