Once you have chosen your logo, brand colours, and preferred typography, it is time to create a streamline brand strategy and brand management solution. Once you have created your brand identity, you need to hand it over to your marketing team. This is why you need to put together a comprehensive and coherent set of brand guidelines. This ensures your brand is always consistent in its representation.
Brand guidelines (also knows as a “style guide”) is imperative to the branding process. Brand guidelines describe how your brand should be used in certain instances. Basically, brand guidelines are the conditions of brand representation.
So, how do you create effective brand guidelines?
No need to go over the top…
If you are a small business, you may only require a basic set of guidelines. Even massive multi-national corporations need to dial back a bit on their brand guidelines content. No one should give their marketing team a 100-page manifesto! This is just counterproductive.
Simplicity and easy to navigate content is key. Of course, certain aspects need to be more detail orientated.
Get detailed where necessary…
For example:
Pantone shades need to be outlined in detail to avoid any confusion and possible colour inconsistencies. Add accurate colour references to your brand guidelines. Be specific as to what shade is to be used for a specific medium. From coated and uncoated paper stock to websites and digital marketing platforms – be precise with what shade goes where.
So, what are the most important elements of brand guidelines?
Don’t use unnecessary industry jargon…
Keep your brand guidelines concise and easy to understand. Remember, they need to be understood by a range of people who don’t necessarily have an in-depth understanding of your industry. This kind of terminology is just waffle and takes up space. Your brand guidelines need to function as a practical, simple manual.
Context is key…
It is important that the content of your brand guidelines demonstrates workability of the brand elements across multiple platforms. Show examples in different contexts. For example: how the copy and typography should be displayed online versus how it should be displayed in print.
This shows how adaptable the brand is, what it should look like across a variety of platforms, and brings it to life for the reader.
Now what?
Your brand and style guide should be sent through to your entire team to ensure that everyone has a complete understanding of your brand personality and identity. The goal of these guidelines is to protect the power of your brand so it continues to strengthen the value of your company.
Brand guidelines attain this by outlining the importance of your identity and detailing how to utilise elements of your brand. This document works as a comprehensive manual for those who use your brand name a from brochure, banner and business card printers through to your marketing team and web developers.
BRAND MANAGEMENT AND THE BRAND MANAGEMENT PORTAL
Jetline recognised a fundamental gap in the market for an effective brand management solution, thus the Brand Management Portal (BMP) was born.
BMP is an all-encompassing system that functions as a digital style guide. It maintains your relevant brand information and guidelines, ensuring brand uniformity across all your marketing and corporate materials.
People do business with companies that they are familiar with. If your branding is uniform it becomes easily recognisable. This makes people feel at ease when purchasing your product or service. Remember: Your brand represents you and the value you promise your customer. Keep it consistent!
