Think Like a Marketer, Act Like an L&D Leader with Barry Ryan

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Barry Ryan of Thirst.Barry is a seasoned marketer turned L&D advocate and is the Head of Marketing at Thirst, the learning platform built for SMEs. With a deep background in B2B marketing, Barry is on a mission to help L&D teams think more like marketers to drive real impact and boost learner engagement.In this episode, Barry talks Brigid through how to apply marketing principles to L&D. Barry covers the core challenges L&D professionals face and how to overcome them, including:Know your audience: How to create and use learner personas to ensure you’re not "shooting in the dark."Content is king, but relevance is queen: Why great content is useless if it doesn't solve a problem for your learners.Engagement funnels equal learning journeys: Practical tips on how to build campaign momentum using hooks, segmentation, strong visuals, and repurposed content.Social proof and internal advocacy: Using testimonials, success stories, and internal influencers to build trust, credibility, and a fear of missing out (FOMO).Measure what matters: Moving beyond completion rates to track metrics like engagement, behaviour change, and long-term retention to prove and increase L&D's value.Barry gives practical advice on how to build and manage learning campaigns and highlights the commonalities between marketing and L&D. If you are looking to drive engagement with your learning, this is a must-listen-to episode.Connect with Barry on LinkedIn: Barry Ryan Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.