The demands of running a small business exceed most people’s understanding. The business is more than a name and a product. There are the daily struggles to sell products, engage employees, and generate money to keep the lights on.
The satisfaction of happy customers provides rich rewards to keep going each day. And one of the ways to keep customers happy is
to train employees so they can answer customers’ questions and sell your products.
That takes training. Using online training software is the best option to reach employees at any time of the day and from any location.
But training is more than just words, pictures, and audio. It’s about creating modules that represent the business brand.
Sound difficult? It doesn’t have to be.
PowerPoint makes it easy to brand training modules that you download into the online training software to coach and teach employees, or sometimes to create product information for customers.
Branded training communicates
As a small business, you have a business logo and maybe a stylized type (font) treatment for your name. You probably have at least one or two colors for the name and business signs. You also may have a tagline. You chose these design elements for a reason. They represent what you want people to know about your business.
In your promotional materials, website and social media you use these colors and logo with yo
ur business name. Doing this consistently helps people recognize your business.
You need to carry these same themes into the online training modules created for employees. Why? Because the way you set up the training modules communicates a message to employees. It shows that you care and that you’re investing in employees. And since employees can watch online training modules from any place and on any digital device, there is a good chance that family, friends and maybe even customers will see the information.
What messages do employees receive from the way you put training modules together?Remember that branded training opens windows for employees to explore new knowledge and skills, which helps them get engaged with the business.
“When you care enough to send the very best.”
Many years ago, Hallmark had a slogan that captured people’s attention, “When you care enough to send the very best.” This same concept should be applied to your employee training modules. You don’t have to invest a lot of time and money to create fancy slides. But using your logo, colors, and business font consistently in the training materials communicates that you care about the messages you’re sharing with employees.
Branded training reinforces messages
Have you ever looked at a picture or design and noticed that something was off? There was 
some element that just wasn’t right.
The same is true for branded training. If the information you’re sharing with employees and the messages you want to communicate doesn’t match up with the brand, employees mistrust it because there is a disconnect. Remember, employees are looking for authentic information. They aren’t necessarily looking for training that is perfect and polished.
Training materials representing the business brand end up being more memorable. The words, colors, and design should support each other so the information rings true. It’s easier for employees to connect to the training concepts, so they’ll remember what they learn. As a result, employees will become more engaged with your business.
Creating branded training is simple to do
The first time you design branded training modules takes the most time because you have to set up the brand colors, font and design themes in PowerPoint. Once these preferences are saved, you
reuse the module template. You just need to drop in new a new title and content and save the module training.
There are several excellent tutorials outlining a step-by-step process for setting up branded PowerPoint. Here is a list of resources:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-brand-colors-in-powerpoint-ht
https://contentsparks.com/41542/create-custom-powerpoint-theme/
https://vimeo.com/251101771
