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<td colspan="14" align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" ><h1>How To Build The Brand Identity Of Your Training Or E-Learning
Business.</h1>
<h4>This training company's homepage takes six … excruciating
… minutes …
to … resolve … revealing … a twirling, back-lit
logo!</h4>
<!--#include virtual="/incl.sharethis.html" -->
<p>Another firm camouflages its communications efforts in deep
magenta
mice type against a pitch-black background.</p>
<p>Still another firm disguises its messages as visual metaphors
of falling
leaves.</p>
<p>Narcissistic logo worship, blurred images, cryptic metaphors,
content
obfuscation - what gives? Are the executives who own and manage
these training companies smoking something?</p>
<p>Perhaps. More likely they have fallen under the spell of
a so-called
"branding expert" who assured them that a costly
corporate identity
program would transform their company into an industry powerhouse.</p>
<p>Corporate identity and branding "experts" point
to companies like IBM,
Kodak, Microsoft, GE and Disney as evidence that smart branding
can
really put a company on the map. Unfortunately, they confuse
cause and
effect. These legendary franchises were successful long before
some
graphic arts guru did a facelift on their logo. They earned
their
reputation through sustained market performance.</p>
<p>Does anybody out there really think Michael Jordan would
have any
"brand appeal" if he hadn't scored 30 points a game
year in, year out.</p>
<p>In the training business, like the basketball business, your
brand identity
begins with how well you put the ball in the hoop. It's about
performance
-- not puffery. So in crafting your communications with customers,
concentrate 90% of your energies on clearly articulating:</p>
<ul class="dot">
<li>what problems you help customers solve<br>
</li>
<li>what makes you unique and better<br>
</li>
<li>who besides you thinks so<br>
</li>
<li>what is your proof of performance</li>
</ul>
<p>Ok, so brand identity is 90% about performance and pleasing
customers.
Now let's talk about the other 10%. How can you create a classy
and
consistent look and feel across all of your customer communications
that
sets off your unique identity and doesn't blow your budget.</p>
<h2>A. Choosing A Corporate Identity Resource </h2>
<h4>Consider using a smaller firm, or a talented free lancer. </h4>
<p>Larger firms tend
to develop a "house look." So the logo you spent
$20,000 for winds up
looking like a poor cousin of an established brand. Also,
a larger firm is
more likely to relegate you to working with a junior staff
member fresh out
of art school.</p>
<p>Don't hire a corporate identity resource that doesn't "talk
business." Ask
them to explain the business rationale behind the work that
they've done
for others. Inquire about what they will need to know about
you before
they begin. If they don't ask insightful questions fundamental
to the
business issues you are facing, then don't trust them to be
any more than
mechanics.</p>
<h2>B. Your Name</h2>
<h4>If you already have a name, be wary about changing it, even
if it no longer
precisely describes what you do. </h4>
<p>International Business Machines,
American Express and General Electric have far outstripped
their names
in terms of what they have to offer. But only a fool would
think of
changing them. Their corporate reputation transcends the sum
of the
words that makes up their name -- and, quite possibly, yours
does too.
On the other hand, if your name no longer fits and calls up
bitter
memories of past disappointments, then, by all means change
it.</p>
<p>If you're starting from scratch, try and choose a name that
describes the
value you offer customers. Do think into the future, lest
your expanding
capabilities render your name too narrowly focused. And don't
choose a
name that describes HOW you deliver this value -- lest new
delivery
technologies render your name obsolete (e.g. all the training
firms that
used to have "CBT" as part of their name).</p>
<p>Avoid naming trends. BetterLearning.com may sound sexy today
-- but
very dated tomorrow.</p>
<p>Beware of choosing a company name with several words -- lest
you be
reduced to a meaningless string of initials (a real problem,
unless you
happen to be IBM). Better Learning Technologies = BLT. Would
you like
mayonnaise on that? On the other hand, it's ok to try and
make up a
name by combining two or more words into one.</p>
<h2>C. Your Logo</h2>
<h4>Don't feel you need a graphic symbol as part of your logo
-- a spinning
ellipse, distended globe, flying wedge or whatever other shape
is
currently in vogue.</h4>
<p> It's just one more thing for people to
remember -- or,
more likely, forget. Graphic symbol logos are a leftover from
the days
when butchers hung out a picture of a side of beef, since
most of their
customers weren't able to read.</p>
<p>Better to consider a stylish rendering of your company name
-- but not so
stylish that the letters aren't readily identifiable.</p>
<p>If your name does a good job of describing the value you
offer your
customers, then you won't need a tag line beneath your logo.
If you do
decide a tag line is a helpful part of your identity, then
go ahead. Just
don't require it on everything.</p>
<p>Be sure your logo looks well dressed on every occasion. Does
it work on
your Website? Does it hold together if it's faxed or copied?
Can it be
easily reproduced on baseball caps and promotion giveaways?
Does it
look ok shrunk down to business card size? Does it look just
as nifty in
black and white as in full living color?</p>
<h2>D. Your Style</h2>
<h4>Be sure your corporate style requirements speak to a business
audience and support your performance claims.</h4>
<p> Leave the bizarre
typefaces, boudoir colors and art deco layouts to the cosmetics
and high fashion companies.</p>
<p>Think transparent. You want the style of your communications
to showcase your message content -- not compete with it. So
lay out your business cards in a landscape format -- not portrait.
Don't run your logo in 256-point type vertically up the right
hand margin of your letterhead. Don't require attention-getting
fonts or layout schemes.</p>
<p>Think legible. Don't specify dark background colors with
light type. Even if you choose a sans serif typeface as part
of your core style, be sure to specify a serif face alternative
to improve legibility on long stretches of copy.</p>
<p>Don't apply your corporate communications standards to everything.
One training company we know decided to require that all corporate
word processors be set to a Century Schoolbook font (instead
of the traditional Times Roman). This defeated any attempt
to make their promotional direct mail look like personal correspondence.</p>
<p>In designing your Website template, remember that fancy graphics
and motion effects will be a turnoff to folks who have to
wait for them to download. What's more they will defeat your
efforts to have your site be served in the top 10 results
from the search engines. Smart companies are moving away from
the Hollywood look in favor of text-rich content that helps
visitors find the information they need fast.</p>
<p>Bloated Website graphics are a particular problem with training
companies who build high production value into their course
offerings and want to "strut their stuff." Don't
fall for this trap. Your Website is there to inform, not amaze.
If you must serve up high bandwidth pages that demonstrate
the production values in your course offerings, put them on
interior pages and spell out the download time required.</p>
<p>Do publish a "style guide" specifying how your
logo and other corporate identity components should be used
in various settings. Include an explanation of the purpose
of each specification so folks will be more motivated to abide
by them. Avoid the Nazi-like imperatives that "police
state" corporate identity types like to impose. Circulate
the guide before you publish it -- to be sure that you haven't
caused hardship to one department or another. Set up an exceptions
process with a reasonable person as czar.</p>
<h2> E. Your Budget</h2>
<h4>There's a reason why so many company logos are in blue. That's
so when you produce a direct mail campaign you only need to
use two colors, black for the text and blue for the logo and
the signature. So think twice if you aspire to a multi-color
logo -- or a one-color logo in any color other than blue.</h4>
<p>If you want to provide a different emphasis for your tag
line or your company address, why not simply specify a half
tone (or shade) of black or blue. This way you can have 2
colors for the price of 1.</p>
<p>Don't require super expensive stock for your office stationary
or promotion materials. Remember, your "image" is
90% about performance. A sound design template should take
care of the remaining 10%. We have never seen expensive paper
stock improve response to a company's promotion.</p>
<p>In sum, a superior corporate identity program should save
more money than it costs.</p>
<h4>This is a test:</h4>
<p>Sales of your training offerings are down, and your financial
outlook stinks. Your course offerings are getting long in
the tooth, and a new competitor is eating your lunch. Your
key people are demoralized and jumping ship. What do you do?</p>
<p>A. Fork over a small fortune to a prestigious corporate identity
firm to overhaul your brand image. Try and disguise your poor
fundamentals with elaborate graphics and design trickery.</p>
<p>B. Bite the bullet and deal with your business issues. Rebuild
your business reputation based on superior performance. Powerfully
communicate your new and improved capabilities in plain language
customers can identify with. Use design and graphics to set
off your corporate identity -- not define it.</p>
<p>PS: Here's a pet peeve I just have to share. "We're
not a training company -- we're into performance management."
How often have we all heard that! And then the same "we're
not a training company" removes any shred of performance
oriented language from its sales promotion efforts and substitutes
a bunch of pretentious words and pictures that make their
offerings come across as some sort of a corporate cosmetic.</p>
<p>No wonder so many line decisionmakers don't take our industry
seriously.</p>
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