We often hear the phrase learning campaign, but what does it mean? And how do we make one that’s effective?
In a world where attention spans are shrinking and digital noise grows louder by the day, simply offering information isn’t enough.
Learning campaigns was a bit of a buzzword in the L&D world.
But now, it’s a strategic imperative for organisations aiming to drive real behavioural change, not just checkbox training.
But what separates a forgettable learning push from one that actually sticks?
The answer lies in treating your campaign like a well-crafted story, one that’s targeted, engaging, and designed with outcomes in mind.
A study by the Association for Talent Development found that companies offering comprehensive training programmes have 218% higher income per employee than those without formalised training.
By delivering targeted, engaging, and measurable learning experiences, organisations can foster a culture of continuous improvement and drive meaningful outcomes.
Keep reading as we explore:
- What a learning campaign is
- The benefits of a learning campaign
- Plus how to create a learning campaign
Let’s get started.
What is a learning campaign?
A learning campaign is a strategic initiative designed to deliver educational content and engage learners over a specific period.
Related: What is learning and development?
It typically aims to improve knowledge, skills, or behaviours in a targeted audience through a series of coordinated activities and materials.
Learning is ongoing. We’re always learning. Whether that’s engaging in a learning course or just watching a video online, there’s reams of information out there.
But formalising learning in the workplace can’t be as fluid as it is in everyday life.
And that’s where a learning campaign comes in.
A learning campaign includes a series of learning initiatives to promote and facilitate a learning and development experience.
Regardless of if you’re promoting online courses, workshops or webinars the goal is to create a continuous learning experience.
Related: Benefits of learning and development
Examples of learning campaigns
There are a number of learning campaigns to be found across organisation types.
For example:
- Corporate training: A company might launch a learning campaign to train employees on new software, improve compliance with regulations, or enhance leadership skills.
- Public health initiatives: Government agencies or non-profits could run campaigns to educate the public on health issues like vaccination, healthy eating, or disease prevention.
- Educational institutions: Schools and universities may conduct campaigns to prepare students for standardised tests, promote digital literacy, or enhance research skills.
- Professional development: Professional organisations might offer learning campaigns to help members stay updated with industry trends, earn certifications, or develop new competencies.
Benefits of a learning campaign
A learning campaign can help formalise your learning content and process.
And setting up formalised learning paths can help create impactful structured learning.
Generally, we wrap up learning campaign benefits as:
Structured learning
Learning campaigns have clear, specific objectives that guide the entire process, ensuring that all efforts are aligned with achieving particular learning outcomes.
Campaigns provide a structured approach to content delivery, breaking down complex information into manageable parts and presenting it in a logical sequence.
Increased engagement
Incorporate interactive activities like quizzes, discussions, and practical exercises to keep learners engaged and actively involved in the learning process.
Related: Points and leaderboards in your LMS
Adding gamified elements such as points, badges, and leaderboards can motivate learners, making the learning experience more enjoyable and rewarding.
Targeted education
Learning campaigns are tailored to the specific needs and preferences of the target audience, ensuring that the content is relevant and engaging.
Campaigns can offer personalised learning experiences, adapting to the pace and style of individual learners.
Effective communication
A learning campaign allows for consistent and clear communication of key messages and information, reducing confusion and ensuring that learners understand the content.
Campaigns often include marketing efforts to promote the learning initiative, increasing awareness and participation.
Measurable outcomes
Learning campaigns include tools for measuring progress, such as pre- and post-assessments, surveys, and analytics. This helps in evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign and the impact on learners.
The data collected from assessments and feedback can be used to make ongoing improvements to the content and delivery methods.
Behaviour and culture change
Learning campaigns can be designed to influence and change behaviours, promoting better practices, compliance, or adoption of new technologies and methods.
By consistently delivering key messages and engaging content, learning campaigns can contribute to shaping and reinforcing the desired organisational culture.
Steps to create an effective learning campaign
Creating a learning campaign involves several steps to ensure it’s effective and meets the educational goals of the target audience.
Here’s a quick run through of what you need to think about before you get started:
Define your objectives and goals
Determine what you want to achieve with the campaign.
Is it to increase knowledge, change behaviour, or develop new skills?
Your goals should be measurable and time-bound. For example, “Increase knowledge of cybersecurity best practices by 20% in three months.”
Setting goals means that you can report back on its success at the end of the campaign, but it also keeps you focused.
It’s easy to get distracted by other moving parts, but having core goals allows you to just change what’s needed to see the biggest impact.
Understand your audience
Identify who your learners are, including their demographics, prior knowledge, learning preferences, and motivations.
Develop detailed profiles of your typical learners to better tailor your content.
But remember, it’s not all about demographics.
To really appeal to your target audience, you need to audience their core pain points.
Ask yourself:
- What are their key challenges?
- What do they do well?
- What do they do not so well?
- What are their goals and aspirations?
By understanding these, you can build a truly targeted learning experience that will create better outcomes for your learners.
Implement a marketing campaign
Now it’s time to think like a marketer
Promote the campaign through email newsletters, social media, internal communications, or other relevant channels.
Make it easy for learners to enroll or access the campaign. Provide clear instructions and support if needed to make using the platform a breeze.
Remember, user experience is vital.
In fact, 50% of L&D professionals cite poor UX among the biggest barriers to learning technology satisfaction.
🎯 Pro Tip
At BuildEmpire, we offer limitless customisation. That means you can tailor and tweak any part of your LMS so you can build something truly custom for your learners.
Learn more about our bespoke applications
Engage learners
When it comes to engaging your learners, learning content isn’t always the most exciting.
Related: Complete guide to learner engagement
And it doesn’t always need to be.
But you can include gamification elements, quizzes, forums and more to keep learners interested.
Plus, you can add gamified elements like badges, leaderboards, and rewards to motivate learners.
Remember, with a Totara platform, you can access Engage. This is a social workspace addition to your LMS.
You can create forums, workspaces and more to help learners start conversations about topics that matter to them.
Wrapping up
Ready to get started delivering better learning campaigns to your users?
See how a better LMS can help you achieve your learning goals by booking a demo of our platform.
And remember, with us, you can access features and plugins not available anywhere else with our custom-made BuildEmpire Edition.
This comes as standard so rest assured you won’t be left shocked by surprise costs, low support hours or poor uptime. We boast 99.998% uptime as a given.
