The brand style guide (aka trail map to success).
To have one is to quite literally have everything you need to know about your brand in one beautifully organized document. From the most basic elements like colors, to in-depth info on your brand personality, voice, and more, a brand style guide makes communicating your brand (internally and externally) crystal clear.
While we totally recommend you have a style guide, lack of one does not mean a dead-end path. There are some very simple steps you can take, right now, to ensure your business looks cohesive, and professional. First, and foremost...
1. Color Me Impressed
Does your branding look mismatched or all over the place? It's never too late to establish a set of two to four colors you want to use throughout your marketing materials. A good rule of thumb is to pick a base color, accent color, and a neutral color. If you're looking for inspo, consider Pinterest as a resource. To ensure your colors are always the same hue, be sure to save their hex numbers (set of numbers and letters that defines their color value) for future use. Next, you'll want to focus on...
2. The "F" Word
Fonts... What word did you think we were going to say? Consistency is important here, too. Go ahead and decide on two or three fonts and make sure the names of those fonts are also included along with your brand colors. We recommend identifying a font that you want to use for headings (large, attention grabbing text), sub-headers (secondary attention grabbing text), and paragraphs (content).
Once you've chosen these elements, stick 👏🏼 to 👏🏼 them 👏🏼
Make sure your staff knows this information and are using it. You can even provide these vital bits of info to third-party agencies when you run ads or sponsor events, etc, thus ensuring your brand will be represented correctly and consistently (a big win for brand awareness). Cool, right?
What are you waiting for? Give it a go! And, if you need a little guidance, reach out to work with us. We're rooting for you!