Brand guidelines → What are they and why are they so important?
First things first, what are brand guidelines?
Essentially, they are a set of rules that lay out the overall look and feel of your brand. This helps you to build a distinct brand identity that your target audience will recognise time and time again across all platforms.
Brand guidelines can be a useful resource when rebranding or starting up a company. When developed and implemented correctly, they can help effectively communicate what you stand for to your current and prospective customers. These ‘rules’ help to create a unified identity when connecting multiple elements within your brand. These elements include; colours, tone of voice, your logo and your typography. As a result, your brand guidelines can provide all of the instructions you need to communicate the right messages, in the right manner, every time you create new marketing materials for your business.
What should my brand guidelines include?
Since no two brands are the same, the elements that are included in your brand guidelines may not look the same as those found in someone else’s. However, generally speaking, brand identity guidelines include:
The colour palette
The typography
The logo
While these elements are included in almost every set of brand guidelines, there are other elements that can be included:
Graphic elements - used separately from a logo
Symbols - if your brand includes any
Wordmarks - included where appropriate
Brand tone - this is included if your brand has an established tone of voice for messaging
Why are brand guidelines so significant?
In today’s fast-paced, online world, how you visually present yourself and your brand is critical. Most prevalent on social media, even if your post is memorable, only 43% of social media users will recall that it was your brand behind the post. Thus, having a visual representation that is consistent is key.
Consistency →
Every time someone visits your social media account, your website or even sees your business card, they form a perception of your business. By having a clear set of rules and restrictions (i.e. your brand guidelines!), you have the opportunity and the foundation to communicate a consistent brand identity. When you use the same brand guidelines across all your marketing collateral (blog posts, social media posts, Google ads etc), you can increase your revenue by 23%! Brand guidelines are therefore crucial to make your brand recognisable, reliable and powerful.
Setting a standard →
Just like rules in any other setting, your brand guidelines define exactly how to use your brand's visual elements. These include when and where to use a logo, how to space it and the hierarchy of colour and typography. As a business owner, you probably know your brand’s identity inside and out, but a new employee or freelancer working for you may not. Brand guidelines are a key tool to ensure your employees keep your brand cohesive and consistent. Brand guidelines can help anyone creating a message from your brand know and understand which elements to use and how to use them. Consistency is key, yes, but knowing what’s right and wrong when using those brand elements is just as important.
Remain recognisable →
Ensuring that your brand remains consistent allows it to be recognised faster within your industry and across your target audience. Building a genuinely recognisable brand can take a lot of time (and effort!), but your brand can be quickly distinguishable by adhering to your established brand guidelines.
Stay focused →
Brand guidelines help all elements of your brand remain focused when introducing new products or services. By implementing the guidelines, you have a foundational set of tools to quickly and effectively maintain consistency and similarity. This will help you position your business’ interests with your intended audience successfully.
Enhancing your value →
The overarching purpose of brand guidelines is to help you pull together all the elements that make up who you are. This is so you can build a unique identity that extends beyond what you sell. Thanks to your brand guidelines, your customers will be able to visualise what you stand for every time they hear or see your name. When a brand’s identity is cohesive, it increases the perceived value (think of Coca-Cola, Nike or Apple). By successfully and coherently implementing your brand guidelines, you can maintain the quality and integrity of your brand’s image.
As Luc Speisser, MD of Landor once said, ‘Great brands are like friends - you encounter a huge number of them every day, but you only remember the ones you love’.
Efficiency →
Ultimately, as business owners, saving time (and money!) is always top of the agenda. If you love a tool that does half the work for you, you will love a set of brand guidelines. Setting your own brand guidelines is an easy way to send your marketing efforts in the right direction before ideation even starts. Having these brand standards in place from day dot, can quickly help you weed out the ‘wrong’ ideas at the brainstorming/ideation stage and narrow down your most appealing options. This means that decision-making can be accelerated and your team doesn’t fight over what’s wrong and right - it’s a win-win.
Establish your own brand guidelines →
Looking to truly set the foundation for what your brand stands for? Whether you’re rebranding or starting from scratch, we have the experience and extensive capability to support you in establishing your own brand guidelines.
Want to know more about how we can make this happen? Let’s Chat →
