In today’s marketing world, more than 70 percent of today’s customers admit they will most likely commit to those brands that they know well.
That’s why it’s critical that your employees that are responsible for promoting your company’s brand identify, are acting consistently.
Your team should know what your company’s brand is and what it represents. Creating your company’s brand style guide can be all the guidance your company needs to maintain this one voice.
Read further on how to create a brand style guide to direct your company identity. Establish these guidelines now so that you can successfully plan for your company’s future.
Why Are Brands So Important?
The leading brands in today’s business world are those that create long-lasting impressions on their target customer’s memory.
A buyer recognizes these businesses and their products and connects with them on an emotional level. Developing a strong brand can attract loyal fans because they will eventually learn that they can trust you and will know what to expect from your goods.
Creating an awesome brand can also help promote your business by appealing to a skilled workforce that wants to join your respected name and work for you.
Investors will gravitate towards your company and its reputation. Business partners will want to work with you because they’ll want to be a part of your message.
When Did “Branding” Begin?
The science of brand management began in this country in the 1950s. Companies like Proctor and Gamble and General Foods understood how to identify their customer and learned what was important to them.
Once they knew which emotional values a customer had for their product, they would create product identities around these values. Over the next decade, marketing and branding practices rose to a new level with companies like Tide and Lipton.
These two companies gained buyer loyalty as well as major profits when they figured out that they needed to understand the customer’s values before the competition did.
Both Lipton and Tide soon realized that they could charge higher pricing for their goods as long as the customer believed that they were offering a superior value compared to the competition.
What Is a Brand Style Guide?
A brand style guide is a document that guides your team members outside of your marketing division on how they should talk about and represent your brand.
For example, a brand style guide can be helpful to those employees who package and merchandise your products. A brand style guide will give all of your employees clear guidelines on how they can align you’re your goal for uniform brand messaging.
What Should Your Brand Style Guide Include?
The best way to promote your company’s brand identity is to highlight the fundamentals that define your company and its products.
Think of a brand identity as your business card that proclaims who you are and what a customer can expect if they do business with your company.
Include these style guide elements to help create your brand’s consistent foundation.
Company Name, Purpose, and History
This section of your guide should include the correct pronunciation of your company and any abbreviations that your team could use when identifying it.
Your company’s purpose can be a quick, two-sentence summary that describes what you do. One or two paragraphs should highlight your company’s history and origination of your name.
Company’s Core Values
Highlight why you are in this particular line of business. Your brand should reflect what you think is a priority so make sure it matches up with your company’s values.
Have your company mission connected with your brand so that you will show how you and your customers were meant to meet and are the best choice to help them meet their needs.
Identify Customer Persona
Identifying customer personas means classifying your ideal customer, based on their desires and goals. Business marketing firms will analyze data such as customer buying histories, demographics, and likes/dislikes. histories.
Collecting this kind of data will help categorize different customer behaviors. Once you have this information, you can guide your team on how to leverage these behaviors to promote your goods.
Guidelines for Using Your Logo or Trademark
Create a logo that reflects your brand’s unique goals. Your logo’s colors, shapes, and words should have an effective customer experience design that convinces customers that you are the best answer to their needs.
Brand style guides should include your guidelines for distributing your logo. You can specify expectations for shapes, designs, and color tones used to visually represent your brand.
Also, make sure that your logo is trademarked with a federal trademark office before you begin promoting your brand.
Identify Which Platforms Promote Your Brand
Identify which communication sources you expect to see promoting your company’s brand. These sources can range from letterhead to business cards.
Other platforms should include your company website as well as any social media marketing platforms you use as well. Consistent branding amongst these platforms will help you avoid sending conflicting messaging and achieve instant recognition.
Product/Service Prioritization
This section of your guide can help your team identify what are core “products” or services and those that are less important.
You can use pie charts or relationship graphs to demonstrate the affiliations between each product. This prioritization diagram will lead your team to understand which products or services are the company’s primary target areas to promote.
What Are Your Next Steps?
Creating a brand style guide can be a daunting exercise. Start out by creating an outline with the sections highlighted above.
Highlight your company’s humble beginnings and develop your customer personas to identify every kind of visitor you may receive at your many platforms.
With this information in hand, you’ll know which products and services you should prioritize over all the rest. And you’ll also have a uniform way for your entire team to promote this messaging as well.
Be sure to check our website for more branding advice. Launch your branding style guide today and your customers will know why you are their best choice.