If you’re looking to create a unified and cohesive brand identity for your business, you need to create Brand Identity Guidelines.

What are Brand Identity Guidelines?

They are a written manual that explains how a brand should be used internally and externally—from your logo to your brand personality, to your target audience. Brand identity guidelines help keep all communications on-brand so that your business has a consistent image and experience across all media and marketing channels. In other words, they loop in all of your employees, board members, and independent contractors—making sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to representing your company. Interested in creating Brand Identity Guidelines for your business? Keep reading!

What’s Included in Brand Guidelines

The elements that are included in Brand Guidelines can vary depending on the business, but typically they will include standards for:

• The use of your logo (including placement, size, and color)
• Your brand personality
• Your target audience
• Brand Messaging
• Social media guidelines
• Visual identity standards

Why Brand Guidelines Matter

Your Brand Identity Guidelines provide a solid framework for your business—defining important standards that will be used across all company communications. Having these guidelines in place helps to create a unified and cohesive brand identity so that your business is easily recognizable to customers, clients, and other businesses. Brand Guidelines also help protect your investment in your brand identity

How to create a Brand Guide

Creating Brand Guidelines doesn’t have to be complicated. Start by thinking about the elements that are most important to your business, and what you want to be included in your guide. Once you have a good understanding of what should be included, you can start putting together your Brand Guidelines. Not sure where to start? Check out our Rebranding worksheet—it includes everything you need to know about rebranding your business and can help you create a Brand Guidelines document.

You can create your guide using a simple word processing program like Microsoft Word, or you can use a more sophisticated design program like Adobe InDesign. Information to include in your Guide :

• An introduction to your company
• Your company’s mission statement
• An overview of your brand identity, including your logo, typeface, color palette, etc.
• Brand personality guidelines
• Target audience information
• Brand messaging standards
• Social media guidelines
• Visual identity standards (including photography, illustrations, and other visuals)
• Brand voice guidelines
• Contact information for your marketing or design team

Once you’ve created your Brand Guidelines, be sure to distribute them to all employees, board members, contractors, and anyone else who represents your company. You can send them out electronically as a PDF, or in print.

When should you look for help with your brand guide?

If you’re struggling to create Brand Guidelines on your own, it might be time to seek out professional help. Branding agencies can assist with everything from developing your brand strategy to designing your logo and visual identity.

But even if you decide to work with a branding agency, it’s still important that you have a clear understanding of your brand identity—so that you can effectively communicate your vision to the agency, and ensure that they are staying true to your brand standards.

The Bottom Line

Brand Guidelines are an important tool for businesses of all sizes—defining how your company should be represented across all communications. Having a clear and cohesive brand identity helps customers easily recognize your business, and protects your investment in your brand. Brand Guidelines also help ensure that all employees, contractors, and other company representatives are on the same page when it comes to representing your business.

Ready to get started on creating Brand Guidelines for your business? Reach out to us and we can help you get started. Branding is at the core of what we do, and we’re always happy to chat about how we can help your business create a strong and memorable brand identity.