How to Improve your Brand Awareness with your Brand Guide [6 Items to Include]
When you’re working on any marketing materials or campaign, it’s important to evaluate your goals, message and tone. Basically: is what you’re putting out into the word going to accomplish what you want.
An easy way to touch base with your goals is to revisit your brand guide before hitting that publish button.
When we’re working with a new client, reviewing their existing brand guide is extremely helpful. Many don’t have one, so it’s always music to our ears to see what businesses have worked on. Many businesses haven’t taken the time to commit to their brand and have consistency. And the ones who do, well, you simply can tell a difference in their marketing efforts.
Having consistent imagery, color scheme, voice and attitude is essential in making a marketing impact. You want to create brand awareness and you do that by having a consistent experience with your consumers. McDonald’s is McDonald’s because you can count on the hamburgers tasting the same (whether you think that taste is good or bad is debatable), every single time. It’s hard to accomplish such consistency, but if you create a thorough brand guide, you’ll be able to reference when it matters.
So, what should you include?
Typeface: Generally, your company shouldn’t have more than three fonts. We stick with two. Choose a professional option to use on letterhead, formal correspondence and headings and one creative option for marketing materials, design and merch.
Color Scheme: We have three colors in our color scheme. You may have more or less. When designing your colors, include the HEX, CMYK and RGB codes in your guide. This will save you time in the future.
Logo Options: Oftentimes, you’ll have a tagline included with your logo. However, this won’t look great on your social media platforms. Make sure to include logo options with and without a tagline.
Imagery Examples: What kind of imagery do you use in your social media, marketing, web design etc.? Are you bold, traditional, or funny in your choices? Include a few examples in your brand guide. This will help employees know where to begin when working on your marketing campaigns.
Brand Voice: How do you want to appeal to your audience? Informative, compassionate, sarcastic? Take some time to consider your voice and write a few example sentences. You can revisit this when your launching a new campaign to make sure you’re in alignment with your original goals.
Brand Personality: More than writing voice, evaluate how you want your overall brand to be perceived. As an example: Soul Graphics focuses on being committed, honest, and innovative. Our industry requires us to stay ahead of trends; what does your industry require? Add your traits to stay focused on ideal marketing efforts.
Once you’ve created your brand guide, make sure to review it annually. You may adjust a font as styles change or you may be reminded of a personality trait that you’re not utilizing fully. It’s always helpful to revisit to stay on track!
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