Five Essential Marketing Skills L&D Needs

To the casual observer, it might appear that L&D andmarketing have little in common. In actuality, the disciplines share someimportant similarities.

“We are both sense-makers,” says Judy Albers, a learningstrategist with Intrepid Learning. “We can look at a universe of content and figure out how tocommunicate it.”

But Albers adds that there are some key differencesbetween the two. “L&D typically focuses on how to communicate so thatpeople become competent in something and then demonstrate that competence,” shesays. “Marketers typically communicate in order to engage people and get themto do something.”

Albers says L&D professionals can harness some valuablelessons from marketing. She will discuss this topic in more detail at anupcoming eLearning Guild summit.

Learning from Marketing Summit

Albers is one of several professionals presenting at the Learning from Marketing Summit, a live online event to be held August 23 and 24. Hersession on August 24 is titled “Skill Sets Marketers Have that L&D CanDevelop.” She will examine the skills that savvy marketers inherently possess,and expand on how L&D leaders can successfully apply them to the trainingindustry. She will also share a case study that illuminates how her firmemployed marketing concepts to help a client deliver a popular trainer-ledclass online.

In this particular case study, Intrepid Learning transformeda global consulting firm’s trainer-led class into a two-week blended learningcourse. To engage learners and generate interest in the course, they utilizedbasic marketing techniques such as great visual design, humor,storytelling, live webinars, social interaction, shareable content, and video. Their successful approachsatisfied stakeholders and saved the firm $500,000 annually.

Five Essential Marketing Skills L&D Needs

Albers says marketers have many valuable skill sets thatL&D leaders can develop. Five of the most essential include how to:

1. Write for the web
2. Apply marketing-quality visual design
3. Integrate video and audio
4. Iterate on your designs with usability testing
5. Create an immersive, contextual learning journeythe way marketers create a customer journey

“Marketers understand how to engage people,” Albers says.“They know it’s not about pushing products. … It’s about creating value.” Thisis an important takeaway for L&D professionals. She refers to marketingguru Jay Baer, who maintains that thebrands that are prospering today are the ones that educate.

“The gift of education creates a bond and a sense ofgratitude. If you make your content useful, people will engage,” Albers says.

Marketers are brief when it comes to written communicationbecause audiences today tend to skim pages in a predictable pattern. “As aresult, your text has to highlight the most important information to makepeople who scan want to dive deeper,” Albers says.

Marketers also embrace a more informal communication style,which L&D leaders can emulate. “Write like you talk, and don’t be overlyworried about grammar,” Albers advises. “Use casual words and don’t try toimpress others.”

When it comes to visual design, marketers know what kinds ofimages people click on. (Hint: Stock photos don’t cut it.)

Finally, the best marketers strive to tell a story. Theyunderstand that stories drive engagement and make content more memorable.Albers notes that L&D trainers can (and should) take advantage of the powerof story.