Think of your favourite brands. Can you explain why they are your favourites? Is it the logo? The slogan? Probably not. It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly a brand is at the forefront of your mind. This is why it’s essential to understand what a brand is, why it is important to use branding in your marketing, and how to create a recognisable brand to increase sales.
Imagine you see an ad for a product or service on social media. It looks interesting, so you visit the link to the website to do some more digging. Surprisingly, the website looks nothing like the company’s social media. The pages on the website are different fonts and font sizes, and there appears to be no consistency. What do you do next? Chances are, you close the tab and never look at the product or service again, simply because it looks untrustworthy.
That’s exactly what can happen when people view your online course if you’ve not taken branding seriously.
What is branding?
Branding isn’t always what you’d expect it to be. Many of us believe a brand is a logo, impression, or promise from a company. Of course, these are essential elements for a successful company and contribute to the overall brand, but in themselves, they are not the brand. So what exactly is a brand?
A brand is a reputation.
Customers come to know what to expect from a company, know how good their products or services are, how they respond to customers’ needs, and what the culture of the company is. The reputation of a company is what upholds a brand and ensures customers choose your business time and time again. Which is exactly what you want as an online course creator.
We’re going to share with you why branding is vital in marketing your online course, how branding can increase sales, and also provide you with tips to help you effectively brand your online course and build your reputation for a competitive edge.
Why is branding important in marketing?
As you know, marketing is how you build awareness of your online course. This can be done through a wide range of avenues such as outbound marketing, partner marketing, word of mouth and the list goes on! But the importance of branding in effective marketing is often overlooked.
You can create top-notch course content, but if your brand is not recognisable or consistent, you’ll seriously struggle to create credibility and loyalty from your students and easily miss out on opportunities that could turn your side hustle into a serious money-making business.
So, let’s get into the importance of branding and how you can use branding to increase your online course revenue.
Why Branding your Online Course Matters?
1. Increases Brand Recognition
Familiarity with a brand is crucial for success. 82% of investors believe recognition is an integral factor in helping them decide where to invest. When a customer recognises a brand, they are more likely to trust that the brand will deliver on its promise that the product or service offered is the real deal and are more likely to purchase from you than if your brand is unfamiliar. The more familiar a brand is, the more trust customers place in the brand, and the more sales you reach.
How to increase brand recognition:
Colour
80% of customers believe colour is a large factor in brand recognition
Colour sets the mood of brand expression. It’s important to choose a colour or two for your brand that is consistent with your brand’s mood. For example, blue is seen as a trustworthy colour, whereas red is seen as a colour for power. As an online course creator, colours that create trust or colours that are associated with money and luck, such as green, would be great colour options.
Logo
Logos are the most recognisable brand identifiers
As logos are the first visual identifier of a brand, they are essential to get right. A massive 60% of customers will avoid a brand if the logo is odd or unattractive. Logos are therefore fundamental to your success. As an online course creator, your logo should be simple and appropriate, yet distinctive.
Consistency
Consistent branding is 3.5x more likely to create strong brand visibility
Consistency is key. Inconsistency in branding creates an unbalanced personality for your online course and makes it harder to establish recognition and familiarity. And what does that do? Diminishes trust and decreases sales. For your online course business, it is integral to make sure that brand colour, font and font size are consistent.
Increasing brand recognition will give your online course the competitive edge it needs.
2. Gives Your Brand a Competitive advantage
59% of customers prefer to purchase from brands they trust
Alongside your USP, effective and consistent branding promotes trust and gives your online course the competitive advantage you need to succeed. 59% of customers prefer to purchase from brands they trust. Unsurprisingly, customers struggle to trust a brand that is inconsistent (and there are many!). If there is a lack of consistency across a company’s brand, it’s hard to identify a company’s mission and values. It’s important, therefore, as an online course creator to also be authentic and transparent. 86% of customers prefer brands that are authentic and honest. This can be achieved by telling the story of your online course, who you are and the values you hold. Along with consistency, this will give your online course the competitive edge you need to stand out from your competitors.
When you’ve got this competitive edge, you’ll achieve the most important goal. Customer loyalty.
3. Promotes Customer loyalty
Customer loyalty is the most important aspect of branding. Everything we have discussed so far allows you, as an online course creator, to create and build strong relationships with your students. But the creme de la creme of branding is the customer loyalty that transpires from this.
A whopping 65% of sales come from repeat business. This shows just how important it is to get branding right. Consistent and effective branding will turn your students into loyal customers that not only bring you more sales but who are also 43% more likely to spend more money on your brand and the courses you offer.
Ultimately, branding can create lifelong students for your online course that are likely to come back time and time again as well as recommend you to friends and family. The trust that a solid brand creates is the most important aspect of building an online course. So how exactly can you achieve this?
How to achieve a strong brand for your online course
As you’ll know, you can’t make a strong brand for your online course overnight. It takes research, commitment and consistency. We’re going to share some tips with you on how to create a strong brand identity for your online course and also provide more specific tips to really convey your brand.
Create your brand identity
- Discover your brand purpose
- Learn what your USP is
- Know your competitors
- Understand your target audience
Specific tips for your brand
- Consistency is key
- Give your online course meaning and state your values
- Tell the brand’s story
- State your brand’s promise
Summary
Branding can often be overlooked. It’s common to believe branding is simply the logo, the slogan or the promise a company holds. But in actuality, a brand is a reputation. It’s how people feel when they think of your product or service, and as an online course creator, it’s crucial to communicate what makes your online course special and be consistent through everything you create and post. People want to purchase from companies they trust, and this can only be done through honest and authentic communication and through promoting trust, which online can be delivered through consistency (they can’t see your face after all!).
Strong branding creates recognition for your online course, which in turn gives your online course a competitive edge that leads to more purchases and finally, customer loyalty. However, creating a strong brand is difficult, and with the focus needed to create gripping content for your online course it can not only be hard to find the time to do all the research you need, but you may end up creating a brand that isn’t very strong. We know how important it is to get these things right the first time, so get in contact with our team at ClassGrowth if you need our help to get your brand off to a winning start!
