A beginners' guide to branding your online training business

A study by Salsify shows that 46% of consumers will pay more for brands they trust. Building a brand that people can trust is, of course, a herculean task. It's more than just creating a logo and website. A brand must be unique, relevant, and establish an emotional bond with their target audience.   

What is branding? 

Branding is the process of positioning a product or a company with unique messaging, visual identity, and tone. This helps the product to be easily recognized by target customers, in turn increasing its value for them.

Establishing a brand for your online coaching business is as important as the quality of your course content. This improves your reputation and credibility with potential learners.

In this blog, we'll take you through the process of establishing your online training brand, which will put you in the spotlight with learners around the world.     

The pillars of branding 

According to Forbes, these are the four pillars of branding:

• Uniqueness

• Influence

• Trust

• Relevance  

Uniqueness 

How can two training brands selling a similar course differentiate themselves? One, they can have a unique selling point (USP), where their course is not made up of generic facts, but of well-coherent content with easy-to-understand use cases.

The other way is to develop uniqueness through visual identity. This can be achieved by having a differentiable logo, brand color, and core messaging consistently reflected across their website, social media, and other digital channels.

Influence 

The bond you have with your target community shows the influence you have over them. This includes constantly engaging them, clearing their queries, and adding value by providing constructive feedback or quality content.

One thing that should be noted here is that you mustn't try to sell your product or course during the bonding stage. It’s best to position your content in a thought-leadership angle first and gain trust among your learners, which you can later use to leverage your influence.   

Trust 

This stage is closely in line with the previous one. When you educate and entertain your audience in a way that they love, you gain their trust. Without your audience's trust, there is no chance you can positively influence them.

Relevance 

The last pillar is all about being relevant to the industry your audience is from. Your messaging, positioning, and all content should be relevant to your audience. Make sure to keep yourself updated with industry trends and news.

Also, your content, including social media, should be of interest to your audience. Just because some meme is trending doesn't mean that your brand should share it. Study your audience and understand what type of content they prefer before posting or reposting anything.

Now that we're clear with the four pillars of branding, let's dive into four practical steps that'll help you prepare your branding strategy.

Understanding your target audience 

Your target audience is your potential learners who'll be willing to take up the courses you offer. It's important to understand your learners so that you can position your brand the right way.

Understanding where your audience spends their time, what sources they rely on to consume content, and what type of content they prefer will help you position your brand.

For example, say you’re a fitness coach trying to establish your online training brand. Young adults aged 18 to 34, who are the largest gym-hitting age groups, are your target audience.

Most young adults use Instagram as their preferred social media platform. They read fitness blogs and watch YouTube videos to gain information. Tapping these sources and positioning your brand in these channels will help you gain visibility.

You can post short workout tips as Instagram Reels or YouTube shorts to reach your potential learners. Publishing fitness blogs from a thought leadership angle will help you boost your visibility and credibility.   

Structuring your core messaging and tone 

Brand messaging talks directly with your audience. It conveys your brand's purpose, mission, and goals. Messaging doesn't talk about your brand's USP but about the benefits that your products or courses offer your consumers.

Going back to the example of the fitness coach, your brand message can revolve around the fact that your courses can help your learners start following a healthy lifestyle.

The tone of your brand is as important as its messaging. Brand voice or brand tone is the way you present something to your audience. It shows the emotion behind your content. It can be neutral, assertive, joyful, or inspirational.

The brand's tone should be consistent across all of your channels, including your website, social media, slogans, and other marketing messages.

Choosing your brand elements 

Brand elements include your business name, logo, color, typography, etc. This acts as the face of your business and differentiates you from your competitors. Consistently using your brand elements across your messaging subconsciously gets mapped into the minds of your consumers, helping them identify your brand easily.

For example, using the same brand colors for your social media posts will get subtly embedded in your audience's mind. This way, when they see the same color elsewhere, they’re reminded of your brand. The same works for graphics, logos, and other shapes that you use for your brand.

That said, choosing the right brand color for your online training business is fairly important. Colors can bring out specific emotions in us, in turn influencing the purchase decision. Use colors across your brand strategically to improve your visibility and extend your reach with potential learners.  

Choose a logo that resonates with the theme of your online training business. There are several types of logos including mascots, emblems, word marks, etc. For a fitness coach, building a logo with elements relating to gyms, such as an illustration of dumbbells or biceps, could easily convey the type of business to the audience.

Engaging your community 

The last part and most important one is to engage your relevant community as your brand. Look for communities or groups across popular social media channels such as Reddit, Quora, and Meta.

Join these communities and share educational content that adds value to your audience. Answer frequently asked questions, post tips, and share walkthrough videos and other quality content, which will portray your brand as a thought leader.

For an online fitness training brand, sharing workout videos targeting different muscle groups, varied diet plans, etc. could help you gain trust and credibility with your audience. Never try to sell your products directly to these communities, as you may sound sketchy.

Build it slow and steady 

Establishing your brand is a slow and continuous process. Being transparent and honest with your consumers is the key to brand building. If consumers sense even a tiny trace of dishonesty or shadiness, your brand could lose all the credibility that had been gained over the years. Be aware to be super-cautious here.

Here's a mantra for a successful brand: Be consistent with your messaging, engage your audience frequently, and provide quality content.