From Chaos to Clarity: Content Strategy for Modern L&D

L&D teams are drowning in content requests while learners ignore what gets created. The problem isn't more ideas-it's smarter strategy borrowed from marketing, where content must earn attention. This interactive session teaches marketing-tested techniques for planning, writing, and scaling learning content with less friction and more impact. Participants learn a 3-step framework (audit, align, organize), then apply the SURE principle to write content that's Simple, Useful, Resonant, and Skimmable. Through real examples, quick-win writing tips, and a practical repurposing matrix, attendees leave with tools to stop recreating the wheel and start working like content professionals who create once and reuse strategically.

Learn more at https://trainlikeamarketer.com

Transcript

1. From Content Chaos to Clarity Bianca Baumann & Mike Taylor trainlikeamarketer.com trainlikeamarketer.com
2. Bianca Baumann Mike Taylor trainlikeamarketer.com
3. trainlikeamarketer.com
4. 100+ ads a day! trainlikeamarketer.com
5. 275 80% 2 min Times an employee is interrupted a day Of employees say they don’t have enough time to do their jobs That’s how often employees los focus Microsoft Work Trend Index & Open Text 2025 trainlikeamarketer.com
6. Where do you feel most stuck: strategy, creation, or tools? trainlikeamarketer.com
7. From Chaos to Clarity Content Strategy Writing Smarter, Not Harder Attention + Action trainlikeamarketer.com
8. 1 Content Strategy From Chaos to Clarity
9. What is content? trainlikeamarketer.com
10. Useful information that an audience will consume. trainlikeamarketer.com
11. Content Types vs. Channels Type Channel Reusable containers for specific information that is useful to your audience. How content types are consumed by your audience. Videos, WBTs, etc. Blogs, LMS, etc. trainlikeamarketer.com
12. Content Strategy trainlikeamarketer.com
13. Content Strategy in Three Moves Audit What content does currently exist? 1 2 Align Does existing content align with goals, your learners, and desired behavior change? 3 Organize What needs to be in place before you should create content? trainlikeamarketer.com
14. Do you know what content you have? trainlikeamarketer.com
15. Move 1: Audit What do you already have in place? You can’t fix what you haven’t counted. trainlikeamarketer.com
16. Four checks for your content Use a rubric to rank the relevance of your content. Findability Usage Can learners find it easily? How often is it accessed each week? Relevance Mobile usability How relevant is it to learners? Does it work well on a phone? trainlikeamarketer.com
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18. Content Audit Example trainlikeamarketer.com
19. Every asset gets a verdict KEEP FIX REUSE RETIRE Accurate, easy to find, and people use it. Leave it alone. Right topic, wrong shape. Update it, tighten it, or make it findable. Strong core. Repackage it for a new audience or format. Outdated or ignored. Archive it and stop maintaining it. Score it with the rubric. Then pick one verdict. trainlikeamarketer.com
20. CASE STUDY How Places for People Projected £1 Million in Savings 11,000 Employees Supported £1M Projected Savings THE STRATEGY: Centralizing & organizing existing learning content for maximum accessibility. "Not from building more, but from finally knowing what they had and making it accessible." trainlikeamarketer.com
21. Move 2: Align Does existing content align with goals, learners and behavior change? Content without alignment is just noise with a completion rate. trainlikeamarketer.com
22. Questions You Should Ask Who is this for? Define your target audience and their specific needs. What to they need to do differently? Why does the business care? Identify the behavior change required for success. Align your strategy with core business objectives. trainlikeamarketer.com
23. What content do you wish people would stop asking you to make? trainlikeamarketer.com
24. Move 3: Organize How can you get organized and begin to create content? A content strategy isn’t a spreadsheet. It’s a system your whole team can use. trainlikeamarketer.com
25. What’s in a Content Strategy Plan? Strategic Goals Target Audience Content Types & Channels Content Model Editorial Calendar Content Lifecycle trainlikeamarketer.com
26. Content Model Headline Body Text Plus: • Character limit • Meta description • Tags Image • External links • Etc. Sub-headings trainlikeamarketer.com
27. Content Strategy Templates trainlikeamarketer.com
28. CASE STUDY Walmart committed $1 Billion 1,5 mil Employees Supported THE STRATEGY: Structured skills training to transform workforce development. All built around a content strategy trainlikeamarketer.com
29. Discussion Which move does your organization need most right now — and what's the first step you'd take this week? trainlikeamarketer.com
30. 2 Write Smarter, Not Harder Content That Clicks
31. NEWSFLASH! trainlikeamarketer.com
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33. Great content still has to EARN ATTENTION trainlikeamarketer.com
34. …if it doesn't capture attention, IT’S JUST NOISE trainlikeamarketer.com
35. Do you design for attention? trainlikeamarketer.com
36. What You Can Do About It 1 2 Start with great titles trainlikeamarketer.com
37. The title has a huge Impact on effectiveness of content trainlikeamarketer.com
38. 5x More People Read the Title Read the title 80% Read beyond the title 20% Your main message belongs in the title. trainlikeamarketer.com
39. Captures Attention Sets Expectations Drives Action 1st impression determines engagement Frames how content will be perceived Determines if readers will continue or leave trainlikeamarketer.com
40. Annual Code of Conduct Certification When the Rules Don’t Cover It: How to Make the Right Call in Gray Areas written from the organization's perspective — it's describing a process written from the learner's perspective — it names a situation they've actually lived trainlikeamarketer.com
41. Sharethrough Headline Analyzer headlines.sharethrough.com trainlikeamarketer.com
42. Your Favorite AI Tools ChatGPT, Claude, CoPilot, Gemini, etc trainlikeamarketer.com
43. What You Can Do About It 1 2 Start with great titles Use the SURE principles trainlikeamarketer.com
44. S Simple Our brains crave simple, clear information. readability is key trainlikeamarketer.com
45. Readability is a good proxy for learnability Look for ways to reduce the amount & complexity of your text trainlikeamarketer.com
46. Flesch Reading Ease Score Typical insurance policy = 12 trainlikeamarketer.com trainlikeamarketer.com
47. S U Simple Useful Ditch generic content and write for learners' problems. Just like marketers target customer needs Personas reveal this! trainlikeamarketer.com
48. S U R Simple Useful Resonate Emotions create learning that sticks. Facts alone don’t cut it. trainlikeamarketer.com
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51. How marketers tap into emotions… trainlikeamarketer.com
52. VIDEO trainlikeamarketer.com
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54. Which is more impactful? Logical Emotional trainlikeamarketer.com
55. Attention Triggers PERSONAL EMOTIONAL CONTRASTABLE VISUAL Combine them for an even more impactful effect. TANGIBLE MEMORABLE trainlikeamarketer.com
56. S U R E Simple Useful Resonate Easy to skim Master visual hierarchy with headers, bite-sized chunks, and visuals. Skimmable content wins. trainlikeamarketer.com
57. Visual Attention Words: 291 Words: 103 Flesch Reading Ease Score: 37.9 Flesch Reading Ease Score: 60.8 trainlikeamarketer.com
58. https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6904b12a6b2c8191bdf66a4dd359764a-message-makeover-coach trainlikeamarketer.com
59. Content Repurposing trainlikeamarketer.com
60. L&D Marketing 1 webinar 1 webinar = = 1 webinar 20+ pieces trainlikeamarketer.com trainlikeamarketer.com
61. Create less, distribute more. Kapost Used a single eBook as the basis for 122 pieces of content trainlikeamarketer.com trainlikeamarketer.com
62. Content Pyramid Hero Content Webinars, workshops, courses, etc. Supporting Content Emails, landing pages, job aids, documents, etc. Micro-Content Infographics, quotes, audiograms, etc. trainlikeamarketer.com
63. One webinar, five more assets 1 Format Effort Use it to… webinar Job aid or checklist Build the hero once. Then work down the pyramid. Short video clips Medium Share one idea at a time Infographic or quote card Medium Make the main idea skimmable Microlearning module Higher Turn the core into practice Recap email series Low Reinforce the key points after the session Low Give people something to use on the job trainlikeamarketer.com
64. 100 Ways to Repurpose Content https://trainlikeamarketer.com/100-ways-to-repurpose-content-in-ld/ trainlikeamarketer.com
65. Make your content work smarter Design for attention with SURE Drive real behavior change. trainlikeamarketer.com
66. Your toolkit Content strategy template Content assessment rubric Get it all at trainlikeamarketer.com 100 Ways to Repurpose Content Message Makeover Coach Start with one template this week. trainlikeamarketer.com
67. What content would you like to rewrite or reuse in a smarter way? trainlikeamarketer.com
68. Finish that sentence I learned… I’m beginning to think… I wonder… I was surprised that… I’m going to… trainlikeamarketer.com
69. Book signing: Wednesday 4:30 ATD Store trainlikeamarketer.com trainlikeamarketer.com