Why Having Digital Brand Identity Guidelines is Important?

BUSINESS WITHOUT A BRAND CANNOT BE A SUCCESS. DOES YOUR BUSINESS FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES FOR CERTAIN BRAND IDENTITY?

This brings us to the next question, what’s a brand? The visual you imagine when someone talks about a brand in your mind represents the power of branding! People still confuse branding only with a logo. Branding is more than a logo.  It is something that sets your brand apart from the others. Powerful branding will benefit your business in the long run. Brand Guideline is also referred to as a style guide and should be an integral part of any marketing strategy.

Interestingly and unfortunately, when we spoke to people who are working with agencies and organizations at the senior decision-making levels, they are not aware of brand guidelines for their companies.

Further research on this subject points to the fact that 80% of the startups and agencies who are into client servicing industry do not have a digital brand guideline, though it does not stop them from calling themselves as industry experts.

The majority of the client-servicing industries is market-speak; they sell you “fluff.”

Bigger giants like Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, BMW, and others have adopted and pioneered digital brand guidelines in a big way and paved the way.  Now, mainstream SMEs are looking to follow suit, having understood the benefits of creating an online deck for their brand guidelines and assets.

Essentially, the brand guideline is a commandment for an organization that guides employees and designers on how different elements of a company’s brand identity and assets should be used. Though it is time-consuming,  it is very exciting to create brand guidelines, as a great deal of thinking and a thorough market understanding goes into it.

Brand guidelines can contain segments on:

• Brand Identity (core values, mission, personality, tone, pitch, etc.)
• Brand Assets and appropriate use of them (logo, color palette, typography, background, etc.)

A  good brand guideline is very important, especially while re-branding or starting a new company, as it’s a means of communicating with present and prospective customers within your target audience. Creating a unified identity while connecting multiple elements of your brand like logo, color, typography goes a long way in carving out your digital branding.

When you as an organization go through a brand redesign, you should always create a new brand style guide to go along with it. It’s an effective way to announce rebranding to your team and to get everyone on board with new brand guidelines.

Why do you need a Digital Brand Guidelines?

It helps to create a powerful brand identity

You need brand guidelines because it helps you create a strong brand identity.  Building an identity, no matter what it is, is simple when you have a guideline to have your back covered.

Its helps to maintain a professional image

A business firm should have a consistent tone and voice to communicate what it stands for, e.g., friendly, knowledgeable, but also natural – talk. This helps in maintaining a professional image. However, it’s not only a voice tone that reflects professionalism. Coherent colors and logos across business online & offline will always help.

It helps to maintain consistency across media

If your logo differs on Social Networks from your site or even your print, customers might get confused and maybe hesitant about using your business. Inconsistent branding doesn’t look good. It’s one of the main reasons that business need brand guidelines to ensure an impression of proficiency and professionalism across the brand

It helps Brand Recognition

This is the obvious reasons why business requires brand guidelines. The uniformity that brand guideline creates means that brands are instantly noticeable to customers without having to introduce who you are and what you do

When you see Facebook, you see the blue and white colors, you know exactly which who are dealing with. That’s because Facebook has created brand guidelines clearly defining what colors are ‘Facebook’ colors.

This links back to your brand identity which is stronger and more consistent, easier for your audience to identify and recognize you amongst your competitors. Having a steady brand guideline means that when you add a store or design products like an additional logo (Samsung), Facebook header, or a new signature in your email, it will gel with your existing designs and be recognizable even though your customers haven’t seen it before.

It’s useful for employees

A practical reason why you need a brand guideline is to ensure that your employees are using the branding the proper way – right share, right tagline. right font, right logo size, etc. if you have a new candidate and assuming that the department heads are out of office, setting a standardized brand guideline means that the right way to use company branding is easily accessible and available to everyone.

Digitalize your brand guideline

Whether you are for or against digitizing your brand and your brand guidelines, if your brand has to remain relevant in these times, it is imperative that you have to adopt digital brand guidelines across production.

Selecting a branding agency

If you are a business serious about growing your brand, you would need support from a professional and competent branding agency. Branding is much more than a guideline, it’s, in essence, an existential market intention on how you engage with your target audience.

We can help you review your brand positioning, create a digital brand strategy, and help you in designing an identity that fits your business goals. After all, brand guidelines are part of this process.

Do you Want to Begin?

More interested, get connected with us, and find out how to review your brand and create a digital brand guideline that works for your business.