Marketing e-learning inside

To gain bigger returns at the business results level, individual learners have to want to learn, and then apply the new skills in the workplace. And as part of an overall e-learning plan, W.I.I.F.M. (What’s In It For Me) should be built into every part of an e-learning strategy. Marketing e-learning internally can borrow techniques from traditional marketing.

Objectives

What are you trying to accomplish? You likely want to increase participation with your e-learning offerings. The end goal is to increase business results. The overall e-learning strategy should contain the business results objectives.

The marketing plan objectives should always be measurable. If you decide to increase participation in a certain course, you could say “Increase participation in the ABC course by 50% by 12/31/2009.” Then, decide how to measure this. With most Learning Management Systems, there is a reporting system that can query the database for numbers of participants, time spent, test scores, etc. This is probably the most common means for measuring participation.

The Five P’s

Product
In regard to e-learning, the product is usually either the learning portal or the courses inside.
Positioning
Positioning is typically an external term to describe how you rate amongst other competitors in terms of price, perceived value, and reputation. In e-learning terms, there could still be competition for attention with other employee programs, such as Corporate Wellness programs, or high priority operational tasks.
Place
Place means the distribution channel for getting your product to consumers. For e-learning, this decision is already made with the intranet or internet as the distribution channel.
Price
If you do charge directly or indirectly, pricing goes in hand with positioning, and should be low enough that your customers participate at the rate you specified in the objectives. At the corporate level, e-learning is mostly free to all employees.
Promotion
Promotion is the mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations a company uses to pursue its marketing objectives. In e-learning terms, this means a mix of internal advertising, word-of-mouth, and managerial clout.

Internal e-learning advertising is interesting. Paycheck stuffers, lunchroom signs, online and traditional newsletters are just a few of the methods that you must use to reach out to potential learners. Use as many mediums as you can afford, so that you can be sure to reach all of your audience, and the mediums will help to reinforce each other. This is the carrot at the end of the stick, encouraging employees to better themselves and increase their performance through e-learning. Here are some ideas to promote e-learning:

Presentations at meetings
E-mails
Flyers or paycheck stuffers
Intranet pages
Newsletters
Physical bulletin boards
Posters in training or meeting rooms
Incentives, such as prizes or certificates

The Big Stick method is Managerial Clout. Senior management involvement in e-learning strategies is paramount. When a message comes from the Chief Learning Officer, asking for (or demanding) more participation, it gets more attention, and some will only join if and when it becomes a requirement. One effective way of getting employees to participate is to send a detailed participation report to managers on a regular basis. Just the fact that subordinates know they are on a report is enough for some.

Marketing e-learning is about thinking of your learner base as customers. Their commodity is most often time and you’ll have a more productive workforce if your e-learning program features engaging content and a marketing program that focuses on what’s in it for them.