Small Bytes: Discover the Hidden Depths of Brand Guidelines

08/08/24 • 9 min

Brand guidelines are the most important document for a business, as they control and maintain consistency in branding. They can go deep and include strategy, tone of voice, and messaging. Even small businesses should have brand guidelines to guide their brand identity. Not having brand guidelines can lead to issues like inconsistent colors and messaging. Brand guidelines help document and communicate shifts in target markets and prevent confusion. While it's not necessary to outline every detail initially, the minimum for brand guidelines is logos, fonts, and colours.
Key Takeaways

Brand guidelines are essential for maintaining consistency in branding.
They can include strategy, tone of voice, and messaging.
Even small businesses should have brand guidelines.
Not having brand guidelines can lead to issues like inconsistent colors and messaging.
Brand guidelines help document and communicate shifts in target markets.
The minimum for brand guidelines is logos, fonts, and colours.

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Brand guidelines are essential for maintaining consistency in branding.
They can include strategy, tone of voice, and messaging.
Even small businesses should have brand guidelines.
Not having brand guidelines can lead to issues like inconsistent colors and messaging.
Brand guidelines help document and communicate shifts in target markets.
The minimum for brand guidelines is logos, fonts, and colours.

Previous Episode

Small Bytes: Maintaining Your Brand's Tone of Voice

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In this episode, Martin Sully discusses how to maintain a brand's tone of voice. He explains the difference between brand voice and tone of voice, and emphasizes the importance of aligning the brand voice with the company's mission, values, and target audience. Martin also suggests creating a written style guide to maintain consistency in communication. He advises auditing past content to ensure it aligns with the brand's tone of voice and highlights the significance of authenticity in influencing purchase decisions.
Key Takeaways

Brand voice and tone of voice are two separate things, with brand voice being consistent and tone adjusting based on the audience's emotional state.
Align the brand voice with the company's mission, values, and target audience.
Create a written style guide to provide guidance on communication.
Audit past content to ensure consistency in tone of voice.
Authenticity influences purchase decisions and builds stronger connections with customers.

Next Episode

Small Bytes: Reaching 2+ target audiences with one brand

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In this conversation, Martin Sully addresses the question of how to maintain a unified brand identity and consistent message for a two-sided marketplace with two target markets. He suggests creating personas for each target market and gathering information about their demographics, interests, and problems. By integrating this information with the brand values and message, it is possible to create content that resonates with both target markets. The key is to use language that is simple and free of jargon. The brand identity should remain consistent, but specific pages or landing pages can be created to address the different needs of each target market.
Key Takeaways

Create personas for each target market to gather information about their demographics, interests, and problems.
Integrate the gathered information with the brand values and message to create content that resonates with both target markets.
Use language that is simple and free of jargon to ensure the message is understood by both target markets.
Maintain a consistent brand identity while creating specific pages or landing pages to address the different needs of each target market.

Need to better understand your target audience? Read our blog post: Attracting Dream Customers and Repelling Customers