Learn about the impact your brand can have and how to brand your learning solutions. Check out what Juliette has to say on brands and learning here: https://youtu.be/bLO4b1wqniU
2. THE IMPACT
OF YOUR BRAND
Your brand has a significant impact on your business.
It’s the face you show your customers, the voice you
use to address the world and it’s the first thing that
comes to mind whenever your company’s name is
mentioned.
The brand is a visual reminder of what your company
stands for. It should filter through everything you do
as an organisation, including your learning and
development output. A branded learning platform
reinforces the values behind the learning content,
even if it’s just on a subconscious level.
3. BRANDING YOUR
LEARNING SOLUTIONS
Your brand is also a vital part of your online learning
solution. Imagine a topsy-turvy world in which the
system didn’t have any options for custom branding.
Your LMS would blend in with the rest of the world
wide web. Would there be a compelling enough reason
for your learners to visit your platform, rather than
YouTube?
Applying your brand to your solution sends out a
subconscious signal to all your learners. It ensures
they view it as authoritative and as a key place to turn
when it comes to organisational learning.
4. BRAND
AMBASSADORS
When you have a brand that neatly sums up everything your
business stands for, you also have a symbol that your learners
can identify with. In the context of a learning platform, a solid
brand can go a long way towards creating true believers, or
‘Ambassadors’ within your company.
When a true believer sets a good example, the impact on
company culture and behaviour change is organic and powerful.
5. EMOTIONAL
RESONANCE
Tying your brand to your learning platform also
drives emotional resonance amongst your
learners. It creates a sense of belonging, unity and
common purpose.
Emotional resonance is a powerful tool. The limbic
system, which acts as the seat your emotions
within your brain, is also critical for short-term and
long-term memory. Emotional experiences are
inherently more memorable experiences. This
naturally results in higher levels of engagement,
increased knowledge intake and ultimately,
behaviour change.
6. EPIC
MEANING
Forging a strong link between your brand and your learning
environment helps to create epic meaning. Epic meaning is
generated whenever learners feel like they’re a part of
something that’s bigger than just themselves. It feeds into the
human need to be a part of something that matters.
By tailoring your learning solution to reflect your company
vision, values and overall brand, you help learners to see
where it all fits within the broader picture. This gives them the
purpose, passion and drive needed to produce meaningful
results. To make this happen, you need learning technology
that’s flexible enough to deliver the goods.
7. CREATING
EPIC MEANING
Define Your Learning Objectives: Boil them down into a mission statement that resonates with your
overall brand messaging.
Brief Your Admin Team: Loop in all the key players. Creating epic meaning requires consistency.
Customise Your Solution: In line with your mission statement and your brand guidelines.
Weave a Narrative: Use the power of storytelling throughout your learning solution where possible.
Provide Recognition: Whenever anybody engages on a meaningful level with your brand, they
should feel rewarded in some way. The same holds true of your branded learning solution. Use
gamification and real world recognition to reward your learning and brand ambassadors.
Survey Your Audience: Once your solution is out there in the world, survey your end users and use
the results to improve and increase the levels of epic meaning.
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8. FINAL
THOUGHTS
Your company’s mission statement is a powerful tool when it comes
to training your people – but let’s not underestimate the
practicalities of your brand. If you want to make the learning
journey as stress-free as possible, you need to give your learners an
environment that feels familiar.
So, the next time you’ve got to deliver really effective eLearning –
try putting your brand at the centre of the production. You’ll be
helping to drive additional levels of epic meaning that could make
all the difference to your learning programme.