Tip #3: Brand
your initiative
Establishing brand identity:
Feelings and messaging
A brand is a personality — it gives objects or ideas a tangible presence. Brand
personality is why Apple customers wait for hours in line for the latest product or
Starbucks patrons pay more for a cup of coffee. They either identify with, or have a
desire to be associated with, the characteristics of that particular brand. If your company
wants to encourage elearning usage, it is important to craft a strong brand identity
employees want to be associated with.
Revisit the objectives, features and benefits exercise you completed on Page 8. Take a
look at the features you listed and think about the emotions each feature may create in
your employees. For example, if one of your features is that employees can choose their
own courses, employees may feel the company values their time and opinions. This
feature may also give employees feelings of freedom. If another feature is that courses
provide supplemental materials, your employees may feel more secure, because they
will have a resource to help them apply what they learned on the job. Now you try!
Write down the two features you listed on Page 6 and the feelings you'd like employees
to have when they learn about that feature.
Feature #1: _____________________________________________________________________________
Feelings: ________________________________________________________________________________
Feature #2: _____________________________________________________________________________
Feelings: ________________________________________________________________________________
These emotions can be used to help you craft a message that will encourage employees
to feel this way about your elearning initiative.
If your organization has
a marketing or internal
communication team,
make sure to involve them
in the branding process
for your training program.
Not only will they be able
to provide expert insight
into your brand, but they
will also likely already
have templates and other
resources you can use.
RESOURCES:
NBC Universal "Talent Lab" rebranding
Webinar: Increasing learner engagement
Mashable.com articles on branding
Curbing the usage slump | 11
