Expertus Announces the Most Effective Marketing Techniques for Internal Training Programs

Study Reveals "What Works" in Reaching Learners


MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - October 14, 2008) - Expertus (www.expertus.com), a global leader in helping companies fuel business growth by maximizing the value of training investments, recently announced the findings from their study, "Internal Marketing for Corporate Training Programs." The study surveyed training leaders to understand how companies use marketing to promote participation in internal training programs. Among the findings is a useful breakdown on the effectiveness and favorability of a variety of marketing tools.

Survey respondents indicated that email blasts are the most effective marketing activity, followed closely by phone calls and management recommendations. Although utilizing management recommendations isn't a typical "marketing" technique, management buy-in on training programs clearly has an impact. The lower half of the list includes print newsletters, inter-office mail, and anything that requires paper or printing. View all results here: http://www.trainingefficiency.com/system/files/Survey+Results_Marketing+Training+Internally_Expertus.pdf.

The percentage of respondents who view each activity below as effective are as follows:

Email Blasts 76%
Phone Calls 71%
Management Recommendations 68%
Seminars/Workshops 64%
Webinars 61%
Internal Training Site 48%
LMS Notices 46%
Posters 46%
Direct Mail 46%
Digital Newsletters 46%
Inter-office Mail 39%
Print Newsletters 25%

Respondents indicated that webinars, seminars, and workshops that promote training programs receive the most favorable reaction from internal employees. Closely behind webinars and seminars is "management recommendations," which also ranked highly as an effective marketing activity.

"It was terrific to see what techniques are tried-and-true across different industries and organization types," said Ramesh Ramani, Founder and CEO of Expertus. "While organizations' marketing techniques will vary for a variety of reasons, we encourage the marketing of programs to internal constituencies -- and utilizing management buy-in to their advantage!"

Other relevant findings include:

--  While half of the respondents use different marketing activities for
    different types of training, 45% market all training programs alike. The
    remaining 5% do not market individual training programs.
    
--  The responses indicate that regardless of the technique (email blasts,
    posters, internal website updates, etc.), HR or training departments are
    responsible for doing the majority of the marketing activities and external
    vendors are used less than 5% of the time. In varying degrees, internal
    marketing departments sometimes help support these marketing activities.
    
--  60% of organizations that take the initiative to market programs
    measure the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns. For those that do
    measure the effectiveness of marketing activities, surveys are a prevalent
    source of information.
    

The survey had 73 qualified respondents, all internal corporate training and development professionals whose organizations widely varied in size, scope of resources, budget and other applicable factors.

To view the full results of the study and comprehensive charts, visit http://www.trainingefficiency.com/system/files/Survey+Results_Marketing+Training+Internally_Expertus.pdf.

About Expertus

Expertus is the leading global provider of services that optimize the business impact of learning. For more than a decade, the firm's 500+ learning management professionals have defined and implemented plans, processes and technologies that transform training organizations -- creating measurable value for the world's most successful corporations. Clients include ADP, Cisco, Conoco-Phillips, EMC, Honeywell and Lockheed Martin. Every day at these and other companies, more than a million employees, customers and business partners are educated as a result of Expertus' innovative business strategies, outsourcing services and technology-rich solutions.

Based in Silicon Valley, Expertus serves its clients from offices in the US, UK and India. For more information, visit www.expertus.com, or call toll-free 1-877-827-8160.

Contact Information: Press Contact: Alicia Hassinger Communications Strategy Group ahassinger@csg-pr.com (720) 933-8119