Your brand is much more than a logo, a color palette, and some fonts. It forms the impression in consumers’ minds as to your company’s personality and qualities.
Your brand gives your business an identity and image that communicates who your business is to the public. It helps to position you among and differentiate you from your competition.
A brand style guide directs your employees, web developers, and marketing team on how to represent your business so that your brand stays strong, consistent, and adds value to your business.
Your website, social media marketing, presentations, emails, and letters should all reflect the criteria you set forth in your brand style guide.
Don’t assume, just because you own a small business, that you don’t need a style guide. All businesses benefit from having a style guide. Consider it an asset for your company and a valuable resource to use when growing your business.
A brand style guide helps you showcase your business’s personality and vision in a consistent, recognizable, professional, and trustworthy way.
Core elements of a brand style guide include your visual identity – your logo, colors, and typeface(s). However, some guides also include information on writing styles and business voice, elevator pitch examples, company value statements, and more.
A brand style guide should also express the tone you want to convey when potential customers view or read your website and other marketing materials.
Things to include in your own style guide:
- Your logo – Describe and show how it should be used. Include specific instruction on where and how the logo should appear. If you have more than one version of your logo, explain how and when to use each version. Examples of proper and improper usage are also helpful.
- Colors – Distinguish when each color should be used and include the RBG, CMYK, or hex codes to ensure the correct color is used.
- Typeface – Specify which font should be used, what size should be used, and the font hierarchy, i.e., when to use each font.
Information, examples, templates, and instructions on how to write your own brand style guide appear in the Hubspot article, 21 Brand Style Guide Examples for Visual Inspiration.