{"id":15674,"date":"2017-10-16T10:12:19","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T15:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rocksdigital.com\/?p=15674"},"modified":"2025-06-13T13:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T18:42:14","slug":"create-a-branding-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocksdigital.com\/create-a-branding-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Safeguard Brand Personality: Create a Branding Guide Today"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"How<\/a>
garagestock\/shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Is a branding guide<\/a> really necessary? Well, marketers talk about branding all the time: how it can generate excitement, how it makes promotion easier, how it builds loyalty \u2013 it\u2019s important. But whether you\u2019re working on rebranding your business or you\u2019re just starting to build a marketing plan, it only does so much good to hear about how great branding is \u2013 if you don\u2019t know how to start.<\/p>\n

So if you need a real, actionable guide to creating brand standards, you\u2019ve found it.<\/p>\n

All Branding Guides Start Out with the Strategy<\/h2>\n

Alright, so you\u2019re not totally free from the \u201cbranding is important\u201d spiel, but we\u2019ll keep it short. If you\u2019re here, you already know that branding is valuable, but let\u2019s do a quick rundown of exactly why, from a strategic standpoint:<\/p>\n

1. It guides your overall marketing strategy to help you achieve your goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

A branding guide that works starts with your overall business strategy. The first step to creating brand standards is to look at the big picture and determine your overall business needs and goals. You should determine what you are trying to achieve, and your branding guide should work to support those goals.<\/p>\n

Marketers who say branding isn\u2019t important don\u2019t see the whole picture. They believe that the creation of a brand is explicitly intentional \u2013 it\u2019s not. Your brand is the personality of your business, and every business has one, even if they\u2019re not trying.<\/p>\n

Branding is shaped by everything your business does. How you treat your customers is part of your brand. Your mission statement and company values are part of your brand. Everything about your business that your customers interact with is part of your brand.<\/p>\n

Every aspect of your brand standards should be there for a strategic purpose. Choosing not to address an aspect of your business from a branding standpoint means that you don\u2019t have control over your customers\u2019 perception of that part of your business, and that\u2019s a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n

But successfully implementing any business strategy depends on everyone involved understanding it \u2013\u00a0and working together towards execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year we create a strategy map to help distill our business strategy into a simple format that can be easily communicated, consumed and ultimately executed. We identify a single common goal each year, which keeps us on track and continually moving closer to it,\u201d so share the marketers at Four Winds Interactive<\/a>. Everyone should understand the goal and how to achieve it \u00ad\u00ad\u2013 which is much easier when it\u2019s all laid out in a guide.<\/p>\n

2. It saves you time and energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

A clear branding guideline makes it easy to scale your marketing. It\u2019s a clear, defined standard for everyone on your marketing team to reference any time they have questions, and it can answer questions that they might not even know they have \u2013 saving time and money that goes into approving and reviewing work.<\/p>\n

No more sending drafted copy back to a writer because they didn\u2019t know the preferred standard for writing the time of day \u2013 is it 3 o’clock in the afternoon<\/em> or 3:00 p.m.<\/em> or 3PM<\/em> \u2013 and an end to the days of graphic designers revising ads because the stock photo they chose contains people when it shouldn\u2019t. You can stop overloading content creators with work because they\u2019re the only ones who are familiar with your nebulous branding standards. A branding guide makes it possible for anyone you hire on to immediately understand exactly what is expected.<\/p>\n

3. It\u2019s good for customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

People don\u2019t like change, and your customers are no different. When your branding is inconsistent, confusing, or just downright ugly, it hurts you. Your audience can become so preoccupied with inconsistent branding that they might walk away before you can even tell them what you\u2019re selling.<\/p>\n

Think about it this way: would you be OK with your product being displayed in a messy, unprofessional storefront?<\/p>\n

Your customers shouldn\u2019t need to consciously examine elements of your brand. They might notice something that they enjoy about your branding, like the way your logo looks or the color you chose for the banner on your homepage, but your brand shouldn\u2019t be distracting \u2013 it should complement and support your product. No matter what your standards are, a clean and consistent user experience with your brand should be the goal.<\/p>\n

A Branding Guide Protects the Brand\u2019s Image<\/span><\/p>\n

In many ways, a brand is like a person. Just like showing up in sweatpants to a job interview influences whether or not you\u2019ll get hired, how your brand looks is probably the biggest element that shapes initial customer perception of your business. If your brand is showing up in sweatpants, you can bet customers aren\u2019t hiring your company to solve their problems and meet their needs.<\/p>\n

Color shapes brand personality in a big way. While the feelings and emotions triggered in a given individual by a color depends on personal experiences and associations, cultural trends and norms regarding certain colors do impact color symbolism<\/a>. Heed your customers\u2019 expectations when choosing colors for your brand, but don\u2019t be afraid to use color to swing your brand in a certain direction.<\/p>\n

Amsterdam Printing gives us some insight on color associations<\/a>:<\/p>\n