5 Steps to Creating a Brand Style Guide |
Posted: October 15, 2020 |
We know we’ve said this a million times, and we can’t reiterate this any further—the best brands out there are etched into our brains because of a strong presence that has been continuously built using the same personality, visual style, and brand voice. The key to creating a memorable brand is consistency. Think Coca-Cola and it’s signature red colour. And although their logo has gone through several redesigns over the years, the brand chose to maintain a similar script font. On top of that, Coke has managed to imprint its cheerful personality on us by exuding happiness and excitement across their marketing efforts. Again, it’s all about consistency. The thing is, maintaining brand consistency can be a tough challenge, especially for a growing brand. As you try to explore more marketing strategies and hire more people, you want to make sure that everyone and everything stays on the same page. That is why it is important to create a guideline from the onset of your brand strategy. What is a brand style guide? This is a rulebook that meticulously defines your voice and visual identity. Also often referred to as the ‘brand bible,’ it’s powerful enough to guide marketers and business owners to a clear and consistent branding journey. So how do you develop a brand style guide? Step 1: Write down your mission and vision.Great brands are guided by well-defined purpose and goals. Your mission statement should clearly spell out what you do, who you do it for, how you do it, and why you do it. This is going to be your roadmap for your vision statement, which, on the other hand, is a declaration of your company’s definition of success. Step 2: Create your buyer personas.If you want your brand to be relatable, it’s imperative that you understand who you’re talking to. A buyer persona is a fictional character that represents who your target market is. This details out your ideal buyer’s demographics, goals, challenges, how you intend to solve these problems, and other useful information like media consumption. Step 3: Create your brand persona.Now that you’ve figured out how to communicate to your target market, it’s time to build your ideal brand. Your brand persona is the personification of your brand. If you were to be a person, how would you be characterized as? The key here is to create a personality that will relate to your ideal buyers. Step 4: Find your brand voice.Your brand voice characterizes your communication style based on all the information you’ve gathered so far. If this is the type of buyer you want to reach out to, how do you think you should define your voice? Should you be professional? Casual? Or witty? However you’re planning to hone your brand voice, make sure it aligns with your mission, vision, values, and brand persona. Step 5: Develop your visual guidelines.Of course, your visual guidelines. A huge part of your image is influenced by your visual identity. The look of your brand is arguably the biggest factor that affects brand recognition. Your visual guidelines should include the following:
It’s time to build your own brand style guide!Let our team of branding experts help you create and execute your own brand bible. Send us a message today to schedule a FREE consultation! Reference from: https://oakwillagency.com/5-steps-to-creating-a-brand-style-guide/
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|