Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2015 - (Page 20)

A NEW ROLE FOR INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN BY RON ZAMIR HOW CHANGES IN THE MARKETING LANDSCAPE ARE CREATING NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN TEAMS There's a new trend keeping marketers up at night. Emerging data shows that the way consumers shop and buy is fundamentally changing. In most industries, customers are increasingly tuning out traditional ads and marketing messages at the critical moment of purchase. This major shift in consumer behaviors has significant implications for brands generally, but especially for instructional design teams and the value they can add to a company's marketing endeavors. Consider a recent major purchase as a starting point in understanding this shift. For example, you are planning to go camping and need to find several new pieces of equipment for your trip. Before entering a brick-and-mortar store, you go online and stumble onto a very informative, interactive page from an outdoor retail chain. Its focus is not on any particular product, but rather on objective tutorials of how to pick the right tent and sleeping bag. Within minutes, you have the information you need, your opinion of that retailer increases, and you are out the door with your shopping list. Moreover, even though prices at a completing retailer are lower, you prefer the retailer that had helped educate you on the topic. And although customer 20 reviews are important, you are struck by the value of education as a bonding mechanism directly related to the brand and the trustworthiness of the vendor in question. Now, consider what had to happen for that retailer's educational site to function as intended. Had the website simply shown traditional product advertisements, the messaging wouldn't have been as trustworthy. Indeed, any sort of push-based strategy could have raised your resistance. Instead, the retailer allowed you to find and "pull" just the right educational content. In other words, the site's instructional design could play a critical factor in your purchasing decision.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2015

Tracking Trends
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: Training Trends across the Spectrum
From Training to Continuous Learning in the Workplace
Integrating Accommodations for Learning Disabilities into Training
Emerging Learning Technology Trends
The Business Potential of Cloud-based Learning
A New Role for Instructional Design
Social Motivation: The Key to Adult Learning ROI
Key Trends for 2015: Transforming the Training Function
Bite-sized Learning Turns Less into More
How C-level Executives View Corporate Training
Learning Content Modernization: Why, What and How
Casebook: Boy Scouts of America: Reimagining the Learning Experience
Communities of Practice: The Future of Workplace Learning
VUCU Leadership in Today's Muligenerational Workplace
It's All About Climate Change
Closing Deals
Company News
What's Online
Training Talk

Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2015