Building Buzz and Value: How to Generate Excitement for Your Training Programs

Introduction 

You want to launch a new training program - now what?

Let's build buzz for your program. 

The Hone platform excels in driving learner engagement. Here are a few key ways the platform helps:

Click here for the PDF of all communications for Hone Membership. 

If you want to do even more to build buzz… we've compiled our top recommendations categorized by lift and impact to help you prioritize your efforts.

⭐ Good Practice: These actions require low lift but can boost learner engagement. 

⭐⭐ Better Practice: These strategies demand more effort and resources but result in greater engagement.
⭐⭐⭐ Best Practice: These approaches involve more significant time and resource investment, offering the highest payoff for your learners.

Implementation Tips

• Start Early: Begin building buzz weeks before the launch to create higher levels of awareness 
• Consistency: Maintain a consistent message and theme across all communication channels to reduce confusion and keep key information clear. 
• Consider Your Org Culture: Consider what your employees respond most well to - do they need to know the why? Do they thrive off competition? Build these elements into your strategies to be most successful 
• Feedback Loop: Encourage and utilize employee feedback to continuously improve your engagement strategies.

Leveraging Engaging Marketing Techniques

⭐Leverage Existing Communication Channels: Use existing team meetings, newsletters, or regular communication channels, like the company intranet, to highlight Hone Membership or a specific program or class within Membership and its benefits.  

• Hot Hone Tip: When launching organization-wide Membership, emphasize the long-term benefits and continuous learning opportunities available through Membership. For single programs or classes, highlight the immediate, specific skills and outcomes.

⭐⭐Engage Enthusiastic Internal Ambassadors: If you have early adopters or piloters, ask them to share their excitement and experience with others, or leverage feedback from the Hone platform to provide strong testimonials. For entirely new programs, leverage champions in the organization with a passion for learning who are excited to take advantage of this new offering to help promote the program.

• Hone Hot Tip: For organization-wide Membership, having senior leaders endorse and participate in the training can significantly boost credibility and interest. For single programs, having relevant department heads or key influencers champion the program can drive engagement. If the CEO role models its importance, employees will be more likely to follow suit

⭐⭐Send Personalized Invitations: Highlight how the training will benefit these learners. Consider asking managers or leaders to personally invite employees to participate in your new programs for an added personal touch. Refer to Hone’s program messaging templates for a place to start.

• Hone Hot Tip: Personalized invitations are particularly effective for single programs as they can detail the specific benefits and relevance to the recipient's current role or goals.

⭐⭐⭐ Develop a Creative Theme for the Training Launch: Include branding and catchy messaging (catchy name, collateral, slogans, etc.) and visual appeal (use visuals, infographics, and compelling designs) to drive extra interest and attention. 

• Hone Hot Tip: For organization-wide launches, a unified theme can create a sense of community and collective learning journey. For single programs, a focused theme can make the training feel more specialized and relevant.

Below are examples of themes and a visual.

Choose Your Learning Adventure @ Georgia’s Own

And if you aren’t sure where to start, consider using ChatGPT to generate some ideas with prompts like these: 

• “Can you share some creative name ideas for a [new manager training program] at a [sustainable energy] company called [GreedGrid]?” 
• “We’ve named our internal L&D initiative [“Hone Grown,”] what are some creative slogans or taglines we can use to market this program?”

Incentives, Gamification, Recognition 

⭐ Award Digital Badges or Certificates: Set and share goals for participation or completion with the team and then track progress regularly in the Hone platform. Ex. Award a certificate for the completion of all 5 classes in a Leadership Essentials program. 

⭐ Feature a Leaderboard: Recognize top learners and their achievements. The Hone platform will highlight your top 5 “Superlearners” who have taken the most Membership classes. 

• Hone Hot Tip: For organization-wide Membership, recognize top learners across the organization in a company wide newsletter or All Hands meeting. For single programs, it may make sense to announce top performers during relevant team meetings or department-specific communications. 

⭐⭐Integrate Gamification: Host a cross-departmental competition. Monitor department-level attendance data in the Hone dashboard and spotlight progress in an All Hands meeting. After a certain period of time, announce the winner and award prizes!

⭐⭐⭐Implement a Tiered Rewards System: Employees earn increasingly valuable rewards as they reach certain milestones. Leverage Hone platform data to track different metrics that can be used as milestones - like the number of classes completed, or 100% program completion.  

• Hone Hot Tip: For organization-wide Membership, rewards can be tied to continuous engagement and long-term milestones. For single programs, rewards can be immediate and tied to specific program completion.

⭐⭐⭐Host Virtual or In-person Celebrations: Plan celebratory events for groups of employees who complete major training milestones, like finishing one class a month for a year or graduating from a new manager program. Take your celebrations beyond just “completion” to celebrate how learning has impacted your employee’s lives! 

Engaging Launch Events

⭐ All-Hands Meetings: Create a presentation to share at a company-wide meeting about Hone, provide a tour of the platform, and encourage employees to sign up for their first class while online together.  

• Hone Hot Tip: For organization-wide Membership, it may make the most sense to present at a company wide meeting. For specific programming for different audiences, it may make sense to visit different teams to promote programs during their regular meetings or host open Town Hall sessions for those invited to the program. 

⭐⭐ Brief Announcement Videos: Create short, engaging promotional videos with the help of your team to announce the training program that can be shared across various communication platforms.

⭐⭐⭐Kickoff Parties: Organize fun kickoff events, either virtually or in-person, to celebrate the launch. This can be a larger format celebratory that focuses on high-level messaging, promoting social interaction, and possibly even including guest speakers or entertainment like team-building games. 

Conclusion

Creating buzz and excitement around new training programs is vital for ensuring high participation and engagement. By leveraging a variety of strategies—from engaging marketing techniques and personalized invitations to gamification and recognition—you can capture your employees' interest and demonstrate the value of your training initiatives.

Additional Resources

• Click here for communication strategies.
• Click here for email and messaging templates. 
• Join our monthly live Learning Leader Office Hours. 

For additional ideas, visit our live Learning Leader Office Hours.