Last week I gave a webinar about how to use marketing techniques to increase the uptake of e-learning programmes. This is a major challenge for most L&D people and those in the public sector are no exception.
They need to prove, now more than ever, that the training programmes they are in charge of delivering are impactful and engaging. Money is scarce so it has to work harder and adopting a few marketing tips and strategies to get people on board is a wise thing to do.
The final thing I mentioned was the AIDA acronym which, despite being around for well over 100 years, is still the way to get a sale (read learner engaged) today.
AIDA stands for awareness, interest, desire and action and represents a linear process.
For a L&D person hoping to get more students taking their e-learning they must first make them aware of the training before quickly getting them interested in what they’re saying.
The next bit, creating the desire, is tricky but essential. It’s only then that any action can be expected. If you jump right in to demanding action before following the first three steps then it just won’t happen.
Sounds straightforward enough. But how do you do this?
Three ideas to create awareness
- Find a strong (preferably humourous) image, maybe similar to the one of Winston Churchill, above, and use it.
- Get a great testimonials or quotes from a VIP, perhaps the Chief Exec or someone else inspirational.
- Go viral to get people talking and telling your story via word of mouth.
One way to create interest
- The best way to do this is to tap in to what your audience loves. The challenge is to understand what that is, which means really knowing your audience inside out. (Another way might be to tap into their fears.)
Two ways to create desire
- Apple excels here with their queues around the block for glossy, aspirational, status symbols. But you don’t need million dollar marketing budgets; good, old fashioned keeping-up-with-the-Jones’ works too. If your neighbour has it then the chances are that, eventually, you’ll probably want it too. This works for shiny gadgets as well as e-learning programmes.
- Make believable promises that everyone wants, eg this programme will make your working life easier. We all want that.
Many ways to create action
- Call us, email us, visit us on our stand, fill in our survey, preview this module. The list is endless. There’s a lot to know about creating a call to action that actually works. However, I think the three most important factors with a call to action are to be visible, to clearly demonstrate the benefit of taking the action and, most crucially, to make sure that there is a call to action in the first place.
J Harkin Collection 