Creating a consistent brand identity is essential for being recognized by your customers. But how can you ensure consistent branding? The answer: Establish brand guidelines.
Let’s take a closer look at what brand guidelines are, and how to establish them. Looking for more guidance? Check out our blog.
What are Brand Guidelines?
Brand guidelines are essentially a set of rules, standards, and instructions for how your brand should look, act, and sound. They provide a clear statement of your company’s mission and core values, and how to communicate these in your content.
Establishing brand guidelines is important for a number of reasons:
- It gives all employees a greater sense of ownership and knowledge of the brand.
- It ensures brand consistency across different teams, formats, and platforms.
- It makes creating a recognizable brand easier.
With solid brand guidelines, your entire company will be aligned to provide consistent values, visual style, and messaging.
How Do You Create Brand Guidelines?
In most cases, establishing brand guidelines will be spearheaded by your marketing team. This is because they’re already responsible for the public image of your brand. However, individuals from across your organization will also need to be involved, including C-suite executives, sales managers, designers, and your legal team.
You’ll want to start the process by looking at how customers perceive your brand. This involves identifying your target audience, analyzing competitor’s brands, and investigating your brand’s particular strengths and weaknesses.
Next, you’ll create a style guide for your stakeholders to follow. It should include things:
- Brand designs, such as logos
- Variations on designs, such as different logo formats
- Usage guidelines for designs, such as how to properly use the logo in designs
- Acceptable color palettes for designs
- Types of images used in designs
- Your brand’s voice and tone
Provide instructions and guidance for how to use your assets, and make them easy to access for all stakeholders. Ensure appropriate guidance is provided for different channels, such as Instagram versus Linkedin, and be sure to regularly update your guidelines as your brand evolves.
Brand Guidelines Are Essential For Creating a Recognizable Brand
With a good set of brand guidelines established, you’ll be able to grow your brand like never before. They ensure that no matter who is representing your brand or where, they represent it in a way that’s consistent and recognizable to your customers. Want help building your brand? Contact us today to see how we can help.
