What are brand guidelines?
Brand guidelines, also known as; style guide, brand book and even brand bible. As the various names suggest, this is a document that describes your brand and how it should be presented. As a minimum, your brand guidelines will outline the brands’ basic visual identity; logo set and it’s usage, colour palette and typography. I like to build a little more value into a set of guidelines by adding elements that echo parts of your business plan. These are usually; core values, missions statement, tone of voice.
Do I need brand guidelines?
The short answer is. No. However, they are extremely useful and highly recommended for consistency. Brand consistency throughout your business and marketing is key to building strong brand recognition.
As a business owner, it’s likely that you will have several creative agencies working on different aspects of your business; web developer, social media marketing, print advertising. Each agency will be creating work for you and brand consistency between what each one is very important. Having the ability to send your brand pack with all the creative assets they will need (including your brand guidelines) will save you and the agencies lots of time while keeping your brand identity consistent.
