You’ve invested a lot of time to shape your brand as per your liking. Be it the logo, web design, color palette, or font – everything takes time to find its place and come out the way you always wanted it to be. Now the question is, what next
The brand guide you make helps you develop your brand’s identity across all platforms. It aligns the whole team and channels their efforts in one direction. As a result, the brand’s appearance looks sharp, consistent, and modern.
Here’s what you need to do with your brand guide once you have it ready with you:
1. Share
Distribute the brand guidelines document with your team members and organize a dedicated session to brief them about its content. The scope of sharing doesn’t need to be restricted to the designers only.
You can perform a quick design sprint to come up with any last-minute changes to the brand guideline template. If not, detail the group about the purpose of creating this style guide and finally come to its usability.
By the end of the session, all members should have a decent understanding of the “how” and “where” aspects related to the brand guide. A summarized document of the brand guideline can also be shared after you’re done with the discussions.
2. Invest in a Brand Book
There’s no denying that this is the age of technology and digitization. But, from a brand’s point of view, you still need to maintain several copies of your brand book. These books come to the rescue when you don’t have access to their digital counterpart. The visiting clients or customers can also demand to have a look at the brand book.
Keep the brand book up-to-date. This implies that any changes made to the brand guide must also reflect in the physical brand book. Thanks to the guidelines document, you already know the importance of maintaining branding consistency – be it digital or print media.
3. Promote
A ready-to-share brand style guide can now be made public to increase user engagement. Your followers want to know more about how things roll at their favorite brand’s workstation. Utilize this opportunity by sharing a public-copy of your style guide on various platforms. You can write blogs on how you crafted this style guide and why it means so much to you.
You can share a public document of your brand guidelines online and look for constructive criticism from the customers. Work on them to further improve the style guide and let the users know that your brand always values their consumer’s opinions.
4. Keep on Improving
When we talk about the pace at which trends come and go today, thinking that a brand guide is a “one-and-done” venture is a big mistake. You need to research to the core just to get an idea of how style guides are made. You further brainstorm with your team to prepare the document.
These guidelines form the foundation for future modifications that’ll invariably come with time, advancements, and customer behavior. You can improve this brand guidelines template by comparing it with the existing competitors as well as the new-comers. Your consumer base would also provide their honest feedback and you have a reliable team to think on the same too.
5. Adhere to the Guidelines
You’ll come across several attractive brand guide examples after you finalize your guidelines document. However, this is the time to stay true to your brand and the values it offers. Don’t confuse this adherence with improvement. Diligently following the devised style guide removes self-doubt and other factors that might drive you into dropping the guidelines altogether.
Inspire your team to keep up with the guidelines and encourage them to voice their opinion. When the whole organization is on the same page, it’s a positive indication that they’re headed in the right direction.
To Conclude
Your brand guide decides the perception that consumers and other businesses would have about your company. Once you have it ready, share it with your partners. Maintain a brand book and promote the style guide across various channels.
Don’t miss out on any chance to optimize the brand guide and trust your brand guidelines to the fullest. You can be as creative as you want with the style guide. Just remember that everything should relate to your brand’s personality.
When was the last time you updated your brand guide? Mention in the comments section. To contribute to our Guest Posts sections, please click here.
