Establishing your brand is one of the most important aspects of your marketing strategy. Naturally, people are creatures of habit – comfort and consistency are paramount. That means, in the business world, people will continue using your products and services if your brand remains consistent and trustworthy.
An established brand helps you stand out from your competition and increases your company’s success. So, with something so critical to the success of your business, a guidebook is essential. Consider the following frequently asked questions about a brand standards guide:
What is a brand standards guide?
A brand standards guide explains the rules and regulations of how your logo and brand can be used. It includes logo usage, color options, color formulas, font choices, and much more. How detailed you want your brand standards guide to be is completely up to you. For example, you can discuss how you want your brand to be used on print and digital platforms.
Implementing this guide will help your brand stay consistent. If your company’s brand is constantly changing, it can actually hurt the company. It will confuse the viewer, look disorganized, present readability issues, and more.
Why is it important?
A brand standards guide allows anyone who has access to your logo and other brand materials to know exactly how to use it and how not to use it. When more than one person has access to your approved brand materials, the possibility for inaccurate representation exists. By implementing a brand standards guide, you are creating consistency for your brand.
Maintaining consistency is a marketing tactic that can bring extensive success to your company.
So, if you want to create brand recognition, the first way to accomplish that is to be consistent in your overall look. It helps people recognize you quickly if they see your advertisement. One of the best examples of a company that has worldwide success with its consistency is Coca-Cola. Chances are, you recognize the Coca-Cola brand simply by its trademark color, font, bubbles, taste, or bottle silhouette.
In 1985, Coca-Cola reformulated its recipe and introduced New Coke. The new taste was an outrage among the public, and it quickly showed the Coca-Cola team that their consumers wanted the original. Consumers knew what to expect when they bought a Coca-Cola and did not want that disrupted. They trusted the original taste they had grown to love.
Who needs a Brand Standards Guide?
Any company can benefit from a brand standards guide to ensure consistency. Typically, large business or people with multiple branches, locations, or franchises create a brand standards guide. This guarantees that no matter how far your company’s reach extends, everyone in that area will know and recognize your brand.
How can M&R Marketing Group help?
We know you’re busy running your company and seeking out ways to work smarter, not harder. Let us create this guide for you! We have created brand standards guides for many companies. However, a brand standards guide isn’t complete without brand management. If you need a team of experts to manage your brand, we can help. Several of the ways we can help is by managing your social media, rewriting your website content if need be, updating your SEO, and more.
Shoot us an email at hey@mandr-group.com to get started. We look forward to partnering with you!
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