This tactic is quite popular across different industries, especially SaaS products, as it can save companies the time and expertise they would have invested in developing their own product. While white labeling can work well for products like website audits and reporting, it’s not necessarily the best option for building brand awareness and extending your reach to new audiences.
When an organization issues digital badges, certifications, or credentials through a third-party digital credentialing platform, its earners will encounter a few different branded touchpoints.
One brand touchpoint is the digital badge. These badges are a visual representation of the digital certification and will always remain under the product certification provider’s name and brand, whether the product certification provider designed the badge on their own or received assistance from their third-party platform.
Digital badges are what earners share on social media, embed into their email signatures, or link to on their website or resume when they’ve completed a course, training, or certification program.
Potential employers can verify the badge. And anyone who views it online can click through to see more about the specific badge and certification program.
Some training and learning providers prefer to have this experience look consistent with their website, which is where white labeling comes in: organizations that issue digital credentials through a platform that offers white labeling can update their URL and add their logo to the page.
On the surface, this customization appears to support brand awareness efforts, but there’s a trade-off between creating a consistent look and feel and eliminating the opportunity to generate brand awareness with new, prospective earners who are actively searching to upskill.
From as early as high school up until retirement, individuals look to upskill, gain technical knowledge, and build their portfolios to advance their careers.
These earners often discover new badges to earn by looking at well-known certifications in their industry, job posting requirements, and the credentials that people who inspire them have earned and used to advance their careers. Another place they search for potential digital certifications is on the digital credentialing platforms where they already have digital badges.
When an organization white labels its digital credentials, its badges are siloed out of this network and don’t show up in these search results. And, that’s a miss to showcase your brand alongside your competitors.
Organizations can benefit from using a network approach to generate brand awareness for certifications to individuals who are early in their career, mid-level professionals who want to specialize, or people who are looking to make a career change. Many IT companies fall into this category and use the network approach––in fact, 95% of the top IT certifications are issued through the Credly network.
The network approach works in IT by allowing, for example, an IT professional who has earned a few digital badges to explore opportunities where they can grow their knowledge in cloud architecture, cybersecurity, or governance. Suppose they’re interested in becoming a specialist in one of these areas. In that case, they can search for certifications within the network that include specific skills and discover badges from a variety of certification providers, like Cisco, Microsoft and AWS. They can then earn and share these badges.
Because the network highlights badges from multiple training and learning providers, badge earners can discover new badges that they may not have been aware of before. Their experience of earning credentials and building their professional portfolio also remains consistent, regardless of the issuing organization.
Every digital credentialing platform is different. At Credly by Pearson, we use a network approach to empower earners and organizations to connect and grow. With over 81 million credentials issued on the Credly Acclaim network, the opportunities to showcase your brand to potential customers are abundant.
Credly Acclaim is the world’s most connected digital credentialing network. If you're interested in seeing how your certification program can transform with a network approach, schedule a free demo today.