THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING

If Nobody Wants to Take Your Course, Does It Matter How Good It Is?

You've spent months creating a brilliant learning experience. There's just one problem. Nobody seems particularly interested in taking it.

It happens more often than you might think. Organisations invest considerable time and money designing courses, programmes and workshops, then leave their launch to a company-wide email and a link to the LMS.

We wouldn't launch a new product like that. So why do we launch learning that way?

The importance of marketing your learning

Marketing can sometimes feel like an uncomfortable word in L&D. We're educators, not advertisers. Surely, if the learning is valuable, people will recognise that and engage with it?

Unfortunately, that's a big assumption.

Your learning is competing for attention with emails, meetings, deadlines and dozens of other priorities. Telling somebody that a new course is available doesn't give them a reason to care about it.

Good marketing starts by answering the question every learner is likely to be thinking: What's in this for me?

A new leadership programme isn't simply 'a six-week blended learning journey'. It could help a new manager have better conversations with their team. A cybersecurity course isn't simply mandatory training. It could help someone avoid making a mistake that has serious consequences.

Same learning. Very different proposition.

Start marketing before the course launches

Course marketing shouldn't begin on launch day. In fact, some of the most useful marketing can happen while the learning is still being developed.

Create curiosity. Introduce the problem. Share a short video from an expert. Ask learners a provocative question. Let senior leaders explain why the subject matters. Give people a glimpse of what's coming.

This works particularly well for larger employee learning and development programmes. If learners are about to commit several hours over several weeks or months, they need to understand why that investment of their time is worthwhile.

Face-to-face learning benefits too. A workshop invitation titled 'Managing Performance Training' is unlikely to set pulses racing. Position the same session around a challenge managers regularly face and suddenly it feels relevant.

Think about the whole learning experience

Marketing also doesn't stop once somebody clicks 'start'.

The language surrounding the course matters. So do reminders, manager conversations, internal communications and what happens afterwards. These things create expectations about the experience before the learner has even seen the content.

And crucially, the marketing needs to match the reality. There's little value in promising an exciting, practical learning experience if learners arrive to find 60 minutes of clicking 'next'.

This is why marketing and instructional design need to work together. The promise you make should be delivered by the learning itself.

Make learners your marketers

Some of the strongest promotion won't come from L&D at all. It will come from the people who have already experienced the learning.

If someone finishes a workshop and tells a colleague, 'That was actually really useful', you've achieved something powerful. If managers start recommending a programme to other managers, even better.

Build opportunities to encourage that. Share learner stories. Ask previous participants what changed for them. Use real experiences to show prospective learners why the programme is worth their time.

Good course marketing isn't about hype. It's about relevance and credibility.

The importance of marketing: earn their attention

L&D often spends the majority of its effort creating the learning and a tiny fraction persuading people to engage with it.

Perhaps that balance needs to change.

So, before your next course launches, don't just ask 'How are we going to tell people about it?'

Ask 'Why would they want to take it?'

Find a compelling answer to that question and you've got the foundations of your marketing.

Because creating great learning is only part of the job.

First, you need people to want to experience it.

Frequently asked questions

Why should L&D teams market courses?

Learning competes with many other workplace priorities. Marketing helps learners understand why the learning is relevant and what they will gain from investing their time in it.

When should course marketing begin?

Ideally, before launch. Larger programmes can benefit from teasers, leadership communications, learner stories and other activity that creates interest before the learning becomes available.

Does mandatory training need marketing?

Yes. Mandatory attendance doesn't guarantee attention or engagement. Even when people have to complete something, explaining why it matters can change how they approach the experience.