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Ryan O'Hara
Senior Learning Designer
Learning Pool
Finger Clickin' Good. Apply
the principles of
advertising to workplace
learning
Like Brexit plans and the list of foods that give
you cancer, the job of the e-learning designer
is always changing. Not too long-ago learning
design was about taking a policy document
and refashioning it into a passably attractive
set of side-scrolling pages. Now, everything
from chatbots and gamification to interactive
videos and branching scenarios can be
employed.
Unite and rule
The ongoing quest for learner engagement
has brought a further dimension to the design
and implementation of workplace training. It's
no longer just about creating a self-contained
e-learning module - increasingly, the central
training comes wrapped up in its own
advertising campaign.
For example, a new health and safety course
might include e-learning and online
resources, but also short animations and
workplace posters that reinforce the key
messages.
If you devise a catchy slogan and visual
theme to unite these strands, before you
know it, you're 'doing advertising'. You might
as well be in 60s-era Madison Avenue, chainsmoking and liquid-lunching.
You can do it when you L&D it
The benefits? Well, repeated exposure to key
messages obviously helps the content to
stick. However, marketing tactics can also
answer a familiar lament of L&D departments
the world over: 'How do we get staff excited
about this training?'.
The solution lies not solely in the learning but
in how you sell it to your audience. In
particular, there's an increasing demand for
standalone animations and videos, as
organisations seek to add a bit of verve to
internal communications.
Where once a company-wide email would let
people know about a new initiative, firms have
found that a well-executed video on their
intranet can create a genuine buzz. The
speed and cost at which high-quality video
can now be created, helps, of course.
Sell the sizzle
Another big advantage of applying advertising
principles to workplace training is that it forces
us to distil the content to a slogan or tagline -
a 'big idea' for the learner to take away.
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