Wednesday, November 9, 2011

3 Principles Learning Professionals Should Steal From Advertisers

One of the simplest concepts in any marketing or advertising strategy are the 3 M's: Market, Message, Media.

When you are trying to communicate to another person, or group of people -- whether it's in a corporate training situation or in advertising -- consider these three key elements to get your point across.

1. Market: You need to know to whom you are speaking.  Who are they? What are their interests? What is their background? What are their problems you can solve? Learn as much about them as possible before you even begin to develop your training workshop. You don't want to get 80% of the way through development and realize you've missed the key needs of your learners.

2. Message: Carefully crafting your message around the needs and wants of your market is key. Be sure to incorporate proven instructional design principles like our S.O.L.I.D. process (Simple Online Learning Instructional Design) to ensure your message is clear and consumable. Oh, and be sure to cut out any unnecessary information so that you can keep it short yet effective.

3. Media: Depending on where your audience lives and how they like to work will determine the mechanisms you use to communicate to them. Evaluate whether or not self-paced learning, virtual classrooms or face-to-face ILT is the way to go. If you have scheduling constraints with your learners you may want to consider self-paced training. If you have distance issues or budget issues, virtual classrooms are proven to be just as effective as face-to-face.

You may bemoan the effects of advertising on your community, but there is a simple fact you need to consider: it works! So, if you don't think this simple advertising principle is true, just look for advertising in places/magazines/web sites you frequent. See if they have accurately determined the 3 M's to target you!

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