What makes your business what it is? What sets it apart from your competitors and catches your audience’s eye? Your brand is more than just your logo.
It is the personality that is created behind the colours, the use of fonts and graphics. A brand guide help to build and guide your business’s identity, so it is consistent across all marketing activities. A recognisable and memorable brand is one of your business’ most valuable assets. It’s your customer’s perception of your business.
It’s the way you stand out. Your positioning against competitors and in your industry. It’s the way you make people feel.
And just like the way you can order a Big Mac from McDonald’s anywhere and the world and know what to expect, it’s important to strive to have consistency in your complete brand, no matter the touchpoint.
What is a brand guide?
Brand guides are designed to formalise the way that a business communicates its brand across all activities. It is basically a document that outlines the identity of a brand and the rules and standards that should be maintained in relation to messaging and imagery.
Your brand guide defines what your business is, how it is portrayed to the world and what it stands for.
Why do I need a brand guide?
It ensures cohesive messaging
Imagine if you didn’t have a brand guide in place… and your copywriter wrote about whatever they wanted. The graphic designer just slapped any random colours on a document. This wouldn’t be cohesive. No one sounds like they are on the same page here.
Your brand guides will include more than just what colours to use. It also helps to create cohesive messaging internally to the team but also to your audience.
Take Uber, for example. Uber communicates its brand to the public through the use of these elements:
Uber is a fantastic example of branding consistency. The Classic white and black Uber logo can be recognised anywhere. What is exceptionally clever about Uber’s branding, is the simplicity behind it – yet the logo and use of colour incorporates the brand’s mobility, accessibility and friendliness.
The result of this creates a clean and refreshing look which is recognised around the world.
It ensures brand consistency
Creating a strong brand identity is going to keep your brand memorable. By using the same brand guidelines across your marketing platforms, you can increase your revenue by as much as 23 per cent.
The power of repetition isn’t only effective in the works of writing. Using the same brand colours and fonts will help your customers to be able to identify you easily.
Back to our McDonald’s example – everywhere you go in the world, you can promise that once you see those golden arches, you will find yourself some good tasting fries.
Every time without fail when you pull up to a McDonalds, you are guaranteed to see the giant, golden arches. There is no logo like it anywhere else in the world, which has allowed people from Thailand to Italy to associate the golden arches with McDonalds.
When your logo is recognised by a two-year-old, that when you know you have nailed a consistent brand.
This is thanks to McDonald’s excellent use of brand guidelines, which has enabled brand consistency even in some of the most remote parts of the world.
Solid and consistent branding is what will help your audience remember your business and what it stands for.
It avoids confusion
Consider when your business recruits new employees. A well-established brand guide will help these new employees understand precisely what your brand stands for, what it looks like, and it’s messaging.
Your business will work more efficiently with guidelines. Just think about how much faster work would get done by already having in place documents that highlight your marketing directions before you even get started!
Brand guides will ensure your employees are using your branding correctly.
