What To Include In Brand Guidelines For Your Business

One of the things we talk about a lot in digital marketing is branding. What does this mean in practice for small businesses and start-ups? When you think of branding, what often comes to mind are the big B2C companies – clothing manufacturers and retailers, banks, restaurant chains, and so on. But branding is equally as important for smaller businesses too – B2B no less than B2C. For a digital marketing and sales strategy to be successful, creating a consistent and recognisable brand identity is essential, regardless of your market or the size of your business.

Establishing a set of brand guidelines can help you present a unified and consistent message and visual aesthetic to your buyers. But what should these guidelines include?

Brand Overview

Understanding and documenting the ‘essence’ of your brand is the first step to creating an effective set of guidelines. By essence we mean the characteristics that make your business what it is, rather than something else. Documents that shape this essence include your mission statement, which outlines what your company aims to achieve. Mission statements usually focus on present tense goals, e.g. ‘to provide cost-effective precision engineering services that don’t compromise on quality’. For a reflection of where you want to see your business long-term, create a complementary vision statement to encapsulate your ambitions and goals, for instance, ‘to become the market leader in precision engineered components for the aerospace sector across the UK’.

Alongside these statements is a summary of your core values, which are the general principles that guide your business behaviours and decisions. These could include a commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction, UK supply chains, or sustainability.

Logo Usage

Your company logo is the visual face of your brand, so brand guidelines should ensure that it is used recognisably and effectively in all your digital content. A key part of this is to specify the minimum size and placement of your logo to guarantee readability, and the maximum size to maintain quality. Guidelines should also cover where the logo should be placed in various contexts, whether on webpages, social media adverts, or emails. If you have different versions of your logo for different uses – e.g. a colour and monochrome version – specify when to use each variant to maintain consistency.

Colour Palette

Colours strongly evoke emotions and perceptions, making them a crucial part of your brand identity. Your brand guidelines should identify your brand’s primary colours, which are those hues you use most frequently. Establish CMYK, RGB, and HEX codes for each colour to provide consistency across your digital and printed materials. You will also use secondary colours to complement your primary palette. These can be used for accents or secondary elements in your designs and content. Again, stipulate the relevant codes for accuracy.

Typography/Fonts

Typography and fonts are another core element of your brand identity, helping to convey your tone of voice and style. Typography guidelines should cover the fonts to be used for headings, body text, and captions/smaller text. For captions, you might choose a different font that complements your primary ones. Care should be taken to ensure that your chosen fonts are still readable at smaller sizes (and on smaller screens) to be accessible for all readers.

Tone Of Voice

If you are using an agency or professional writers to create your content, it’s essential to establish a unique ‘tone of voice’. This is how your written content ‘sounds.’ Your business or brand voice is how you communicate with your audience, and should sound recognisably the same across all your channels, from social media posts and blog articles to customer service emails. Unambiguous tone of voice guidelines helps writers create content that sounds like you.

There is a positive and negative aspect to tone of voice. On the positive side, you should identify key phrases, words, and language that should be used frequently. This will reinforce your marketing messages and make your business more recognisable. Equally important is stating what language or terms to avoid. This could, for instance, include jargon, slang, abbreviations, or overly formal language that doesn’t fit your company personality.

Legal And Intellectual Property Considerations

Your brand guidelines should ensure that your business and its intellectual property (IP) are legally protected and used correctly in your digital content. For example, mention any trademarks associated with your brand, giving guidelines about how and when to use the trademark symbol. The same applies to any copyrights related to your branded materials and resources. You should also consider compliance with accessibility best practices, data protection laws, and any industry-specific regulations.

Find Out More

For more information about branding and how it can support and enhance your digital marketing investment, please contact one of the specialists at JDR today by clicking here.

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