The Brand Onboarding Challenge

One of the challenges for any company is getting everyone on the same page with regards to brand. This is true for any organization, but especially those that are large, spread out, with many departments and moving components. We’ve talked about this a little bit before when we were talking about governance and touching base on how to think about brand application globally. What I want to do with this post is dive a little deeper about how to make your branding sticky with your first audience, your own employees.

Everyone thinks brand training is step one, but if you're waiting until day one to start building brand culture, you've already missed the actual first step. Brand training is hugely important, but it should not be the first step in building a unified company culture. By the time someone gets to formal brand training, they've already been learning about and forming impressions of the brand through the recruiting and pre-boarding process. So if companies think brand training is the "first step," they're missing all those earlier touchpoints that are actually more foundational.

During an employee’s initial, let’s say 90 days, their interactions with your brand will shape and form how they internalize their sense of place within the brand. However, the first impression a new hire has of your brand shouldn’t be a 50-slide PowerPoint on logo spacing or a swag bag of branded gear sitting on their desk. The first impression should come 30 to 60 days before that. We should consider how we are being viewed even before that contract to hire is even signed. Before we jump into the brand onboarding process, it would be a mistake not to talk about brand in the recruiting process.

Your brand is your story. The way people think about your company, the way you make them feel and the way they remember you after you’ve left the room. The way you and your recruiters engage with candidates before they’ve signed on will impact the way they view and share your brand after they’ve been hired. If your company has “culture” or “community” as part of your mission and pillars, those should be reflected and apparent through the actions of your recruiters; future candidates will notice. However your company identifies itself should be apparent from the way jobs are posted, to the way interviews are conducted, to how candidates are handled after signing but before starting. Candidates are taught how they should tell the story of your brand, even at this preliminary stage. Maybe we’ll go into more depth about this at a later date, but for now, let’s chat about the onboarding process being the gateway to building your brand.

Challenge the Status Quo

Day one is your most critical moment to build a culture of brand consistency, not just recite a list of rules and hand out swag. New candidates most assuredly appreciate when they are provided branded merch since it can provide a sense of belonging. However, logos and taglines are the beginning of brand wisdom, not the end. A nice pen, bag or mouse pad won’t demonstrate what your brand personality is, influence how they share a moment with a customer, or show a new hire that you are thinking about how this process is impacting their well-being. More impactful will be the initial tours and introductions they have with team members, the technology set-up that is already tested and functional at their desk, the peer-buddy that has lunch with and commits to mentoring the hire, and the “first impression” debrief that the new hire has. Every interaction should align with the brand story the company wants them to inhabit.

New hires will spend time in their department on that first day. To genuinely make a strategic impact on how a brand is understood, it would be wise to also include a couple of cross-functional, cross-departmental interactions during the day. Internal brand consistency is a common challenge where departments may seek individuality, but we need unity for credibility, cohesion, and to act as one. Therefore, the breaking down of silos with cross-pollination of brand ideas should start right away. Facilitated orientations can be helpful to get departments talking to one another more, which will make later branding conversations as well as cross-functional projects and process improvements move more fluidly in the future.

The Cost of Onboarding (or rather, a lack thereof)

So coming back around to brand training and the onboarding process, or rather the counter-factual of what happens when we don’t have a training process to get employees on the same page for our brands (keep in mind that while this is referring to the parent or master brand, there are lots of sub-brands and product brands that this will apply to as well) OR when we treat Brand Training like a grenade we can toss over a wall and forget about. Staff who have been untrained, trained inconsistently or have information dumps foisted upon them are bound to get it wrong. Brand onboarding in some organizations consists of someone giving you a brand guide or a link to a brand site. This creates passive recipients who see branding as a restrictive set of “thou shalt nots” managed by a distant central team. Or even worse, it may create the perception that “anything goes” and creates an enabling environment where individuals and teams create their own versions of branding. This all eventually leads to inconsistent branding. There is a slow dilution of brand equity where the stories a company tells about itself don’t match up.

This is not to say that a well-crafted brand guide is wrong; quite the opposite. It is the operating system that allows a brand strategy to play out. However, the brand guide and the initial training are only the start. Active onboarding plants the seed through initial training that ongoing brand updates grow from. There should continue to be regular incremental updates that roll out small guideline changes, like updated fonts, brand secondary colors, or reactions to new technology. Onboarding should be an entry way to help team members throughout the company to receive updates through training videos, articles, internal communications and more. And face it, not doing anything is a blueprint for cultural disaster, which bleeds out into negative financial outcomes for the company. Companies really can’t afford to NOT pay attention to their brand. So let’s talk more about our core.

Core Framework for Active Internal Brand Adoption

We need a strategic framework that transforms new hires from passive recipients into active brand advocates. This framework operates on five interconnected pillars that build upon each other. We start with a day-one orientation to ongoing brand ambassadorship. Keep in mind these are best practices based on experience and observation; it’s up to you to know whether this is right for you.

There are 5 pillars of our framework to stand up brand actualization internally. In other words, use this to help understand how to share and train on your brand internally so that you can be more successful holistically as an organization.

The framework is intended to develop employees into strategic partners in the brand story. When we design onboarding that engages employees as strategic partners in the brand story, we cultivate internal evangelists who understand both the "what" and the "why" behind every brand decision.

Pillar 1: Tell the Story, Leverage the Rules

Start with purpose. Your brand training should answer the fundamental question every new employee has: "Why does this company exist, what is our mission, and how do I fit into that story?"

Open your brand onboarding with the strategic context that makes everything else meaningful. Share the customer insights that shaped your brand positioning. Explain the market challenges your company was founded to address. Connect your brand values directly to the company's mission and, crucially, to the new employee's specific role within that mission. When our teams understand why your company exists and the problems you solve for customers, they're building belief. That belief in your story becomes the foundation for everything else.

A sales representative needs to understand how the brand promise translates into customer conversations. A product manager needs to see how brand values guide feature decisions. An accountant needs to understand how brand consistency impacts customer trust and financial performance. An executive needs to demonstrate the core values of the company with their employees, not just the clients. Same brand story, different entry points based on how each role contributes to delivering on that promise.

Here's where your brand guidelines become powerful tools rather than restrictions. Once someone understands the story, the approved logos, fonts, colors, templates and messaging frameworks become the tactical toolkit that helps them tell that story consistently and effectively. The guidelines ensure that when a marketing manager creates a campaign and a sales manager builds a presentation, they're both threads weaving the same strategic narrative together. It should be possible for someone to be dropped into any department, which will have its own sets of technical processes and procedures, but have it still feel like the same brand - the voice, the interactions, the mission, the “why” should sound like they are coming from the same set of values.

The story acts in accordance with the rules, not in the absence of them. When new hires understand the "why" behind your brand, they naturally gravitate toward the approved tools and tactics because those tools help them tell the story better. They become co-creators of the brand experience, making decisions that align with brand values even in situations where no specific guideline exists.

Building this skill of inspiring belief requires listening as much as talking. Understand the specific challenges and motivations of different departments. Connect brand strategy to their daily work in ways that feel relevant and empowering. Connect the brand narrative to the sub-brands, products and services your teams create. The central brand team and those trainers are the chief storytellers who help each department understand their part in the larger narrative.

Pillar 2: Empower with Tools, Not Just Guidelines

Once people understand the brand story, make it easy for them to tell that story well. Your brand portal, templates, and asset library should feel like performance enhancers. Frame your brand resources as "cheat codes" for success. When someone needs to create a presentation, proposal, or marketing piece, using your pre-approved templates should be the fastest path to getting the work done. Show people how these tools make their work better, not just compliant.

Here's the shift in mindset: instead of saying "You must use these assets," position it as "These assets will make you look good. These assets will make you more effective". A well-designed template saves time, ensures consistency, and elevates the quality of the company’s work. When everyone uses the same strategic messaging framework and tools, your collective story becomes more powerful and persuasive in the market. It translates your corporate Je Ne Sais Quoi from the brand ethereal into the tangible.

Think about your users’ experience. Your brand portal should be as intuitive as ordering coffee through an app. Organize assets by use case, not by file type. Create template collections for common scenarios: client presentations, internal reports, social media campaigns, trade show materials. Include brief usage notes that explain not just what each asset is, but when and why to use it.

Enable buy-in through involvement. Get feedback from departmental champions (your future brand ambassadors!) as you develop new templates and tools. When marketing, sales, and product teams have input into the resources they'll actually use, adoption rates will improve significantly. They become co-creators in both the story and how it is told, rather than passive recipients of brand assets.

Regular check-ins matter. Ask your teams what's working and what's missing from the current toolkit. Maybe sales needs a different presentation format for remote versus in-person meetings. Maybe customer success needs email templates that match the brand voice but feel conversational. Maybe there’s a new type of technology or channel that you need to adapt the brand for. These insights help you build resources that people actually want to use. Then in a virtuous cycle, you can bring these new updates into your onboarding process as other new hires join your company.

Remember: if people are creating their own versions of brand materials, it's usually because the official versions don't meet their needs, not because they're trying to be difficult. 

Make your tools and templates so good that using them feels like an advantage, not a requirement. 

Pillar 3: Build the Gateway to the Community

Onboarding should be the gateway into an ongoing community where brand knowledge grows and evolves. Think of it as moving from orientation to membership. We need to do more for our teams than set-it and forget it. No, I’d encourage you to create spaces for ongoing brand dialogue. Slack channels, Teams groups, or dedicated forums where people can ask questions, share examples, throw out fun GIFs and celebrate wins. Call them "Brand Builders" or "Storytellers Network" or whatever fits your company culture. The key is making brand conversations feel collaborative, not top-down. Organic.

Make it interactive from the start. Consider a hands-on branding activity or quick interactive assessment as part of the onboarding process. Nothing overwhelming—maybe a scenario-based exercise where new hires practice applying brand values to real situations they'll encounter in their role. Success earns them "access" to advanced resources and the ongoing community.

Virtual brand sessions work well for distributed teams. Monthly or quarterly gatherings where you share brand updates; highlight great examples from across the organization. Consider bringing in guest speakers on the call who can talk about customer insights or market trends. Keep these sessions conversational. Ask people to share how they've been applying brand guidelines in their work or what challenges they're facing.

Consider organizing these communities around specific functions or outputs where brand consistency matters most. Create an "Email Excellence" channel where marketing, customer success, sales, and HR can discuss email strategies. They're all sending messages to different audiences, but they should sound like they're coming from the same company. Launch a "Video Production" community where commercial, training, and social media teams can share approaches to maintaining brand voice across different video formats. Set up "Event & Presentations" groups where anyone creating customer-facing materials can collaborate on consistent messaging and visual approach. Your own company can create whatever works best for you. The thing is that these vertical communities let teams tackle the specific brand challenges they actually face while learning from colleagues who might be solving similar problems in different contexts.

The goal is peer-to-peer learning. When the marketing team shares how they adapted the brand voice for a new product launch, or when sales talks about how brand messaging landed with a difficult client, everyone learns. These stories stick better than any training manual. Use these communities to test and refine brand applications. Before rolling out new templates or messaging frameworks company-wide, run them by your brand community first. Get feedback from the people who will actually use these tools. This creates buy-in and ensures your resources meet real needs.

Document the good stuff. When someone in the community shares a particularly clever application of brand guidelines or solves a tricky brand challenge, capture it. Add it to an FAQ, but don’t stop there. These real-world examples become case studies for future onboarding sessions and ongoing training. Make participation visible and valued. Recognize people who contribute to brand discussions, share great examples, or help colleagues with brand questions. This doesn't require formal rewards; sometimes a simple shout-out in the next team meeting or company newsletter is enough.

Pillar 4: Connect to the Brand Champions

Here's where your onboarding brand strategy can start paying long-term dividends. You’ve already positioned your initial brand training as the foundation of an employee's brand journey. Some of those that go through the training will have lightbulbs that go off in their heads; key into those individuals. The people who get excited about the story, ask thoughtful questions, and naturally start applying brand thinking to their work? Those are your future brand champions.

Consider introducing a formal Brand Ambassador Program as the next step in the community they can grow into. These aren't the people who need more rules. They already understand the "why" behind your brand. They get the story. What they need is a platform and structure to become your internal brand evangelists.

Create clear pathways from onboarding to ambassadorship. During those first 90 days, watch for employees who demonstrate brand thinking beyond their job requirements. The sales rep who adapts script messaging to reflect and demonstrate brand values. The customer success manager who suggests improvements to email templates. The product manager who considers customer brand implications when designing features. These people are telling you they want to be more involved.

One idea: Make the ambassador program feel exclusive but accessible. Not everyone needs to be a brand ambassador, but everyone should feel they could become one if they're interested. Consider offering simple "certification" or digital badges for people who complete advanced brand training or contribute meaningfully to brand initiatives. This creates visible recognition and encourages participation.

I always feel that more communication and transparency make everything better. Build in regular touchpoints to share with your champions and for them to share with you (and each other!). Quarterly brand ambassador meetings should be a direct extension of day-one onboarding. Use these sessions to share advanced strategies, preview upcoming brand initiatives, and get input on brand challenges. When ambassadors feel like strategic partners rather than compliance snitches, they become powerful advocates throughout the organization. 

Leverage the Communities of Interest you used as part of Pillar 3. Create dedicated channels for your brand champions; separate Slack or Teams spaces where ambassadors can discuss what's working, what isn't, and how to handle complex brand situations. This peer-to-peer network becomes invaluable for solving brand challenges in real time.

Give ambassadors real influence. When you're developing new templates or planning brand rollouts, try to involve your ambassador network in the process. Their insights from the field are often more valuable than focus groups because they understand both the brand strategy and the operational realities from their perspective. Connect ambassadors across departments. Your sales ambassador should be talking to your marketing ambassador about how messaging lands with prospects. Your product ambassador should be sharing insights with your customer success ambassador about feature positioning. These cross-functional relationships strengthen brand consistency and break down silos. Break those silos down!

Pillar 5: Create a Continuous Learning Cycle

Brand onboarding is never a one-and-done deal. Brand evolution is constant and our teams need to evolve with it. Our onboarding needs to evolve with it. Our story remains the same… until it changes. We need a way to reflect when we arrive at new chapters of our brand story.

Keep those communities of interest you’ve developed active. When you need to roll out new messaging or visual updates, continue to involve them in the process. Ask what's working, what isn't, and what they need to make the changes stick.

Make updates digestible. Rolling out a complete brand overhaul every few years overwhelms people. Think incremental instead. Short videos explaining new email signatures. Quick newsletters showing updated secondary colors. Five-minute team chats about adapting brand voice for new platforms. Small, regular updates keep everyone current.

Put your brand ambassadors to work. When someone new joins, connect them with an ambassador from their department. These aren't formal mentoring relationships. Just someone who can answer quick questions and share how brand guidelines work in practice.

Capture insights as they happen. When someone asks a smart question in your Slack channel, save it. When a team adapts brand messaging for a tough client situation, document it. These real-world examples beat abstract training manuals. Build searchable FAQs that grow from what people actually want to know. Leverage technology and AI to make it easier for teams to find answers, templates and assets.

As your capabilities grow, consider a brand help desk. A simple system where questions and requests get tracked and resolved. This helps you spot patterns. Maybe everyone struggles with social media voice. Maybe half your teams need better email templates. Those patterns show you where to focus next.

Collect feedback regularly. Ask what's working and what isn't. Use this input to build better FAQs and training materials. When you gain buy-in by explaining the "why" behind brand rules, consistency between departments improves. Teams work together better when they understand the strategy.

Use storytelling and roleplay to keep people engaged. Practice scenarios and scripts. Keep training interactive rather than just informational. Continue to adapt with new variations so training doesn’t become stale. Sharpen the saw on your own processes. Continuously improve how you deliver these five pillars. What worked well in last quarter's onboarding? What fell flat? Roll successful experiments back into your standard process. 

Consider converting your best brand ambassadors into onboarding trainers themselves. Some might join your brand or training team full-time. Others can train new hires in their own departments. Your ambassadors understand both the brand strategy and the operational realities their colleagues face. That makes them incredibly effective teachers.

The goal is making brand thinking organic. When your sales team naturally adapts messaging while staying true to brand values, when product managers consider brand implications in feature discussions, when customer success teams match brand voice in their emails, that's when your continuous learning cycle works.

Conclusion: From Cost Center to Culture Builder

This framework reflects brand onboarding's role in proactive culture building. Brand training and the community can grow through application of the 5 pillars. Instead of chasing logo violations and sending correction emails, you create systems that naturally produce brand consistency. When people understand the story, have the right tools, participate in communities, and grow into ambassadors, compliance happens automatically. More importantly, the mission and purpose of the company and your brand will shine through.

This approach supports business goals beyond just brand compliance. Clear internal brand adoption leads to better customer communications, stronger market presence, and teams that make decisions aligned with company values. When sales, marketing, product, and customer success speak with the same voice, the entire organization works more effectively.

By making brand actualization an engaging, empowering journey that starts on day one, you lay the groundwork for a truly unified global identity. Strategic brand onboarding isn't a one-time event but a culture-building process that fosters organic advocacy. You're building a community of empowered advocates; of storytellers who carry the brand consistently out into the world through their actions on behalf of your company. You're telling the story of your brand through your training, and maintaining and amplifying it through your communities. Now go get connected.