Successful branding starts inside your own organization.
- Start within, with yourself, your partners, and your employees or volunteers, and work your way out.
- You control what you distribute to the public.
- Make sure your materials stay true to your message and that they represent you in an honest, professional, and memorable way. One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is by having and implement branding guidelines.
Branding Guidelines
Most design companies can help create branding guidelines for your organization in addition to creating your brand identity. Guidelines are a valuable investment that often get overlooked by non -profits and small businesses. These guidelines will help you and your staff distribute quality materials that stay true to your brand message in a consistent manner. I suggest that you hire or appoint a brand manager. It will be their job to review what you distribute to the public. A good brand manager should be well educated with your brand message and guidelines. This person should also have a core knowledge of branding and design, marketing strategy, current marketing trends, and consumer behavior. It will be this person’s job to make sure mistakes don’t slip through the cracks that would damage your brand identity.
Mistakes I see with those without branding guidelines:
- They send marketing pieces to print with the use of degraded, stretched, altered and unapproved versions of their logo. (This is a huge no-no!)
- They use colors, artwork, or photographs which conflict with or muddle their message.
- They use inappropriate fonts and font sizes that confuse the importance of certain items on the page.
- They don’t present a unified brand image from print to web.
Think About It
The more consistently we see a brand presented, the more we grow to trust and like it. When guidelines are in place and enforced they ensure consistency. It’s that simple. When working with your design company or designer to create guidelines keep these tips in mind.
Guidelines should:
1. define the core message of your organization,
2. be written for the user in plain, clear language,
3. contain an introduction explaining why their implementation is important to the success of the brand,
4. be illustrated with simple what to and not to do examples,
5. have rules flexible enough for designers to be creative, but rigid enough to keep the brand recognizable,
6. be as succinct as possible,
7. be easily accessible in print and online,
8. be branded,
9. designate an individual or group of individuals to contact with questions,
10. establish a process of approval for materials being printed, posted, or distributed to the public.
