If you don't have onestart one.

THE CLASSTHINK OUTSIDE

1 2 3 4

Think trailer! Preview your learning Direct marketing isn'tdead!

Blog Video Slideshare Newletter

4 Steps to Marketing Your Learning

Beyond Free Lunch

Learning Rebels Guide

6

This is not how you want to drive your audience to your product. Product you spent a lot of time and effortto be creative, engaging and innovative.

One thing remains true - the one thing L&D needs is a marketing department. Here are four ideas to takeyour L&D marketing from “Free Lunch” to something that your customers will not be able to resist and willcreate such a buzz, you'll have nothing but waiting lists.

Where's there's free food

You know the old saying:

There's an audience

1

If you don't have a blog, get one. This is the single best way to provide information (as you will see) to yourpeople. Starting a blog is remarkably easy and possibilities endless; include general L&D updates,course/class information, project updates or survey results. Once you hook them, you need a plan to keepthem coming back, so plan for interesting easy content such as thought of the day, trivia contest, "top 10" listsor give-aways.Blog Bonus: Include a sign-up form (which will come with your blog "theme") which will ask people tosubscribe. This will allow them to receive automatic email updates and special content. Remember, you areusing this to market your department - “You may have the best product in the world, but if you can’t sell it,you still have it”. ~ Zig Ziggler

2

Video Intro: Think movie trailer. We all make decisions on movies based on the trailer. Create a short, clevervideo introducing upcoming activities. People will be talking about your course and will want to know more.You can add the video to the blog, post it into a newsletter, send it via email, upload to intranet thepossibilities are endless. Video bonus: Nowadays you don’t have to hire someone, just whip out your hand held video camera, smartphone or tablet and go to town. There is plenty of free to inexpensive software to help produce a quality endresults. Head on over to YouTube and search for video software.

3

Slides as a hook: Create a slide-share account (free) to share previews of your courses. From there you canincorporate the deck into your blog. Create a deck that is 4 - 5 slides tops, giving the feature enough to makethem hungry for more. Make it creative and fun, just like your courses! Slide-Share Bonus: You can upload more than presentations, got a clever infographic? Use it as advertising.Start with Piktochart. Use a product (free) such as Haiku Deck to create beautiful tasty bites about yourcourses or classes. Be sure to include a “call to action” on the last slide that will encourages people to sign upfor blog updates.

Direct Marketing. The flyer on the lunch room refrigerator isn’t going to cut it, neither is that one randomemail announcement. Time to bring in the newsletter, not the difficult to format word version. But a seriouslyclever and good looking one, that is easily created through MailChimp (free). The best newsletters are simpleand short - think lots of whitespace. This is not for "everything but the kitchen sink" - you want short updatesthat will send the reader to... (you guessed it) your BLOG. Newsletter Bonus: Mailchimp has FREE resource guides to help you set-up and create newsletters peopleactually want to read.

5

6

Don't like these ideas? That's fine

Just do something! Find the biggest Marketing guru

you know and ask them how they would market your department.

Over a martini, of course.

THE CLASSTHINK OUTSIDE

4 Steps to Marketing Your Learning

Beyond Free Lunch

THE CLASSTHINK OUTSIDE

Marketing Your LearningBeyond Free Lunch

Picture Credits go to