The business-changing power of brand guidelines

By Megan Purves on 02 May 2024

Brand guidelines are a critical component of your organisation’s success, serving as a blueprint for every aspect of your brand identity. They provide a framework that ensures consistency across all communication channels and activities, instilling trust and confidence in your audience and stakeholders, and positioning your brand for long-term success.

In short, brand guidelines are not just important; they are essential for any organisation that seeks to establish a strong and lasting brand identity.

While traditionally focused on visual elements such as logos, typography, and colour schemes, modern brand guidelines can now extend to encompass tone, language, and messaging. These guidelines serve as the foundation for building trust with your audience, ensuring a coherent narrative is maintained across all interactions.

Brand guidelines have the power to:

• Cultivate Consistency: Customers respond favourably to consistency. Even simple adherence to a consistent brand colour scheme significantly increases brand recognition. As you adhere to your brand guidelines over time, you expedite the moment of recognition for your audience. This consistency breeds trust, loyalty, and lasting connections, propelling your business towards growth and financial success.
• Enhance Efficiency: A brand style guide becomes your ultimate go-to tool, streamlining your efforts right from the outset. It helps you filter out ideas that don’t align with your brand, steering your marketing efforts in the right direction and expediting decision-making without subjective debates or delays.
• Amplify Brand Tangibility: A strong brand goes beyond products or services. It paints a clear picture of what your brand represents, fostering a deeper connection and understanding of your company’s values and mission. Unify all elements that define your identity through brand guidelines to leave a lasting, impactful image in the minds of your audience.
• Rise Above the Competition: In today’s saturated digital landscape, projecting a clear and cohesive brand image makes you stand out. Whether you exude a sassy personality or maintain a friendly tone, staying true to your brand guidelines draws attention. Consistency creates a distinctive, memorable presence, fuelling stronger connections, engagement, and receptiveness from your audience.
• Cultivate Loyalty: Customer loyalty transcends products and services. It’s heavily influenced by branding that resonates with core values and emotions. Your brand guidelines play a pivotal role in conveying these values in a distinctive and resonant manner. Building a brand that fosters connections and resonates with your audience is key to cultivating customer loyalty and long-term business success.

Can brand guidelines truly impact your business?

Effective brand guidelines start with a deep understanding of your brand identity and target audience. Key components include clear rules for logo usage, typography, colour schemes, and tone of voice. Regular updates ensure relevance, while stakeholder involvement fosters alignment and buy-in. By following these best practices, businesses can leverage brand guidelines to create consistent and impactful brand experiences that resonate with their audience and differentiate themselves in the market.

We’ve seen first-hand the transformative effect of well-defined brand guidelines. Consistency and professionalism can reshape your business’s perception in the eyes of both potential and existing customers.

Client projects

We were commissioned to develop Taylor Hopkinson’s existing brand and update their brand guidelines to reflect this. To ensure the new brand was applied consistently across all future communications, we produced brand guidelines outlining how the new brand should be used, this included best practices for use of the primary and secondary logos, the use of typography and colour palettes, as well as photography and graphic devices.

We were approached by the national advice charity, Citizens Advice Scotland, to develop brand guidelines to ensure consistency across all of their future communications. As well as including all of the usual brand guideline elements, we also covered some highly brand-specific guidance, such as the use of their ‘spotlight’ graphic device, iconography, data visualisation and details on visuals for infographics. We also backed up these brand guidelines with sub-guidelines for all Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland.