Why marketing-led learning is the future of L&D

When you think about Marketing for Learning®, what springs to mind? Chances are, you’re picturing slick campaigns, engaging emails, and attention-grabbing videos designed to boost engagement, right?

But here’s the real game-changer: if you want your learning strategy to truly succeed, you need to integrate marketing principles long before you even think about launching a campaign. And that’s where marketing-led learning comes in.

THE PROBLEM WITH TRADITIONAL L&D APPROACHES

Let’s be honest, L&D has long treated marketing as an afterthought. You spend months crafting a learning programme, designing content, and rolling out courses, only to slap on a marketing campaign at the end in a desperate bid for engagement. And what happens?

• Low participation rates

• Minimal impact on business performance

• A growing perception that L&D is just a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a strategic function

Sound familiar? The reason this happens is simple: most L&D teams don’t invest the time upfront to understand their audience, align with business goals, or create learning experiences that people actually want to engage with.

THE SOLUTION? MARKETING-LED LEARNING

To drive real engagement and impact, you need to start treating learning like a product – and marketing like the essential tool it is. This means shifting from an “engagement-first” mindset to a marketing-first approach that influences every stage of the L&D lifecycle.

STEP 1: START WITH RESEARCH

Most L&D teams don’t talk to their audience enough. They make assumptions about what employees need, rather than gathering insights directly from the source. And the result? Learning solutions that miss the mark entirely.

Here’s what a marketing-led learning does differently:

• Conducts in-depth audience research – what are employees’ pain points, goals, and motivations?

• Creates personas to represent the target audience and keep them front-of-mind, always!

• Aligns with business objectives – how does learning directly contribute to the company’s success?

• Identifies competing priorities – what’s distracting learners, and how can L&D cut through the noise?

The key here is market research. Nobody would launch a new product without researching customer needs first, so why should learning be any different? When you take the time to listen to employees and stakeholders, you create learning that’s actually relevant, useful, and impactful.

STEP 2: DEVELOP LEARNING PRODUCTS WITH STRONG MARKET FIT

In marketing, product-market fit happens when your target audience is not only using your product but also talking about it and advocating for it.

So in L&D, this means employees are actively engaging with learning because it’s useful, relevant, and valuable to them. It’s not something they do just to tick a box – it’s something they genuinely want to do.

To achieve this, you need to:

• Align learning with both employee needs and business goals

• Design experiences that solve real problems for learners

• Measure impact based on business outcomes, not just course completions

When you get this right, everything else becomes easier. Marketing campaigns feel more natural, engagement skyrockets, and, most importantly, learning stops feeling like a chore.

STEP 3: BUILD A MARKETING STRATEGY THAT ACTUALLY WORKS

Once you’ve nailed your research and created learning experiences that resonate, then (and only then) should you start thinking about your marketing campaigns.

A truly marketing-led learning function will focus on:

• Driving awareness before launching a new learning initiative (think teasers and trailers for upcoming initiatives)

• Creating ongoing engagement strategies – not just one-off announcements and programme-by-programme marketing.

• Leveraging multiple communication channels (email alone won’t cut it!)

• Measuring impact and optimising campaigns over time (the more you do, the more you’ll learn!)

This means moving away from the outdated approach of “send an email, cross our fingers, and hope for the best.” Instead, it’s about designing intentional marketing that uses the right message, at the right time, through the right channels.

STEP 4: ALIGN LEARNING WITH BUSINESS PRIORITIES

One of the biggest reasons L&D struggles to prove its value is that learning is often disconnected from broader business goals. If learning isn’t solving a real problem for the company, then why should anyone care?

This is where marketing principles come in. Just like a product team develops offerings based on market demand, L&D teams need to build learning solutions that are directly linked to business success. That could mean:

• Creating learning programmes that address specific performance gaps within your organisation.

• Aligning learning with company-wide initiatives (e.g., digital transformation, leadership development).

• Developing metrics that matter – forget about bums-on-seats and smile sheets, and focus on measuring business impact.

When learning is positioned as a strategic driver, it stops being seen as an “extra” and starts being recognised as an essential part of business success.

IS MARKETING-LED LEARNING WORTH IT?

Simple answer: yes.

And the impact speaks for itself. A marketing-led learning function delivers:

• Higher learner engagement: When learning is aligned with real needs, employees actually pay attention.

• Better business buy-in: Stakeholders see the tangible value of L&D, making it easier to secure budget and support.

• Stronger ROI: Data-driven learning strategies deliver measurable results, faster.

• More effective marketing: No more throwing content at the wall to see what sticks!

• Increased trust & credibility: Employees see L&D as a valuable partner in their career growth, not just another corporate requirement.

• Sustained engagement over time: With ongoing research and optimisation, learning becomes a natural part of company culture, and has your people coming back time and time again.

IT’S TIME TO REDEFINE L&D

In today’s day and age, it’s not enough to simply offer programmes. L&D must evolve – becoming a function that deeply understands its audience, creates learning solutions with a true market fit, and leverages marketing strategies to drive long-term engagement.

This isn’t just about making learning “look” more attractive. It’s about embedding L&D into the heart of the business, ensuring learning is seen as a critical driver of performance and success.

So, here’s the challenge:

Are you ready to stop guessing and start listening? To stop pushing learning and start creating experiences that employees actively want to engage with? If so, now is the time to adopt marketing-led learning and transform the way you do L&D – because your learners, and your business, are counting on it.