Ultimately, the goal of brand guidelines is to protect and strengthen your brand identity. Your brand is one of your most important assets and it is imperative that everyone understands not only the value of the brand but also how to use it.
Brand guidelines create value for your company by maintaining consistency throughout all channels of communication such as employees, partners, suppliers and marketing affiliates. The guidelines should provide an inclusive manual for anyone who uses your brand, operating at two levels: they explain why your employees, suppliers and marketing affiliates should use the brand to achieve business objectives and they also provide practical instructions on how to use your brand.
Consistency
Brand guidelines are put into place to ensure that all parties use the brand elements consistently, providing information, and tools and setting the standards for use of the brand name, logos and typefaces. Other design elements such as advertisements, online communications and brochures are also covered giving your company complete control over the way other people use your brand and ensuring that its visual appearance is always consistent.
Value
Every employee is an ambassador for your company’s brand. Brand guidelines help create an emotional connection and a sense of pride associated with your brand and explain how employees can reflect your values such as customer experience, innovation and leadership in the way that they communicate with customers. They can also help in demonstrating the relationship between your company and other parties associated with you such as suppliers, by providing them with guidelines on using your brand as part of their own identity.
Awareness
Brand guidelines play an important role in managing the perception of your company. Every time you communicate with a customer, supplier, employee or prospect, it is essential to build and reinforce a consistent perception of who you are. Brand guidelines also support a consistent representation of your brand promise from your core values to the products/services you offer, helping your target audience understand the breadth and depth of your company, enabling messaging to be delivered faster and creating a more compelling experience across all communication channels
For more information on how to develop your brand guidelines, get in touch with us today
