Campaign Learning White Paper

Campaign Learning
White Paper
The initial research paper that combines the findings, research and experience
from Campaign Learning. This paper examines how marketing tools and skills
can be used to support learning delivery, engagement and improve business
performance.
Contents
1. Executive Summary
a. Elements of Implementation
b. What we should be doing
2. About the Authors
3. Introduction
4. What the research says
5. What is Campaign Learning
6. What is being offered at the moment
a. Learning providers
b. Learning departments
7. Aspects of Implementation
a. Pre –course (and during course)
i. Creating the desire to engage
ii. Creating understanding of the need for
engagement
b. Post-course
i. Embedding the learning
ii. Track and measure change
8. What we should be doing
9. Elements of Implementation
a. Introducing the FLAG model
b. Filter
c. Language
d. Accessible
e. Goal
10. Conclusions
11. Acknowledgements
12. Bibliography
www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery
+44(0) 1489 571 366 admin@campaignlearning.com
1
Executive Summary
It’s no secret that the learning and development world has to pick up pace to match the speed of
changing learner needs - specifically the changes in technology, the way content is consumed and
the nature of individual career paths.
But what is it about the way people consume content that the learning world is still missing? Could
it be that there is much we can learn from the way modern communications are evolving? And what
can we learn from marketing, as a campaign based principle, about engaging people and changing
behaviours?
Though the need for marketing approaches to support the delivery of learning is understood, there is a disconnect
between the understanding of delivering engaging learning and a learning campaign. Present learning delivery
approaches see engagement and behaviour change as a direct impact to be achieved through learning design and
delivery. Whether it is a course itself, an LMS or an application, these learning resources are fundamentally disconnected
from the environment they intend to have an impact on.
There is an identified need for an increase in professional marketing approaches to support learning in order to increase
the impact it has on business performance. Organisations are reaching out for a more extensive approach. It is the
learning and development experts, rather than marketing experts, who are attempting to carry out campaigns to
promote learning. Marketing experts across the globe carry out a whole wealth of different approaches to implement
behaviour change and consumer engagement. The tactics are varied, extensive and successfully prompt changes in
behaviour.
The Elements of Implementation

Research has provided the opportunity to develop a model to support the effective implementation of a learning
campaign. This model has been tried and tested in multiple sectors.
The FLAG Model

Implementing Campaign Learning: How to use marketing techniques to improve business performance.
Campaign Learning

2
What we should be doing.
There are a number of opportunities for both learning and development departments and learning providers to meet
the demand for campaign learning and implement it effectively.
Opportunities for learning providers

Partnerships Partner with marketing companies that understand learning and development to offer this
service as part of their package by purchasing and / or developing re-saleable products and
services.
Consultancy Bring in expertise in order to offer a support and consultancy service to work with clients
through the implementation and post-launch phase of new learning products and services.
Opportunities for learning departments

Getting in marketing Bring in a partner to work on implementing campaigns. Source a specialist with marketing
expertise expertise and an understanding of the learning and development function.
Create demand State in tenders the requirement for a marketing campaign to implement new learning
resources and set aside a budget for it.
Internal communications Talk more with your internal communication teams.

Communicate more internally across the board.
Plan your branding and your messaging for both the department and for each
learning intervention.
Understand the offering Understand the internal value proposition of the learning and development offer
Understand the audience
Understand what the learners are buying into
Who is this paper for?

This paper provides an unbiased look at what campaign learning is, what is being done now and what could be done in
the future. The report takes both the perspective of the learning providers and the learning departments to provide an
overall image of sector developments. We look at campaign learning based on the key problems of engagement,
retention and business performance.

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About the Authors
This report is brought to you by a marketing company that specialises within the learning and development industry.
Campaign Learning are the primary author, with the copy being collated by the Managing Director, Isobel Nancarrow.
Campaign Learning work alongside Nancarrow Partnerships, the learning and development focussed marketing
company. The source of the concept has been studied by the organisation for over two years. This report compiles the
research put together from first, second and third hand sources, combining in-the-field experience with research backing.
It provides an overview of the key points of Campaign Learning: the relevancy, concept and application.
Issy (Isobel) has a passion for engaging in the learning industry both from a professional and personal perspective. She is
on a mission to make sure that marketing practices are put to better use, through increased efficiency, proven results
and a wider range of implementation.
Campaign Learning welcomes any queries and are always happy to share the success stories of others. Do get in touch
at admin@campaignlearning.com or +44 (0)1489 571 366.
Campaign Learning was founded by the marketing experts of Nancarrow Partnerships

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Introduction
It’s no secret that the learning and development world has to pick up pace to match the speed of changing learner
needs. Change in terms of technology, the way content is consumed and the varied nature of individual career paths. But
why is it that learning provision still sits so far from the central function of organisations? As such an essential function of
business performance, why does it stay at the perimeter and why does it not get taken on board and integrated at all
levels within organisations?
The integral problems of learning and development departments remain very similar to those described twenty years
ago. The challenges of engagement, retention and the need to prove value within an organisation are all on-going
across the board. Whilst these challenges in their essence remain the same, the nature in which people engage has
evolved. Individuals now engage with content in a different manner and have a different approach to their career. These
challenges and their solutions need to adapt in turn with their consumers, the learners. The challenges of engagement
and retention hinder the effectiveness of learning to change staff behaviours and ultimately business performance.
There are many skills that can support the learning and development provision to increase engagement. Marketing as an
approach is designed specifically for this challenge, albeit in a different context. Marketing skills, techniques and tools are
all designed to ultimately change behaviours. When tailored to suit learning goals, these behaviour changes can be
designed to increase engagement in the learning, memory retention and impact on that primary goal of increased
business performance.
The disconnect between learning delivery and changing behaviours devalues the learning and development function. For
the best designers, content and technology is not enough; we must engage learners, motivate managers and energize
the organisation (Moore et al., 2007). Many learning providers, as well as some learning departments, are rising to the
challenge, though these changes are in their early days and are carried out by learning and development professionals
rather than skilled marketing specialists.
This report focuses specifically on the move towards campaign learning. It is becoming increasingly understood that
marketing approaches would be beneficial to learning. This need is highlighted in the works of Charles Jennings, Towards
Maturity and the exploratory documents of companies such as Brightwave. The challenge is that learning providers and
learning and development teams are not marketing experts. It’s a different language, a different way of thinking.
“Learning professionals are understandably more familiar with the tools and techniques
used in the learning community than those used in marketing. But when you consider that
marketing’s aims are to generate awareness, curiosity and desire within the mind of a
potential consumer, then it seems only natural to employ marketing tools and techniques to
engage learners.”
Ed Monk, Managing Director
The Learning and Performance Institute

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What the research says
The 2015 Towards Maturity benchmarking research has shown that over 90% of learning and development
departments feel marketing and stakeholder engagement skills are crucial to their roles. The respondents felt that
they held only 40% of this category of relevant skills, where the high performing departments held under 60% of the
required skills
91% of learning departments seek improved productivity and engagement 29% are achieving this
Towards Maturity Embracing Change 2015
% Perceived marketing skills level

held by L+D teams
Currently held by all

respondents
Perceived marketing skills
Currently held by top level held by L+D teams
performing teams
Desired
0 20 40 60 80 100
Source: Towards Maturity (2015)
C li en ts are startin g to real ise tha t th ey need to thi nk li ke a

mark eter or bring in someone to help. By taking lessons from marketing, their
clients are learning how to position their content, reflect their culture and brand
and interact in order to maintain the attention of staff.
Training Industries .com
M any en d u sers hav e access to genu inel y engag ing

and wo rthwh ile learni ng sol utio ns th at wi ll im prov e
perfor mance. I t is a trag edy that the i mpact i s l o st
due to lo w eng agement an d retenti on lev el s.
C LC

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What is Campaign Learning?
Campaign Learning describes the use of marketing alongside and complementing the delivery of learning
interventions. A marketing campaign to support learning sits neatly around a learning intervention. It adds value to
learning products and services through increased awareness, engagement, communication, participation, retention and
the embedding of behaviours.
Marketing, both in terms of the approach as well as the tools and technology available, is invaluable to any campaign.
The tools by which it is possible to engage with the audience allow for mass communication and engagement as well as
the tracking of the impact of a campaign. The nature in which campaigns are designed, is tailored to incentivise staff,
which is a crucial aspect of any behaviour change initiative.
All aspects, from branding to key messaging, are integral throughout any successful campaign. Alongside this is the
nature of the points-of-contact with the learners, this being the manner in which the campaign brings the learning
intervention to the learners. These points-of-contact include all internal communication opportunities, both off and on-
line; they are the platforms on which these campaign elements are brought to the learners and the way the message is
spread. These elements or points-of-contact create the staggered and tailored approach that the campaign takes to
draw people into the learning by means of media, messaging, branding and incentives.
It is important to prepare learners for learning interventions even before course participation. The marketing starts from
before through to an extended time after a learning intervention. A campaign actively engages the learner during the
intervention from before it is even implemented, preparing the learner for the reasons for change and providing context
to the initiative. During the intervention, consumer marketing and branding are important tools that should be utilised to
engage learners and keep them coming back. In turn, these levels of increased engagement strengthen the connection
between the learning intervention and proving an impact on business performance. Following on from the intervention,
the campaign is a tool that can support the embedding of the learning, ensuring long-term behaviour change. This
overarching campaign approach from pre- to post-course embedding of behaviours leads to the subsequent impact of
improving business performance. When the campaign tools are used to allow for tracking impact of a learning
intervention using a marketing analytics approach, data can be collected to show the value of the learning function
within an organisation. When applied in certain ways it also provides the potential to record and report on the business
impact of learning initiatives.
When we look at a campaign approach to learning as a narrative from pre- to post-course incentives, we are looking to
achieve a number of responses from the learner:
Pre and during course (the buy-in):

1. Creating the desire to engage
This is the pulling force, e.g. why does a buyer pick up a cola or choose an apple mac.
2. Creating an understanding of the need for engagement in learning
This creates a necessity for the learner to engage. The thought process includes: “I need to engage in this
learning because if I don’t, then ‘x’ will happen and if I do engage then, ‘y’ will happen, e.g. if I buy a deck chair I
can enjoy the sun, and if I buy sunscreen, I won’t get burnt.
Post-course (the behaviour change):

1. Embedding the learning
Memory jogging and embedding the learning while at work, e.g. once I have bought my deck chair and
sunscreen, what will make me use it? And continue to use it?
2. Track and measure change
Tracking behaviour change through impact and engagement to show change of behaviour that is measurable
(qualitative/ quantitative), e.g. how will my partner know that I am using the sunscreen that they bought me?
And that I am using it effectively? How will my partner know if it is the right kind of sunscreen, is it the right
factor? Will they buy it again or a different one?

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Bringing the resources to the learner: in the context of the Google effect
One of the fundamental aspects of a successful marketing campaign is making sure that the buyer or audience (in this
case the learner) has to put in little to no effort to access the product or resource. During a chat in the pub or a meeting
in the office, if someone wants to find information, the usual first port of call is Google. Hence by using Google as an
example it is possible to clarify some of the ways in which tailoring points-of-contact with the audience can increase
engagement. Google does not provide an all-bells-and-whistles exciting experience of some marketing techniques, but it
does highlight an effective way to impact engagement numbers both in the short and the longer term.
Google users have a user journey, which is dictated to a large degree by marketing. For example, the links they click on
are determined by a number of factors:
Stage 1:
Knowing Google
Wanting to use Google
Stage 2: finding the content

Knowing what to search for
Page ranking: top clicks and page one clicks are a well-known desired marketing outcome for websites.
Google advertising: getting you in front of the reader.
The text on the Google title and summary: how it matches what the user is looking for.
Stage 3: accessing the content

The actual content on the page that has been opened, how quickly the viewer can find what they need and how
enjoyable/easy/useful the user journey is.
Stage 4: Repeat engagement

Will they come back? What prompts them to come back? Memorable user experience/advertising, calls-to-action
(CTAs) and reminders/incentives.
Stage 5: using the content now

With learning interventions there are additional impact measures to make behaviour changes supported by the
marketing campaign.
Stage 6: using the content later (embedding the learning)

Being able to put the information into practice immediately.
Being able to find the content again if needed.
Being able to remember and use the information at a later date, in a different situation.
If Google did not provide an easy and accessible user journey, the content would not be accessed by the users. By not
engaging with the learners, even outside the programme of learning, you are distancing yourself from how the staff
operate. This is part of the reason why learning and development becomes seen as a drain on time for many staff.
People think and respond in the same way, as shown in the Google example, when using learning resources; even off-
line learning covers the same basic user journey principles albeit in a different way.


8
What is Being Offered at the Moment?
Learning Providers
Though there are some supporting documents from a selection of learning technology providers, few deliver a campaign
style service or resources to support their advice and guidance documents. Off-line providers are yet to touch on the
subject.
As learning companies are coming from the perspective of training delivery, there is still a vast gap between the advice
offered and the approach of a marketing campaign. There is much discussion on learning design and linking strategy to
business performance objectives. There is little to no practical guidance or examples from providers on how a full-blown
marketing style campaign can play a supportive role alongside the learning delivery.

The most widely known services come from mid-large organisations such as LEO, who make it quite clear on their
website that this is an offering that has been requested by clients. LEO specifically explain how the most common
complaint in the industry is investing money in an LMS and then watching it gather dust as employees don't know it’s
there, don't know the benefits of using it or don’t know how to engage with it beyond mandatory courses. This challenge
is directly tackled by a campaign learning approach.
Many e-learning offerings are scalable and can suit small companies to corporations. The marketing required for
launching an LMS or course within this range of clients varies significantly. Therefore learning companies do not tend to
have a set plan to implement as a campaign package service. Those that do offer a campaign style package, offer
bespoke plans with basic communication tools and resources. This means that the few companies switched on to the
difference between marketing approaches and e-learning approaches are seeking external marketing expertise.
The consistent message from providers to their clients is that courses require more internal communications than are
currently being delivered. They also require more specialised campaign strategies to implement when they buy a new
learning package.

Examples from those forging the way
LEO PluralSight Acteon
LEO provide a campaign launch PluralSight start from skills Acteon have been developing the
service as part of their offering; a assessments and understanding habits concept of making an impact with
thorough service that includes of consumption relevant to their learning communications. They focus
planning and implementing individual clients. on the messaging style and platforms
communications and the marketing available to generate a reaction from
of the LMS, etc., to ensure people are They utilise on- and off-line the staff.
aware of it and know why it’s there. promotions providing ‘sample’ sized
learning to generate engagement. They have also been developing
impact reports from questionnaires
and providing qualitative data
collection.
“You wouldn’t ask your neighbour to take out your tooth, so why would you go to an L+D expert to carry out an
internal marketing campaign”
Claire Forrest, Learning Consultant at Centrica 6 July 2016

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Learning and Development Departments
The take up of marketing techniques within the learning and development function is in its early stages. Those learning
and development specialists with a background in marketing are forging the way. However, marketing techniques are
developing quickly, and those with experience dating back more than a few years have become out of date with the
modern understanding of how to influence behaviours.
Over the past two years there has been an increase in the number of companies requesting campaign style support
from providers alongside their purchases of learning resources. Discussion within the industry shows that there is still a
long way to go for both departments and providers to fully understand the difference between a learning campaign and
simply letting staff know that learning is there through internal communications.
To date those rare attempts by learning and development departments to introduce a marketing approach are very
much bespoke to the individual leading it, which means that there is not yet a standardised understanding of effective
implementation. By looking at commonalities and successes it is possible to identify how these standard practices will be
developed. For example, there have been an increasing number of companies getting senior leaders involved in
promoting key learning interventions that support large strategic changes. There has also been a range of methods in
which companies engage and develop advocates across the organisation.
Learning departments are attempting to promote learning and engage staff. To date these, particularly in SMEs, tend
towards email communications and intranet notifications. Email campaigns are almost archaic from a marketing
perspective. With large numbers of emails being sent to every member of staff, every day, communications about
training are easily left unnoticed. They are useful but only a very small aspect of engaging an audience. Some of the
larger, multinational companies have been carrying out more extensive campaigns when driven by forward-thinking
learning directors who are actively networking and engaging with their leadership teams to get things going.
‘… there are k ey lesso ns w e in L &D can learn from adv erti sing an d ma rketing to ensure w e
engag e o ur l earners m ore effecti vely. They may have sophisticated tools at their disposal and use extensive
research to help shape their ideas that we don’t have access to but even so there are key steps each one of us can
take to harness our own inner marketer and capture our audience.’
CLC
Implementing effective learning interventions means creating a receptive environment towards learning, engaging with
key players and communicating its value (Rosenberg, 2002). This is a principle widely taken on board, though its meaning
is often lost in implementation when carried out by enthusiastic staff with little to no marketing experience. Some
departments are starting to partner up with their internal communications teams, especially in larger corporations, but
not to the same level as an expert could.
Examples from those forging the way

International communications corporation UK based multinational bank
An integrated communications approach is being Multinational banks are starting to place significant
implemented and led by their internal Learning and emphasis on embedding learning in connection with strict
Development Director. changes in regulations. They are led by the fear factor
inherent in non-compliance.
This approach utilised strong internal networks and
advocates to gain traction. Connections have been made These campaigns are bespoke and taken on board as part
with internal communications teams, and their advocate of the implementation of change initiatives.
utilises his previous experience of working in marketing.

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Aspects of Campaign Learning
The aspects to consider to initially engage people in the learning are distinctively different to the aspects required to
embed behaviours and prove impact. Just as in any marketing campaign, the pre-sales marketing to entice buyers is a
different approach to retain current customers. As such we have categorised these aspects firstly in items to consider
before and during the release of a learning intervention (referred to here as a course) and those interventions and
approaches that are useful after the intervention is finished.
Pre-course: creating the desire to engage

Creating excitement about learning
To really connect with the learner audience, learners need to feel engaged with the learning and even excited about it,
rather than view it as time taken away from their jobs. This is particularly notable in the onboarding stages where
employees are required to carry out lengthy induction training. Though these training requirements are important, they
are often seen as detrimental to making an impact in an individual’s role, especially in those first few crucial weeks of
giving an employer a positive first impression.
From the start of generating engagement and interest, learning and development leaders need to take marketing
approaches on board. This engagement ‘campaign’ can come in many forms and utilise a range of media to
communicate with the learner.
Putting it in perspective
It is possible to imagine that we want staff to be as excited about learning as we are when we find our favourite game
or food. In marketing we look at every point of contact with the buyer, or user. Every single connection is important;
whether it is digital, in person or word of mouth, they all matter and they are all tools for engagement.
When considering how to best utilise the points of contact to connect with the learner, it is important to consider all on
and off-line opportunities. Some of these points of contact come from the learning programme or initiative itself. For
instance, the names of courses, the capabilities of the platforms and the rewards offered. The rest come from everything
outside the delivery and sit closer to the learners’ day-to-day activities.
To create excitement and incentives for

engagement, it is important to
remember that learning isn’t about a
single moment, it is a journey. This is
well documented by Julian Stodd, who
describes how learning should be
brought into a narrative that the learner
can follow, engage with and relate to.
Though Julian’s perspectives come from
a different focus, about learning design,
the principle extends to the relevance of
a learning campaign. Every element of
an intervention, including the campaign,
adds to this story and takes the learner
on a journey of behaviour change.
Source: Julian Stodd, The Story, 2015

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Within this journey it is important to engage the learner with feelings and understand what makes them tick. Will the
learning save them from risks they would like to avoid, such as compliance? Does it make their job easier, such as IT
training? Does it provide them with financial rewards, such as sales staff understanding a product? Start with what the
learners want and ‘sell’ this to them, so that they see the value in what you are providing.
2 k ey dri vers
M otiv atio n to fin d p leasure
M otiv atio n to av oi d pain
Putting it in perspective
Think of a big brand. Does it provoke feelings, memories or nostalgia? Perhaps Coca Cola makes you think of
Christmas adverts. The same goes for products; a deck chair may remind you of the sea and summer. There is
enjoyment in certain purchases. With learning, some of this comes in the product, some of it in the marketing.
Making it accessible
Once the excitement is created, the resources need to be easy to access and engaging in order to capitalise on this
feeling. Classic examples include the tragedy of 5-7 clicks before finding the learning resource and losing the audience
along that journey. The Towards Maturity benchmarking research of 2015 showed that 25% of learners are prevented
from learning because they can’t find what they need. This harks back to the example of Google and the user journey in
a search engine.
The solution is not a one-size fits all approach. It

is different for each company depending on the “One of the top barriers for learners is that they can’t find what
size, geography, culture and industry, though they need”
there are standardised Campaign Learning Laura Overton, Towards Maturity 12.07.16
packages that can be used and adapted to help
keep engagement levels up through this journey
as well as to simplify it.
Six key tips
1. Know your brand and make it strong. This runs from the imagery to the media and right down to the wording.
2. Understand your key messaging; be clear, consistent and engaging.
3. Know how to get a response; understand your audience and what makes them tick.
4. Understand how to get a reaction and be noticed; have a clear ‘Call to Action’ strategy.
5. Take the engagement right through to the point they take part, and continue it.
6. Make the resources easy to find and engage with.

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Pre course: creating understanding of the need for engagement
Understanding the perceived needs
A learning strategy is all too often imposed on organisations rather than developed with them. Usually it is based on a
generic understanding of organisational needs. This leads to a disconnect between the perceived need by the staff, the
leadership and the learning and development team. By synchronising the perceived need for the learning, the
engagement levels improve.
By actively gaining a deeper understanding in perceived learning needs from staff and leaders then combining this with
research from needs analysis, the real and perceived needs can be identified and compared. Learning interventions can
more effectively meet the needs of staff and the business by identifying and filling need gaps as well as reducing
unnecessary learning provision. In marketing, this is the equivalent of working out what your buyers need, for example
the Apple TV came from an identified need to deliver entertainment in a different way, fit for the modern consumer
market. This was formed from first understanding how people engage with content. To do this, basic marketing research
skills can be applied. This, combined with the perceived need from the buyer, is crucial to gain the ‘buy-in’.
Case Study: International communications company

The learning and development function went into overhaul to turn round learning delivery approaches. Their Learning
and Development Director made the change by coaching leaders through informal conversation to enable them to
more effectively engage with their teams. He got directors actively involved in learning and development meetings and
asked them what the staff needed.
For the networking approach to be effective, a charismatic learning and development leader with networking skills is
essential.
Talking to People and Leadership Networking

Working with the internal communications team isn’t enough; the communication required to engage staff in learning
requires a two-way conversation. The learning and development team can initiate this. It can be curated in such a way
as to be constructive, time-efficient and fit for purpose.
Ground staff need to realise the leaner benefits and this takes more than good networking. It requires mass engagement,
across the board. In a large company, mass communication and engagement requires significant digital input. This is
where marketing messages and approach add a punch to learning programmes. High profile and well promoted
leadership buy-in adds a significant amount of gravitas to the most important learning interventions.
Learner satisfaction and engagement studies identify one of the major factors of learner dissatisfactions include an
absence of contact (Bouknik and Marcus, 2006), which is reflective of the isolated culture of many learning and
development teams. Increased two-way, appropriate internal communications is a means to break these barriers and
position the department as a central part of the organisation.
W hat the Researchers Say

Top performing organisations mature in their use of learning technologies are increasingly likely to:
Focus on change management and marketing activities to engage influential stakeholders. Implementing change
effectively within the business includes involving leaders for top down support engaging trainers providing critical
integration with the classroom and empowering individuals to create engaged and confident learners.
Towards Maturity, Embracing Change 2015

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Points-of-contact
The principle of points-of-contact (or POCs) is that the more points-of-contact that are utilised with the audience, the
greater the impact of the messages. This is directly related to learning engagement levels. Charles Jennings (2014) stated,
in an interview on the future of organisational learning, that marketing and communications departments would be
needed to manage social media and virtual learning. It is not just about using social media and does not need to be
purely digital. Whether it is leadership meetings, the intranet, company bulletins, events and even promotional collateral,
the success of a full-blown marketing campaign can be directly related to how the points of contact with the audience
are utilised.
The learning and development department at many companies is out of sync with how people consume content.
Training Industries, US
Once learning and development teams identify the potential points-of-contact, it is possible to map out how to utilise
them. The key messaging is crucial so as not to switch people off or be too repetitive. It is important to be punchy, make
an impact and intrigue people. Curiosity is a positive mind-set for any learning programme, and the points-of-contact are
the means by which this curiosity can be generated.
Case Study: PluralSight

PluralSight talk to clients about habits of consumption. They edit media on the platform to suit the company. This
includes using the platform as a point of contact to promote videos about ‘what’s new’ as teasers for the learning.
They carry out events in offices, which help to bring the internal promotion to life. They operate by the principle that
‘the learning impact is only as good as the engagement with it’, Catherine at PluralSight.
Diagnostics, proof and data

More and more learning providers are creating advanced tools to record learning needs. Diagnostic assessments such as
those provided by Assess (the training provision from the Chartered Institute of Insurers, or CII), show how staff can see
and understand their own learning needs based on assessments. It’s not rocket science that it’s a more efficient use of
time to only complete the learning required to fill the gaps rather than complete a whole programme. It is also
marketing ‘common sense’ to highlight needs to the audience in order to gain their ‘buy-in’. Needs analysis data
generated can be used in both these context, to highlight the need and to target the learning interventions directly to
those that require them.
Diagnostics data provides vital information for learning and development departments to refine their delivery and
understand needs. If it is presented in an engaging, appropriate and concise manner, it is also a powerful tool to show
leadership teams and staff alike exactly where the needs are. Any product that is successful either fills a needs gap that
the buyer sees and understands or provides the buyer with a sense of satisfaction. This satisfies the risk to happiness scale
used in both sales and marketing. To support buy-in of the learning resources, the users (both staff and leaders) need to
see that it is providing one of two things, either preventing risks or improving people’s lives.

14
Case Study: Assess (the training provision from the Chartered Institute of Insurers or CII)
Assess have found that in developing diagnostic tools they could highlight specific learning gaps to both the individual
learners, managers and leadership teams. These tools were developed in partnership with Unicorn Training Group. They
highlight a need directly to individual staff, so that they can see gaps in knowledge, as well as to the company leaders
who can see a bigger picture of learning gaps across the company.
Post course: Embedding the Learning

The ‘purchase’ of new skills
Engaging learners, getting the numbers up and meeting the needs are just some aspects of a campaign. This is how to
start the interest. When it comes to learning, the ‘purchase’ of the learned skills and behaviours is wholly different to the
‘buy-in’ to engage in the courses. For this ‘purchase’ of skills, the campaign must continue beyond the provision of the
learning itself. To some degree, providers are supporting this with bite-sized learning and refresher learning. However, to
really embed the learning requires something more substantive. It requires jogging people’s memory while at work in a
range of contexts to support the implementation of that learning.
Habits and the forgetting curve

The phenomenon of the forgetting curve touches on the subject of memory retention and embedding learning. To
implement and ensure behaviour change is a complex art.
Each course or learning intervention has a purpose. This is likely to be behaviour change. Changing people’s behaviour
takes time and isn’t easy. Once back in the office or place of work, the barriers to behaviour change need to be
considered. This may be habit, influence from others, difficulty or resources. It is crucial to reduce these barriers whilst
reinforcing the new behaviours.

15
When people attempt to change their habits there is an initial dopamine kick (Stella Collins), essentially the brain is
providing a reward. This is short lived and although it helps the initial change to happen, it does not last. Thus additional
rewards, reasons and incentives are required to continue to embed new behaviours so that they become new habits.
Putting it in context: the Pepsi challenge

For those who recall the Pepsi challenge, it was a taste test across the UK to reinforce people’s preferred drink between
Coca Cola and Pepsi. The results showed that over 50% of people preferred Pepsi. Considering that Pepsi carried out
the research, this was not surprising.
Since the Pepsi challenge, and consistently over the last few years, the response of Coca Cola was to get themselves
closer to the buyer than Pepsi. They systematically increased the points of contact with potential buyers from branded
drinks fridges in shops to getting preferred reseller contracts with large organisations.
Even though the market wanted Pepsi, they were put in front of Coca Cola. It was easier to purchase and sales went
up. They changed buyer behaviours despite buyer preferences.
Reminders and embedding

An extended time period of learning created by a campaign tackles cognitive information overload in both
communication and learning as described in the studies of Vonderwell and Zachariah (2005). Bite-size chunks of learning
can be a tool to remind and reinforce learnt skills, though it is still essential to encourage engagement in these additional
resources and communications. A campaign itself acts as an add-on to these learning ‘chunks’. Companies such as
Amazon have developed proven approaches, such as suggested purchases based on previous buyer behaviour. By
looking at commercial examples, it is possible to see how a staggered and structured campaign can reinforce behaviour
change. Carefully narrated and constructed reminder campaigns are a tool to reinforce learning and reduce the barriers
to behaviour change.
Incentives for change

It is important to remember the incentives that staff are offered to make a change. It is possible to weigh up incentives
provided in the work place with the barriers to make the change. Incentives can come in many forms. They may be as
simple as proving learning that makes the learner’s life easier and reduces the time to complete tasks, or they may come
in the form of company rewards. There is also the gamification approach in the learning design itself, which can extend
to the learning campaign. If the campaign is set up to give staff a sense of achievement and satisfaction, an incentive for
continued engagement and behaviour change is being provided.

16
Post course: Track and measure change

Diagnostics to check memory and habits
Post-course campaigns can be used as a means to check the rate of behaviour change. Carefully constructed campaigns
that continue along a narrative can be constructed to contain analytics providing useful data. The data collected can
range from engagement levels to actual responses to scenarios. This provides priceless data for essential change
campaigns, especially those where risk aversion for the company is a high priority.
This tracking capability also provides useful needs-based data for the next pre-course campaign. Impact reports should
include a diagnostics analysis of further learning needs. They should highlight gaps in learning and, in turn, the value of
the learning and development team itself.
Case Study: Assess

The diagnostics tools provided by organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Insurers within their Assess range,
embedded in the learning with a similar principle. They track understanding through the form of questionnaires and
learning bites both after and before learning takes place in order to gain a higher-level picture of internal understanding
and behaviours.
Networks, reports and communication

Continued communications with all levels of hierarchy is an on-going exercise and is not limited to getting staff on
courses. For instance when a shopper leaves Amazon there is continued communication to draw them back onto the
website. A campaign works in very much the same way, both for end users and for the leadership teams. When this is
put into the context to self-directed learning, continued communications are a means to increase engagement with the
learning resources provided by the company and/or the learning provider.
RO I vs Business performance impact

Before knowing what to track and how to pitch the value of learning interventions to a company, it is important to
understand the nature of the company. It is also important to understand the business objectives as well as the priorities
of both the business leaders and stakeholders. Company buy-in from leadership teams is the first port of call, this follows
all the way down to ground level staff.
When looking at business leader buy in, there is some debate regarding the importance of proving ROI. At one of the
multinational communication companies, their Learning and Development Director does not provide ROI reports. From
their perspective, learning does not and will not have a direct impact on ROI, and to try to prove this would simply
generate inaccurate data. Having said this, when operating in a company that values ROI above all else, this makes the
buy-in difficult. It is important to understand the priorities of the organisation. It is also important to be realistic about
what is being offered by the learning and development department.
The inability to prove ROI is not shameful, as long as there is a concrete business case for what is being provided and
what the aims are. This is where people skills as well as commercial savvy are essential. Once the learning outcomes can
be linked to business impact, the importance of the learning interventions can be clearly highlighted to leadership teams.
Impact reports can also be used as a diagnostic tool for further learning interventions.

17
What we should be doing
By establishing that there is a gap between engaging learning and the ability to engage learners, the impact of a
marketing campaign becomes clear. There is a disconnect between understanding the delivery of engaging learning
resources and marketing that learning.
The research carried out for this report has highlighted a number of areas for learning providers and learning
departments to consider.
Opportunities for learning providers

Partnerships Partner with marketing companies that understand learning and development to offer this
service as part of their package by purchasing and / or developing re-saleable products and
services.
Consultancy Bring in expertise in order to offer a support and consultancy service, to work with clients
through the implementation and post launch phase of new learning products and services.
Opportunities for learning departments

Getting in marketing Bring in a partner to work on implementing campaigns. Source a specialist with marketing
expertise expertise and an understanding of the learning and development function.
Create demand State in tenders the requirement for a marketing campaign to implement new learning
resources and set aside a budget for it.
Internal communications Talk more with your internal communication teams.

Communicate more internally across the board.
Plan your branding and your messaging for both the department and for each
learning intervention.
Understand the offering Understand the internal value proposition of the learning and development offer.
Understand the audience.
Understand what the learners are buying into.


18
The Elements of Implementation
Through the research carried out by Campaign Learning over 2015 and 2016, data has been collected from providers,
companies and thought leaders. This has been compiled to get to grips with how to deliver an effective learning
campaign. The FLAG model has been developed to provide guidance on the key aspects of such a campaign and is the
model to support its planning and implementation. Each of the four items follows through from the pre- to the post-
course implementation.
Campaign Learning

Introducing the FLAG Model
A learning campaign sits around the learning pathway; it is structured from before the learning ‘begins’ until well after a
learning programme or pathway has ‘finished’. It is implemented through messaging that is designed with the clarity and
structure of a well-told story.
Filter
Filter through the noise and be heard.
Campaign messages need to filter through all this noise and become part of the communication streams throughout the
organisation. It takes the learning beyond the space of programme delivery and into day-to-day life. Campaign messages
are orchestrated in such a way as to become recognised and heard amongst the noise.

19
It is important to utilise relevant and multiple points of contact in order to effectively cut through this noise. This needs to
be taken to a level beyond the usual communication streams and treated as a marketing campaign in order to identify
the multiple ways that it is possible to get the message across. Whether this is the back of a toilet door, office TV screens
or intranet messages, all points of contact are potential communication streams. Email communications and intranet
notifications are not enough.

Language
Engage the learner. Make them stop, think and reflect on a day-to-day basis.
The orchestrated messages of a campaign reach out to the learner in a language they can relate to, in a way that
makes them stop, think and reflect. The campaign must be relevant and in context so the messages are easy to digest in
small bites and easy to put into practice in the work place. Make the learning easy to implement and make it engaging.
Communication campaigns tend to achieve modest success, as opposed to strong impact, due to an unsophisticated
application of theory and poorly conceived strategy (Atkin and Rice, 2000). Like any effective campaign, your messages
must speak to the viewer, using the type of wording, imagery and interaction that resonates with them.
A successful campaign includes both engaging messages and engaging media. There are multiple factors to language,
including how the key messages are curated in order to provoke a response from the learner and also the multimedia
used, from digital interactive media to physical collateral in the offices. The language is about making the most of the
points of contact with the audience.
It is important to plan and execute a full marketing mix with consistent messaging. Within this mix, understanding the
range of language used by the audience is crucial. This includes literal language barriers as well as cultural nuances to
communication styles.
Accessible
Accessible messaging that sits right in front of the learner’s eyes.
Did someone say mobile? Being accessible is about more than being able to access an app on the train. It is common
knowledge that learning resources must be accessible from anywhere, at any time, on any device. Taking this to the next
level, it must be integrated into the day-to-day communication streams of the company. This ranges from the intranet to
the staff room walls.
Taking this from the campaign to the learning intervention itself, the whole user experience is key. The barriers or levels
of effort required to access the learning must be outweighed by the incentives. Make it loud, make it proud, make it
impossible to ignore.
Goal
Keep the business performance objectives in mind.
Curate the development of staff performance through on-going communications. Then generate relevant data to
highlight behaviour changes.
All campaign messages must be tied together, curated in a way that takes the learner on a journey. They must always
keep the end goal in mind. This end goal is directly related to the learning objective as well as the company’s strategic
goals. The campaign in design, messaging and impact must be linked to the reason for the learning intervention. By
taking this approach, the campaign supports behaviour changes and embeds the learning, in turn improving business
performance related to these goals.

20
There is no proof of impact without measurables. An effective campaign contains the ability to measure, track and
compare the ‘before’ and ‘after’. This provides that crucial business data for the leadership team and informs future
learning pathways.
Conclusion
Learning development practices across the board are behind the times when it comes to modern communication and
content consumption. With new technologies and self-led learning, learning and development departments are
becoming even less impactful than before. The approach of combining quality and thorough learning resources with a
marketing campaign to provoke and draw engagement is a partnership that has, in its early days, already proved
beneficial.
There are many steps to take to build on this principle. We are continually releasing new findings, research and case
studies to support this path.
Taking on board a campaign approach to learning is not a quick fix solution for those who wish to be thorough and
effective, although there are some quick wins to be gained. Learning approaches are not directly transferable to carrying
out a marketing campaign, nor should they be. However a marketing campaign to increase the impact of the learning
and the learning and development department is a real solution to the challenges of engagement, retention and business
performance.

21
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Acknowledgements
Many individuals have contributed to our research both prior to and during the writing of this white paper. We would
like to pass on a special thanks to:
Brinkerhoff, R., Promote

Morgan, P., Telephonica
Stenson, C., PluralSight
Cook, J., Training Journal
Monk, E., The LPI
Members of the Learning Provider Connect (LPC) as part of The LPI
Members of the CLC
Taylor, D. H., The LPI

23

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Campaign Learning

The Elements of Implementation

The FLAG Model

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Opportunities for learning providers

Opportunities for learning departments

Internal communications Talk more with your internal communication teams.

Who is this paper for?

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Campaign Learning was founded by the marketing experts of Nancarrow Partnerships

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Towards Maturity Embracing Change 2015

% Perceived marketing skills level

Currently held by all

Source: Towards Maturity (2015)

C li en ts are startin g to real ise tha t th ey need to thi nk li ke a

Training Industries .com

M any en d u sers hav e access to genu inel y engag ing

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Pre and during course (the buy-in):

Post-course (the behaviour change):

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Stage 2: finding the content

Stage 3: accessing the content

Stage 4: Repeat engagement

Stage 5: using the content now

Stage 6: using the content later (embedding the learning)

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Examples from those forging the way

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Pre-course: creating the desire to engage

To create excitement and incentives for

Source: Julian Stodd, The Story, 2015

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

The solution is not a one-size fits all approach. It

Six key tips

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Case Study: International communications company

Talking to People and Leadership Networking

W hat the Researchers Say

Towards Maturity, Embracing Change 2015

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Case Study: PluralSight

Diagnostics, proof and data

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Post course: Embedding the Learning

Habits and the forgetting curve

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Putting it in context: the Pepsi challenge

Reminders and embedding

Incentives for change

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Case Study: Assess

Networks, reports and communication

RO I vs Business performance impact

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

Opportunities for learning providers

Opportunities for learning departments

Internal communications Talk more with your internal communication teams.

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery

www.CampaignLearning.com marketing approaches to learning delivery