Why Learning & Development Needs to Think Like a Marketer
Tanya Booke • May 7, 2022
How To Brand Your Learning and Development Organization
Branding is essential. It communicates an organization's values and promises to its employees which make them trust it when they invest in learning activities, see the results of these investments and grow professionally through new opportunities. And this starts with creating a brand for your L&D team so that learners know what kind of support to expect from you. As part of this process, create a logo, mission statement and other symbols that show off how passionate you are about investing in their future. Branding provides unity within an organization; giving people one unifying identity to get behind instead of hundreds of ones which leads employees feeling less connected which leads disengagement from work.
Find your core messaging and align it with who you're trying to communicate to: your employees, potential hires, higher-ups at other companies or even ex-employees. For example, if you work in HRM, try focusing on being able to provide them with the tools they need for self-improvement - expanding their professional knowledge through workshops and small group training sessions, providing pre-employment testing services to ensure they're 100% ready before applying for jobs that require certain qualifications. With a strong foundational message now set up, it'll be easier when we move onto phase two; branding.
Figure out where things stand right now and make corrections accordingly - are there any courses that overlap? Have all courses been refreshed since last quarter? Which ones have only been updated because of new content from vendors rather than internal development efforts? Pinpoint what needs improvement and make sure we address these opportunities head-on!
Plan before you act. Effective communication is imperative in order to reach all team members and keep them up-to-date with developments, including upcoming changes or product launches. Too many companies use group emailing tools such as Slack or Yammer without incorporating any type of suggestion box or other forum so employees can give feedback on what they want to see changed.
Have an idea before you design anything! Research how different teams communicate using a variety of different forums/tools before designing anything new – just because something has worked for you doesn't mean it will work for everyone else!
Use tracking systems to monitor outcomes from your marketing campaigns (i.e., postcards sent out to prospective students) so you know which types of messages resonate most with which audience segments!
If you're looking for a way to make your learners engaged and excited about what you offer them, creating an effective marketing strategy is the best move.
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