The importance of brand building is something that no company can overlook, but it is also something that cannot be approached in a slipshod fashion. The customers that you are targeting will expect to see a high level of consistency wherever they see your brand represented, which is hard for a business to achieve when several different people are working on creating that brand.

It makes no sense to build a solid brand reputation at the bricks and mortar level, only to do something completely different when you take the business online. In order to make sure that everyone is on the same page, businesses will create a brand “Guidelines” that makes every member of the team aware of what should and shouldn’t be done when brand building.

Putting together Brand Guidelines ensures that a high level of consistency is maintained across the board. Every single marketing strategy will incorporate the same look and message, as will the manner in which the customer is communicated with. Not only will all of your employees know how to properly market the brand, your customers will know exactly what to expect from you, all of which breeds trust and confidence.

Building your brand means growing your reputation, which is why you need to follow a very clear plan when putting together your brand rule book. That all begins by making it very clear what it is you are trying to accomplish with your business. The Brand Guidelines document should contain a list of objectives that everyone needs to become familiar with before moving onto the process of brand building. When you are building a brans, there will be some things that are set in stone, while other elements are a little more open to manipulation. All of the elements that go into building your brand should be part of a definite structure, with just a little bit of flexibility left in there to account for changes and growth within your business.

By all means use visualisation and imagery within the guidelines, as there will be some members who do better with this way of learning than others. It’s also important that the book is not some heavy tome that is far too detailed. You are looking to create structure and consistency, which is often hard to do if you go into too much detail with every single point in the book. We already touched on this a little, but it bears repeating that you need to be a little flexible in the rules. Your company can change greatly over time, which means you may need to adjust the way in which you do business.

There are some obvious things such as logo, colour, use of language, and several other things that will be part of your brand book, but be sure to include other details that are relevant to your overall message. Every business will have a brand book that looks somewhat similar to the rest, but it’s the finer details that will make the difference, which is part of brand building and separating yourself from the competition.

To create Brand Guidelines for your business call 01904 430 666 or get in touch with us via the contact form below.