A Brand Guide Will Keep Your Business Looking its Best

Brand guidelines are an important part of running a business, large or small. A brand guide is a set of rules, typically printed in a book or pamphlet, containing all branding elements associated with your business. These elements can be anything from the color scheme of your logo to the tone of voice your brand uses.

These guidelines should be followed by everyone in your company including writers, designers, human resource workers, and even your sales staff. By incorporating a set of branding guidelines into your company, you can help boost your business’s presence in several different ways from improving brand standards to increasing brand recognition.

Setting a Standard

One of the main benefits a brand guide can offer is a set standard of rules regarding how your brand is used across your entire business. A branding guide offers more than all your approved logos and typefaces in one concise place. These guidelines offer a set outline of when and how to use the branding elements associated with your business.

This outline can dictate anything from when and where to use a logo to when and how to use a tagline. Having a set standard of “rights” and “wrongs” can assist anyone who creates messages for your company. A brand guide puts all your company’s branding elements and the contexts in which the elements are used in one place.

A Learning Tool

Having a set standard of brand guidelines can also make learning those rules and exceptions much easier. If and when you decide to scale your company up or simply take on one additional employee, a branding guide can make all the difference in onboarding a new staff member. You know your brand inside and out, but a new employee may struggle to learn the ins and outs of your business. With a branding guide, a new employee will have access to all the information he or she needs to know about your company’s look and feel, making the learning process easier.

Being Consistent

With a set guidelines, your business will begin to earn a feeling of consistency. There’s a difference between being consistent internally and externally. While your company may be put together internally, it is important that this consistency is conveyed externally to current and potential customers.

Consider the Taco Bell brand. All of Taco Bell’s promotional material and branding oozes “Taco Bell.” The tone the company uses on all platforms is consistent, the color scheme used on promotional material is consistent, and the design is consistent. All these elements merge together to help form a cohesive and consistent identity that we associate with Taco Bell. With a consistent external appearance, your customers and potential customers will begin to recognize your brand more frequently.

Getting Recognition

Brand recognition is the ease of which a customer can recognize a brand by something as simple as a color scheme, logo, or product. For example, consider Louisiana State University’s football team. In the south, the colors purple and gold have become a hallmark of the team, almost exclusively associated with the football team.

By consistently using a logo, color scheme, or tagline your company can begin to earn more recognition with both current and potential customers. With a proper branding guide that keeps your branding elements consistent, you can take that necessary step in setting your company apart from the competition.

If you’re ready to establish a branding guide for your company and give your company a competitive advantage, Catapult Creative Media can help launch your company into success.

Madison Martin is a senior at Louisiana State University pursing a degree in mass communication with a specialization in digital advertising, and a minor in fine art. In her free time, Madison enjoys drawing, napping, and playing video games.

Work with Catapult Creative Media Inc.  Catapult Creative Media Inc. is a digital marketing and design agency serving clients over the United States but is proud to call Baton Rouge, Louisiana home. Founded in 2007, Catapult provides digital, social and mobile marketing solutions backed by relevant strategy and measurable results. Catapult works the web to their clients’ advantage, launching them to their next level of success.