eLearning – Will Tools or Strategy Save Us?

Understanding what is possible leads to success!

A new learning paradigm is sweeping across all sectors of the economy and beginning to affect our lives in many unseen ways.  Two major factors are driving this change - the human factor which fuels our increasing need for knowledge, and the costs associated with delivering that knowledge. Our civilization and indeed our very social fabric have always relied on tools to solve such problems, while strategy has often taken a back seat. 

 Our history is littered with examples of technology that has proven ineffective until careful thought has been applied to their use. One such example comes to mind through the Department of National Defense (Canada) who designed ejection seats for early fighter planes that cut off the legs of the pilot if he was too big. I am sure each of us has been exposed to poor software design when we try and shop or buy something online…somehow the programmer always seems to be the designer of the interaction. All too often the end user is not consulted and the tools we develop fail to meet our needs because they do not consider or consult the end user- in this case “learners.”

 As might be expected, big business has always stepped in to leverage an opportunity; like providing a driver and a bus with no final destination or map to guide us. Learning Management Systems and Learning development tool sets are ubiquitous today …offering us the ability to deliver learning anywhere, anytime at low cost. Organizational administrators are tasked with the increasingly complicated learning demands - struggling to make sense of the technology and how to best meet their needs. Trying to filter through the avalanche of eLearning tools and promotions as many companies rush to meet the needs can be troubling. Little time if any is relegated to the idea of implementing a learning strategy first, before deploying a tool set.

Most organizations take one of two very different routes to achieve their learning goals. The first option is to try and understand needs and demands of learners from legacy learning experiences - and without conducting a thorough assessment of changing learner needs. This often results in re-purposing existing legacy information into useful learning by utilizing new tools sets such as Learning Management Systems, without fully understanding their impact.

The second and much more complex option is the “Strategy First Option” which involves seeking to understand current learner needs and learning organizational goals by conducting a more in-depth assessment. Understanding the nature of learners in your organization may include defining not only organizational learning goals but personal improvement and broader overall knowledge growth. Developing a strategy first option doesn't need to take a great deal of time and effort  but it does take some very specific thought. Laying out a plan that includes organizational learning goals, audience learning preferences, prioritizing topic development and putting into place the administration and promotional resources required to effectively implement a learning strategy over the long term will ensure success.

Once you have a strategy in place you can then begin selecting tools, topics and partners to develop and implement a learning plan that meets your organizational needs… but perhaps more importantly, in developing a strategy you have gained the trust of learners, created a framework for learning and generated awareness of the learning initiative.  

I am happy to share my strategy checklist - let's connect to explore the possible.  

Engaging Your Customers...Narrowcasting is Now

Marketing Budget +/- by Media for 2014

Have a careful look at this chart... while it provides us with a snap shot of the dramatic change in advertising budgets it also underlines the move from Broadcasting to Narrowcasting. The percentages of budgets that are slated to grow in 2014 are largely confined to those media that are narrowly focused on unique audiences, while the large broadcasting budgets are seeing significant declines.

There is a reduced need for broadcasting, as new technologies allow us to reach segmented audiences more effectively and immediately with the depth of information that appeals to customer loyalty.  And …if organizations are going to reach these smaller audience in a meaningful way  they have to offer benefits and advantages that small audience are looking for -  breadth and depth of knowledge and the ability to choose when and how they want to engage. In a nut shell -   this is the difference today between broadcasting and narrowcasting …broadcasting presents one message to a broad audience while narrow casting delivers different messages to individual members of smaller audiences.

Those companies and organizations who can dominate their niche or category are successful when they leverage a consensual relationship with unique incentives and advantages, depth of information and delivery of that information at time and ...in a way ...that appeals to customers. Like all mediums, broadcasting mediums like radio, or television and print before them …will continue to have an audiences for the foreseeable future…it will just be a smaller piece of the pie ....old mediums never die they simply loose the top spot to more responsive media.

Narrow audiences today can be as few as dozens or hundreds, or as broad as hundreds of thousands - but in the light of the public broadcasting spectrum we once held sacrosanct …these audiences seem insignificant. But …if you were to dialogue with organizations who hold these audiences as their core customers, such as an association of members, suppliers to niche business categories, unique business verticals or specific health care audiences or audiences interested in a very specific topics, be it leisure, entertainment, sports or travel we would find out that each specific audience and even each person within that audience has unique demands and interests.

Narrow casting is the reason new technologies evolve and are sought after….each new iteration usually offers more responsive features. E-Learning, responsive web sites, mobile device apps and social networks all contribute to enhance narrowcasting and allowing us to more closely engage with our customers and respond to their needs.  

The standard guidelines for advertising still apply regardless of the channel or medium you work in; as an audience, people are still driven by emotion, personal preferences, lifestyle and by gender & ethnic tendencies. Great creative, consistent messages, using multiple channels and frequency are still the main stays of any well thought out marketing plan aimed at a very small but loyal audience for your product or service. More than ever the evolution of technology is driving the growth behind new advertising mediums and leveling playing field between the large corporate entities and the small to medium size want-to-be businesses.

Those that seek out and engage with new strategies and ways of communicating with their clients have the most to gain in dominating their segment of the market.

Growing Your E-Mail List Under Anti-Spam Legislation

Manage E-Mail subscribers with Value

Immediate CEM compliance action may be premature as organizations seek to gain express consent  from their certified electronic mail (CEM) subscribers - to ensure they are compliant with the anti-spam, legislation which is about to come into effect in Canada (July 1, 2014). While most companies and organizations want is to abide by the legislation – trying to gain immediate express consent may be short sited. You could severely undermine your organizations ability to reach out to your customers or members before carefully considering a strategy to gain express consent.

Three Steps to Compliance

The new legislation states that there are three general requirements for sending the CEM to an electronic address. You need (1) consent, (2) identification information and (3) an unsubscribe mechanism. Let’s address items two and three, first.  Most CEM tools such as I contact, Constant Contact or even a custom solution already include this functionality within their protocols and even demand them when deploying your e-mail messages. Organizations that create and deploy such tools sets will undergo careful scrutiny long before individual organizations, so they will be sure to bring their tool sets into compliance since this will affect their business model. 

Conduct an Audit

If you conduct an audit of your existing systems and process, most organizations will have this already in place. If you do not, than I certainly recommend you research and upgrade to a modern tool set that allows this as a simple automated function.  The first two issues are fairly straight forward and are tactical in nature and do not require you to communicate with your customer base however the third component of the legislation requires you to have one of two types of consent to communicate with subscribers, either implied or expressed consent.  Like all legislation there is a period of voluntary compliance. The period in the case of CASL is three years – so – you must be fully compliant by July 1, 2017 which suggests that you have a three year window to convert implied relationships into express consent relationships.    

Expess Consent

The express consent relationship is very straight forward. Express consent can be obtained either in writing or orally. In either case, the onus is on the person who is sending the message to prove they have obtained consent to send electronic messages by tracking, whether consent was obtained in writing or orally, when it was obtained, why it was obtained, and the manner in which it was obtained.

Implied Consent

Implied consent is a little broader in its interpretation and has a number or provisions that allow you to continue to communicate with your audience. For example, there is an exception to the consent requirement for commercial electronic messages (CEMs) sent following a referral, if certain conditions are met. The referral must be made by an individual who has an existing business relationship, an existing non-business relationship, a family relationship or a personal relationship with the sender and the recipient of the CEM. Also, the full name of the individual who made the referral and a statement that the CEM is sent as a result of a referral must be in the CEM.

Also, consent may be implied where CEMs are sent to members of an association, club or voluntary organization such as a non-profit organization, organized and operated exclusively for social welfare, civic improvement, pleasure or recreation or for any purpose other than personal profit, and no part of its income is payable for the personal benefit of any member, proprietor or shareholder unless that entity is an organization whose primary purpose is the promotion of amateur athletics in Canada. 

The CEM must still respect the other two requirements – it must contain the identification information and offer an unsubscribe mechanism.

If you are in the process of seeking express permissions, it is important to take the time to develop an incentive based approach to CEMs. Each organization needs to create a value proposition that will engage its existing CEM audience and define the value of the relationship. When you ask that all important question “Do you wish to continue receiving our e-mails?” you will experience a significant “decline rate” so you will want to provide some incentive for your audience to understand and benefit and value in your relationship. 

Creating a Value Proposition

Periodic incentive coupons ( 20 – 50% off) redeemable at physical or electronic locations, (depending on your business model, free delivery , special draws for enhanced service or promotional products, special events, access to unique services (unavailable to regular customers) are just few simple examples of how you can encourage your “Implied Consent”  audience to choose to become your “Express Consent” audience.

We work a number of organizations to design and implement such strategies – contact us if you want to grow your CEM list rather than shrink it.  

Onboarding - Business Building Strategy?

E-Learning - the Future of Onboarding

New hires, staff turnover, lateral moves, promotions and existing employees all need one thing…a consistent vision and understanding of an organization’s values and mission. We espouse these business mantras to our customers through a variety of online tools, yet we omit delivering these important principles to our most valued asset, our employees.

Using your orientation or onboarding program as a means of motivating, creating skills and creating a common vision can be a powerful tool for growth when used effectively. History, mission statements, product evolution & growth, core values, roles & responsibilities, acquisitions, commitment to opportunity, customer service and more, are all important components in the narrative behind an organization’s success. This process helps bond a prospective employee to an organization and prepares them to be successful.   

Many organizations use outdated & inconsistent information, legacy technology and redundant means of communication to integrate a new hire into the organization and as a result they are not exposed to customer expectations, core values and branding narratives and much more.  Additionally, the existing process offers organizations no understanding of the comprehension and commitment of the new hire with few ways of tracking or evaluating their participation.

While we have leveraged almost every possible channel to market to our customers, we have missed a significant opportunity to allow our employees, (what I would describe as a key stakeholder)  to contribute to the growth of an organization through a deeper and more consistent understanding of an organization’s vision.

Today we see fewer employees entering at the bottom of the employment ladder and working their way up. We no longer “start employees in the mail room” and expect them to work their way to the top.  What we do see, is well educated, entitled employees coming into the workforce with no experience and being placed in increasingly important roles, with little or no guidance. When they fail we have been able to quickly replace these prospective employees – with someone from the over-abundant ranks of the unemployed. That strategy is beginning to dry up and those companies who have strong recruitment and retention programs in place are skimming off the cream of the crop.

So far we have been able to withstand the costs associated with “churn” and the resulting turmoil because of a stagnant economy which has created low expectations, and the continued availability of skilled baby boomers to take up the slack.  This has left the ranks of many organizations and companies thin, with insufficient customer service, product or organizational knowledge, resulting in middle managers who are poorly equipped to take on “next level” job responsibilities and remain loyal to an organization.

Onboarding as it’s called today is the process of forging employees and introducing them to the vision and mission of an organization. It helps define company loyalty by ensuring that they understand organizational goals and carry the collective memory of an organization’s successes and failures forward in decision making.  This is valuable information for “would be” middle managers within any organization seeking to manage change and growth in the trenches. It also speaks to a new hire’s recognition that an organizations is willing and committed to invest in growing its employee’s skills.

Onboarding today is often an outdated "mish-mash" of videos, workshops, documents, lectures - that are not effectively organized. This is surprising given that the E-Learning technology offers Human Resource departments a tool set uniquely equipped to be cost effective, easily updated, self-paced, and contain a variety of visual mediums that can easily integrate legacy organizational knowledge as well as espouse an organization’s vision - and its plan for the future.

 E-Learning is an ideal solution for Onboarding yet few organizations truly understand its value and impact on success. A simple 30 - 45 minute self-paced E-Learning module can offer new hires a history of the organization, its customer service strategies, its service delivery model & partners; and an understanding of its customers, products and plans for the future. Such a module can replace repeated, one-off workshops or training sessions that can drain several day of manpower for each new hire. The best part about E-Learning is that each employee can be tested to track comprehension -  and additional important information about a prospective new hire can be gained from a closer examination of each employee’s interaction with the content.

The most difficult part of this process is often the need to create onboarding subject matter and the time and commitment needed by the organization to develop the information and its objectives properly. The great news here is that most organizations already have the basic information in place…it’s the delivery mechanism and performance tracking that can make this a more productive method of onboarding.  The content is easy to update and can be accessed 24/7.

Onboarding needs to step into the future by leveraging new technologies to  grow its skill base from the inside out and create a skilled, and loyal workforce.

The Biggest Marketing Mistake!

Promoting short term goals
rather than long term growth 

Most small businesses, "Fall victim to a constantly changing marketing strategy." This mistake is often due to the lack of marketing expertise, fluctuating budgets and cash flow demands. It is just too easy to get off track, or find a reason to starve or change marketing strategies. Owners or senior decision makers within small companies, due to their businesses' more cyclical nature, often focus on promoting short term goals rather than consolidating long term growth. They choose to market, “What they want to Sell” rather than “What The Client Wants.”  

Larger companies are less susceptible to the short term marketing strategy syndrome; because it is much more difficult to get out of existing media agreements, change marketing messages across a variety of mediums and co-ordinate such changes internally and externally. This is where smaller and being more nimble can be a drawback as the temptation to make constant changes to your marketing strategy can be overpowering. I like using this euphemism in such cases, "Just because you can…doesn't mean you should.”

Small business does not have the kind of metrics that allow them to understand the potential of customer awareness, whether they encompass a broad or narrow audience.  They track their sales in terms of weeks and months not quarters or years and in such a narrow sample it is difficult to see growth, especially if your product or services are gaining awareness and sales may not be in lock-step. Small businesses tend to want to see immediate results and are not willing to invest in long term strategies that do not produce verifiable sales.

In virtually every medium we work in, the strategy of maintaining a consistent marketing initiative over time yields more results than trying to buy your way into growth. Growing your market consistently over time through an organic process creates greater customer loyalty in most situations. Media distribution channels that feed short term marketing strategies work like meters, the minute you choose not to feed the meters  - the clients stop coming. In a more consistent long term approach that is centered around  key points like great customer service,  memorable marketing message, sound product value, product knowledge and great pricing  clients tend to be loyal and provide great word of mouth marketing, but tis takes time to trickle through.

Most small business will tell you that referral business and word of mouth is the greatest from of advertising …and I wold say …very true; but the other side of the coin is that word of mouth and referral business is slow and takes time. You want to manage the impression that your customers shares about you and your products… and what they are saying about you consistently. It has to be good of course … but also has to be consistently focused on the message that helps differentiate you and creates long term relationship.

This can only be accomplished through a sustained marketing initiative that is consistent and carefully tracked over time to make sure that the right message is being delivered and received.  

Small Brands..Big Ideas

A brand is not a graphic, or an image, or a statement …it’s an idea …that can include all of these things and more. It creates a perception or an emotional response, about a person, product, service or company. The reason we know a brand is an idea is because we can observe and sometimes even measure the “affect” a brand has on people, in the immediate emotional response that a brand will generate.

I often use examples like “John Deere” or “MacDonald’s” to illustrate this emotional response. These two company brands are rooted in a person’s name, yet, it is not the person or some related memory of the person that is generated when we think of these names. It is the sum total of our perceptions of these brands, their history, culture and products that drive our emotional response and impose a narrative about the brand.

While a known brand produces an immediate emotional response… that response is largely the result of a brands narrative. How long has it remained in our consciousness? How has the brand evolved historically?  Has a recent event impacted our perception of the brand, negatively of positively? How has the brand been portrayed in media? What kind of social responsibility do we attribute to this brand?  What virtues or flaws do we attribute to the brand?

We express our emotional response in a heartbeat... and the sum or all our exposure to that brand is expressed in in that moment of recognition. Our perceptions can run the complete gamut of emotions, ranging from honest, cynical, trustworthy, bold, global ….to deceitful, uncaring, methodical and unsophisticated. The greater our exposure to a brand the greater the sum of our experiences upon which we respond to a brand. This emotional response is well described in “Blink”, the Malcolm Gladwell book about “The Power of Thinking without Thinking”.

The word brand, more often than not today, enters our consciousness in the context of popular culture and is also considered the domain of corporate culture. As a result the term has little currency with smaller audiences or in non-mainstream situations. This is why the term “brand” is not well understood by small businesses. Small brands tend to have small exposure and small audiences …for small business this does not appear to be a sound investment strategy, since most small businesses have limited funds and a shorter window on their Return on Investment (ROI). Let’s face it …if a preponderance of your audience does not know who you are - there will be little if any emotional response to your brand and as a result little appetite for investing in long term strategies.    

So what about  your brand if you are a small business, only a small audience know who you are and you often do not have the history or financial ability to create awareness of your brand for larger audiences. What do you do? This is where great creative and unexpected exposure of your brand (social networks or events) coupled with a long term marketing strategy can have a significant impact, in creating a brand and awareness around that brand. Brand awareness and the emotional response are different brand characteristics. Awareness speaks to audience recognition and the emotional response determines how we feel about a brand.

If you want to grow your small business you need both the short term plan - and, a long term plan that grows audience/customers and create a [positive narrative about your brand. If you don’t plan you will have no control, over what your brand represents. Remember that most large companies or organizations started as small enterprises!

The great thing about a long term brand strategy is that it does not necessarily demand significant investment initially.  A brand awareness program that invests a modest amount each year in marketing and social networks consistently over time can grow a brand and its audience.  A brand strategy can only be effective if you have a plan and you stick to it. Kind of like Morgan Freeman describing archaeology in movie, “The Shawshank Redemption”…it’s the study of time and pressure.

One of the important influencing factors in managing your brand is control over the narrative about your brand, through great creative – making your brand memorable though unusual promotions, decidedly different partnerships in the community, creative sponsorships, creative ads, character driven social media programs will help grow audiences (keep in mind the word audiences equate to customers in this equation). Each step ads to the brand and that brand must be directed by a long term plan. The plan helps describe what your brand represents to audiences. The plan will help define how your brand is perceived …ultimately transferring to your products a feeling of warmth, excitement, reliability, economy, etc. - the list is as long as the list of human emotions and often combines many different emotions to create a strong brand.  

Building A Sound E-Learning Strategy

I guess it is not surprising that companies and organizations simply throw up their hands and choose E-Learning that is free or low cost and generally not very effective. They have been forced by government regulations to comply with such mandated training as Health & Safety, Accessibility (AODA) Privacy and more. Most organizations have not seen the writing on the wall yet...that training, will become increasingly important to their survival.

Getting mandatory training at a low cost makes good business sense today, especially when you consider the limited likelihood of government regulators knocking on your door to check up on you or the fact that the recent recession has created a labour glut with many university skilled workers available at low wages.

The lack of learning strategy within most organizations  has reinforced  the lack of importance that training has in North American businesses. Managers and employees don't really have a vested interest in training until it is something that effects their livelihood (from an employee point of view), or it represents unacceptable risk (from an employers point of view).  As long as the information is accurate, who cares if employees and employers actually understand the concepts and can put them into action. The reasons for poor training implementation and support range from, "I can get that for free on the interment" to "I don't understand the Technology" or "lets do a webinar."

Training and in particular E-Learning in the coming years will be a clear point of differentiation for successful companies who build a long term strategy  that values knowledge and learning. New skills, upgrading existing skills, alternate skills and compliance training will all become an important part of a more flexible and diverse workforce for any company.

A well trained workforce will have to be cost effective as a result of a more transient workforce. Cost and demands of training workers will increase with greater staff turnover. Looming shortages in skilled workers, increasingly complex skills sets and greater  knowledge requirements for technology solutions will place great demands on worker skills. This along with an aging population to service will create increasing shortages in skilled labour.

An organization's  success will be measured by its ability to adapt, grow and learn in a rapidly changing free-market economy. Employing an "early days" sound learning strategy will add to the value of an organization and allow it to outperform its competitors.

What does a sound learning strategy look like today? It will take the form of "baby steps", or pilot projects where companies and organizations identify key topics that require rapid learning, complex learning or flexible learning to respond to changing client demands. Developing a pilot project based on an identified need and seeking turn-key solutions will allow organizations to test their learning and grow that solution over time to address its ongoing needs. It also involves  the learners who will play an important role in shaping the strategy with their feedback.

Many organizations today, because of their lack of understanding of E-Learning, are seeking a "technology" solution rather than a "content" solution. Its my opinion that E-Learning technology, as it stands, is reasonably mature from a technical stand point since most companies providing such services are large and well equipped to develop the required technology and tools sets. What is lacking for the most important part ...a focus on content  and ensuring that what is being taught..is what's being learned! This demands a very different skill set that most organizations  do not understand, a media savvy production partner that has an in-depth understanding of the technology wrapper for E-Learning, and who can consult on a wide range of E-Learning strategy issues..

PDFs, web sites, webinars, online videos and simple E-Learning content are generally ineffective as primary content in E Learning because they approach learning in a traditional way and seek to use linear media. An E- Learning strategy must build its content from the ground up. It may use existing media and content  under the guidance of a subject matter expert but whether its blended learning or self paced learning a sound strategy seeks to take advantage of the best that E-Learning has to offer.