Brand Guidelines: Benefits, Elements And How To Create Them

Brand guidelines are essential because they help create a consistent image for the product or business. These guidelines apply whenever a brand publishes any form of content so that they are easily identifiable. Knowing about these guidelines can help you create a consistent tone for all the content and products of the company and help communicate it within the organisation. In this article, we discuss what guidelines for brands are, highlight their importance, list the elements involved, review how to create these guidelines and share tips on creating a consistent brand voice.

What Are Brand Guidelines?

Brand guidelines are rules or approaches that create a consistent image and voice for an organisation or business. Creating standard guidelines gives the designers and associates clear instructions on how they can represent the company's brand. Effective guidelines help employees be creative with content while still aligning their work with the company's overall image.

Importance Of Setting Guidelines For Brands

Below are some benefits of following a set of guidelines to create a brand:

Creates consistency

Consistency is vital when creating guidelines for a brand because this is how the clients and consumers can identify or relate to a particular product or business. Keeping the same guidelines across all forms of marketing and content helps the brand gain recognition and can lead to an increase in revenue. For instance, if you use the same colour scheme throughout social media posts, customers can easily differentiate your posts from those of competitors.

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Enhances productivity

With well-constructed guidelines, teams can distinguish good ideas effectively when brainstorming, allowing them to work faster. This is especially true for new employees, for whom these guidelines can serve as instructions, enabling them to create a proper structure in their minds before the ideation process begins. These guidelines help speed up the decision-making process and subsequently save time, as employees understand their tasks to meet the business goals.

Builds loyalty

Using solid guidelines can help you gain the trust and loyalty of customers. When consumers see a brand reflecting their values or being consistent in its efforts, they may become more loyal. Returning customers can refer the company or its products to more people around them, which may also help increase business revenue.

Separates a company from competitors

It is important to establish distinguishable content to attract customers on social media. Having solid guidelines about the company or brand helps you to differentiate a company from competitors and highlight the unique propositions that the product or service offers. When the company's voice and branding are consistent, customers may better identify the business and become long-term customers.

Increases value

As you develop a cohesive brand identity, it can also increase the value of the brand. Investors and stakeholders may realise that the company is reliable and professional and may want to invest in it. In addition, the integrity and quality of the company's brand can more easily stay consistent once you implement specific guidelines.

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Elements To Include In The Guidelines For A Brand

There are a few standard sections that most guidelines documents contain, such as the voice and visual elements. The elements can vary depending on the requirements of a project. Sometimes, it may include just the colours, logos and fonts, or you can choose to go deeper in association with the brand's image and marketing. You can select the elements based on how you intend to utilise the guidelines. Some of the typical elements you may include are:

Logo

Though a logo might seem like a simple part of a brand's identity, it is a crucial element of the company's image. Outline it clearly in the guidelines document and discuss the acceptable versions and variations of the logo. Even if designers have the liberty to change certain parts of the logo, make it clear which parts are acceptable for alterations clearly to remain consistent.

Colour scheme

Every brand needs specific colours, and it is crucial to include these colours in the logo, website and text. You might also include a secondary list of colours that the team can use in content. The secondary colour palette might work well for signage, pamphlets or miscellaneous branding details.

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Typography

The typography section includes details about the fonts your brand can access and the ones it uses. It elaborates on the acceptable font size, the acceptable variations and where to employ the various kinds of lettering. If text is a part of the brand's logo, mention the details of its font in this section.

Signage and social media

Business cards and letterheads are also a part of the branding, which is why it is essential to provide clear instructions to develop material containing the company's signage. Social media posts and website content are integral to any organisation's branding. Convey the expectations for such posts while also discussing the formatting associated with customer messages and email signatures.

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Tone and mission statement

Guidelines also include the tone business owners set for their company, including how they interact with their employees, clients and other organisations. Along with the personality and tone of the company, you might also mention the brand mission, values and goals. This helps create the content in a way that aptly reflects the brand's principles.

Related: What Is Brand Identity? With Elements And How To Develop It

How To Create Brand Guidelines

As the company grows and develops more marketing strategies and content, the relevance of branding guidelines also increases, which is why it is essential to be thorough from the beginning. Below are some steps you might like to follow while creating competent guidelines regarding the organisation's brand:

1. Choose the brand identity

Before deciding on the brand identity, think about who your audience is and the branding they might find attractive. This entails determining the type of personality the business might take on both in the present and future. This can help you determine if the brand's tone is consistent with the content you are creating.

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2. Evaluate the current design elements

The evaluation process of the current design elements may vary for startups and established companies. Evaluating the existing design elements for startups involves brainstorming and creating design ideas. For established companies, it involves going through all the current fonts, logos, advertisements, banners and the other design elements related to the organisation. Then, gather all the designs and customise the components to ensure they resonate with the current branding philosophy and rules.

3. Categorise the sections

The significance of the different sections of a brand's identity keeps evolving based on what is relevant at the moment. For a company that is just starting, typography and design usually get more attention. It is easier for a business that has been around for a long time to create sections of their branding based on the central values and how its mission can influence the company.

4. Provide examples

Including examples regarding the implementation of the guidelines is always a good idea, especially while collaborating with designers. This includes templates of the colours, spacing and fonts that the consumers associate with the company's brand. You might also consider including sample responses to customer service scenarios to encourage a consistent voice for the brand.

5. Record the changes

The evolution of a brand also requires necessary updates to the design elements. Record these changes and add them to the guidelines document. For example, whether you change the logo or the font, make them a part of the guidelines document, so they reflect on the upcoming projects.

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Tips For Creating Effective Guidelines For A Brand

Several people, both internal and external resources, may refer to the guidelines document for different purposes. It is essential to make the guidelines accessible and comprehensive. Here are some tips to remember while creating effective guidelines for a brand:

• Keep it simple. It is important to keep the guidelines simple and easy to understand so that new employees can quickly learn the expected content style.

• Get feedback. Approach the professionals in your field and request them to provide feedback regarding the quality and clarity of your guidelines.

• Be relevant. Ensure that the information in the guidelines document is relevant and resonates with the target audience.

• Learn from others. Review the guidelines other organisations posted and see if there are certain elements you may integrate into your own guidelines.