By Mike Hitchen Consulting - the consultancy that puts principles before profits.How do you promote the program?
When you are proposing the training program, it is important to consider the following:
* Who are you trying to reach? What is the target group?
* What are the benefits to the target group?
* How can you communicate this?
* How can you then promote the training program to the group?
The methods that you will employ to promote to management or key people will differ from the methods of promoting to the learners. Gathering support from managers or those in control of training funds is an on-going process which requires research and planning.
Information that you present to management about prospective training needs to be clear and concise. In a presentation of promotional material you could include:
* The facts: the training you identified, evidence that it is needed and how the program will meet those needs.
* The link to organisational goals
* The costs and time involved.
* The evaluation of the program afterwards to show it met its objectives.
Having worked out the information you are going to provide, there are a number of ways you can present the information. You could have a meeting with one or more key people, present the information to a group, distribute a written presentation, put together a multi-media presentation, or a combination of all,
Information that you present to the potential learners can be put together in a variety of ways. You could distribute a newsletter, brochures, posters, email or memos etc. When you are promoting the program to the learners you must make sure you include enough details so they can make an informed decision. You should include:
* A summary of the content
* A brief description of the expected goals
* The venue, times, and any extra resources they need
* The specific benefits to the learner
* How to enrol
* Any extra selection criteria
* Who to contact for further information
How do you evaluate the promotion?
You need to monitor the effectiveness of your promotional activities to make sure the information is being communicated to the right people in the right way. There are several methods you can use to monitor the effectiveness of your promotions.
* Monitor enrolment numbers and where the learners have found out about the program
* Conduct surveys to find out how aware they are of your program and its benefits
* Talk to people and get informal feedback on how much they know about the programs you are involved in.
* Try different forms of promotion and use any of these methods to monitor their success, so you will know what works for particular groups
This is the last article in this current series but a new series and possibly new format, will be starting in the near future.
Mike Hitchen
Mike Hitchen Consulting
