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A branding style guide is a document that describes, defines and presents examples of what your brand looks like across all visual media. This can help marketing professionals by providing a unifying outline of information regarding the brand’s image. If you are interested in developing a brand style guide, you will need a strong branding style guide template. Follow our advice below to find out how to create a branding style guide template. Then, you can ensure quality and consistency throughout your brand.
Step 1: The Basics
The first thing you can use to start your branding style guide template is the basic elements of your brand. For many companies, this means their logo and tagline. This is the information and visuals that readily come to mind for the average consumer when they think of your business. Identify your logo and tagline clearly in the branding style guide in order to mark the key elements of your brand.
Step 2: The Media
Once you have that established, the next thing that every branding style guide template should include is individual sections for different media. It is not enough to simply have general guidelines for your brand. Instead, you should get into specifics for marketing vs advertising. The guide should include how your brand displays in print, on screen and online. The presentation elements for each of these areas of media vary, so you need to be specific in order to succeed.
Step 3: The Visuals
In addition to media specifics, you will also want to outline more visual guidelines. Explaining your logo and tagline is a good first step, but to really improve your brand image you will want to consider other elements such as font, color and spacing. If you create a color palette or font to use across all types of branding endeavors, you will have a much more cohesive campaign. Focus on choosing imagery that speaks to your business.
Step 4: The Message
While most branding style guide templates are mostly visual, it is important to consider your overall message. Developing a personality for your business will help when you are creating a website or marketing campaign. Is your brand bubbly, excitable or sleek and simple? What do you want your audience to feel when they see your logo? Take all of this into consideration and craft a core message around that in your style guide template. The Papa John’s franchise is a great example of a consistent message in their marketing strategy.
Step 5: The Options
Finally, the last thing that you will want to include in a branding style guide template is options. Although you want a unified and consistent image for your brand, you also want to leave room for creativity and growth. Consider the ways that your image can be altered for a particular project. This can predominantly be done on a case by case basis. However, it is important to note when there are additional options for logos, color palettes or specific brand messages.
Creating a branding style guide template is an important part of maintaining a strong marketing strategy. When you have a useful guide available, you can create a cohesive brand identity for your business. As we learn in the Getting Things Done PDF, templates are efficient tools to save time. Outlining the color palette, tagline and message for potential campaigns and collaborations is the perfect way to ensure a successful brand image.
Image from http://gvaldespino.com/heyo-branding-stationary/
