Test your learning campaign knowledge 👀

Let’s cut the niceties. Most activities that L&D call a ‘learning campaign’ are not. They’re instructional comms dressed up with a fancy tagline (at a push!) But if you’ve been following MAAS for any length of time, you’ll know that a real learning campaign is way more than that…

So let’s put your learning campaign know-how to the test. (And then we’ll give you our top tips, no cheating!)

TAKE THE QUIZ NOW 👇

THE LEARNING CAMPAIGN QUIZ DEBRIEF👇

Are you an internal campaign champion? Or have you got some learning to do? Either way, let us guide you through what really makes a great learning campaign…

1. L&D campaigns start with goals, not glitter

Your campaign should always start with a SMART goal (cue eye rolls… sorry not sorry!) It’s the only way you’re going to stay on track, and not get distracted by shiny and exciting campaign tactics.

And that means you need to be laser-focused on what you’re trying to change. Whether it’s behaviours or performance — you have to have that clear before you dive into any of the fancy parts of a campaign. But when we say laser-focused, we mean really really focused. “Increasing completions” is a lazy goal. “Get 300 first-line managers to use 3 feedback prompts in their next 1:1 within six weeks” — that’s much more useful!

2. The WIIFM is not optional, it’s your campaign oxygen

Everybody’s busy. And nobody owes you their time. Nope, not even employees who should be learning. So if you want to get audience attention, you need to focus on the ‘what’s in it for me?’

That means flexing your empathy to the max, putting yourself in your audience’s shoes, and thinking: What are they going to get from getting involved? Not a tick box. Not their managers off their back. The real benefit that they’ll walk away with after completing your training initiative. Remember, as much as we like to pretend we’re not — humans are inherently selfish. So tap into that with your tagline and campaign pillars.

3. Pre-launch is essential to build momentum

You can’t just launch a campaign and expect everyone to down tools and pay attention. You need to seed your campaign ahead of time and warm your audience up to your campaign.

Before your campaign begins you must:

• Brief managers and stakeholders about what’s coming. Leaders have a huge influence in organisations, so they can make or break your campaign.

• Run teasers and get people talking! Whether it’s a graphic, a video, or a mic drop moment in an all-hands meeting. Get people thinking about you before you launch your campaign.

• Leverage internal influencers. Work out who the natural voices are in your organisation, get them bought into your campaign, and then get them to talk about it. Whether that’s within their own business units, or if they’re creating a 20-second selfie video for you. Amplify your message ahead of time!

4. Don’t write off campaigns because you don’t have budget

If we had a pound for every time someone told us they didn't have the budget to run a learning campaign, well we’d have enough money to run the best learning campaign you’ve ever seen! But that doesn’t mean you need a big budget to make a big impact.

In fact, the elements of campaigns that get the biggest impact are actually the zero budget elements: nailing the WIIFM, utilising the channels where your audience hangs out, and witty positioning. Even if you have a shoestring budget, you can create a learning campaign that gets a BIG impact. And let’s be honest, when it comes to L&D budgets, we’re all trying to get more with less!

5. Learn from your peers (including when they mess up!)

When it comes to learning campaigns — L&D often goes wrong. It’s harsh, but it’s true. And working at an agency like MAAS, we see people making the same mistakes over and over again. So another campaign top tip: look outside your organisation! There are so many opportunities in our industry to network and connect with our peers — so ask them “what are you doing to promote your learning initiatives?” You’ll learn so much from what they’ve done (or not) and what worked (or failed!)

The most common mistakes we see?

• Losing momentum too quickly. Campaigns take time and effort to be effective. If you get bored after launch week, and forget to keep up the momentum… your campaign will fail!

• Using the same message, for every audience, in every location. Personalisation is key to great campaigns. So build learner personas, and use them!

• Spreading yourself too thin! You might have 4, 5, or even 18 channels to leverage. That doesn’t mean you should use them all. Pick the channels that will work best for your target audience, keep it streamlined. The sweet spot will be between 2-5 channels, depending on your capacity to keep the campaign rolling!

DID THE CAMPAIGN STING A LITTLE? GOOD!

If you’re not getting the basics right, it means your perception of a learning campaign is wrong. And that’s holding you back. We’re comfortable being the big-bad-agency telling you what you’re doing wrong. If that means you’re going to get it right in the future.

So if you’re ready to get campaigns right, why not check out our on-demand webinar: How to build a world-class internal campaign in 7 days. For everything you need to get your campaigns working harder — for you and your audience!