Creating an online course is no easy undertaking. While you’ll undoubtedly spend most of your time and effort creating the course content, that’s not the only important element of this offer.
Yes, you need to organize your lessons and trainings in a way that flows logically. But if you’re only thinking about what’s inside the course, you’re going to be overwhelmed when it comes time to launch or promote it.
There are seven very important branded assets that should accompany your course creation efforts — especially if you want to stand out in a crowded market. Read on to find out what to include on your course creation to-do list!
Promo graphics
If you’re launching a new course, you obviously need to let people know about it. One of the easiest ways to launch your new course or build interest in it is through social media.
Of course, we all know how cluttered our feeds are, and it can be hard to stand out. To promote your new course (and see sales), you want to make sure your promo graphics are clear, concise, and on-brand. And eye-catching.
Mockups, for example, are a good way to break up your ideal buyer’s feed. While your audience may be used to seeing images of people and text-based carousels, tech mockups with your course logo or inclusions can stand out.
On the other hand, you don’t want promo graphics with too much information or cluttered visual elements (i.e. lengthy testimonials, long descriptions of modules, etc.). These make it hard to grab attention and process when quickly scrolling through social media.
Ad graphics
Does it feel like an uphill battle to get your content seen on social? So many small businesses have experienced the same — and many are turning to ads to get more leads and more eyes on their content and offers.
When it comes to launching something new, like a course, an ad strategy is a great way to retarget people who’ve visited your course sales page (or who are in your brand’s orbit already). It’s also a good way to draw attention to your brand before a launch or promotion for your new course.
Of course, with ads, you need the right ad graphics to get the results you’re after.
While your ad creative can range from images, text-based graphics, and videos, just keep in mind that ads aren’t a free-for-all. Each platform has regulations for what images you can use, what size your ad graphics need to be, and what words you can and cannot use (avoid words like free, guarantee, and promise).
Ad graphics also usually have to have a 20% text-to-image ratio — your ad should have 20% or less of the content as text or icons.
Want to see a full list of guidelines? Check out Meta’s ad requirements here for advertising on Instagram and Facebook.
Workbooks or worksheets
Now that we’ve got your new course promotion out of the way, let’s think about the brand assets you need inside your course to wow students and buyers.
Chances are your course will require resources to support what your students are learning as they progress through the materials. Having additional workbooks or worksheets can really help drive home the information they’re taking in and help them find ways to apply it to their own life/business/etc.
When you use your brand style guide for workbooks and worksheets, it extends the look and feel of your brand — and it also serves as a reminder if they ever refer back to them.
Video thumbnails
Wherever you decide to host your course (think places like Kajabi or ThriveCart), you’ll need on-brand thumbnails with your lesson modules, especially if you have videos included. Video thumbnails in online courses allow your customers to easily find the information they need, making for a smoother learning experience.
Plus, it’s a fun way to make everything look cohesive — and to share what’s inside a module or lesson at a glance.
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Checklists
Working through an online course requires a lot of time and attention. It can be hard for people to visualize the journey, start to finish, when they’re in the thick of learning.
But with an on-brand checklist, you can easily map out what’s needed at each stage or in each module, and give people a chance to work through it on their own time.
Checklists are also perfect if you want to help students execute on a specific task. If your course is about building their web design business, let’s say, you could also include a checklist of activities, like “Attend a local networking event” and “Pitch 2 brands via email.”
This keeps your students engaged and serves as a visual representation of their progress.
Resource PDFs
No matter how well you organize your course, there will still be a lot of information floating around at any given time. As people work through your course, they’re bound to forget where you mentioned that resource or where they need to look to find that exercise.
They may also forget what’s next, which is why a roadmap PDF is a great idea.
Designed resource PDFs can help differentiate your course. You can add all your references, course materials, and additional resources to one, easy-to-locate place for quick access.
Slide decks
The best way to create a course that stands out? Share your valuable expertise in ways that people can easily consume — and implement. This means, in each module or lesson, you need to structure your videos or tutorials so they are visual, simple, and clear.
Slide decks are a great way for course creators to continue to reinforce their brand, while also providing a consistent structure to each lesson. Just think how professional your course will look when you have a standardized, eye-catching way to share your knowledge!
Plus, slide decks cut down on your creation time by creating a template you can use (and reuse) for every lesson or module.
Need help designing brand assets for your online course?
We all know that the course market can be incredibly competitive. That’s why it’s important to consider how you promote your course and how you deliver it.
By creating a branded, scroll-stopping promo experience, you’ll get more eyes on your new offer. And by designing the inside of your course to look cohesive and professional, you’ll make sure anyone who buys raves about it.
Of course, this means you need to design everything… and that’s no small undertaking. We’re here to help, though.
With a Styled Stock Society membership, you’ll get access to thousands of professionally designed templates, including promo and ad graphics, slide decks, workbooks, PDFs, and so much more. We even have customizable course templates you can unlock and update in minutes.
Plus, you’ll get access to thousands of stock photos and hundreds of videos to make all your visuals eye-catching, professional, and on-brand!
Basically, we’ve got everything you need to build and promote your new course (or any offer you create).
Interested in seeing what else the membership is all about?
