Do You Have a "Brand Style Guide"?

04/25/2024

In our daily consulting with clients and prospects at MemberLeap, we frequently discuss the importance of the organization's brand. Does your organization have a brand style guide to oversee its brand? Do all the team members (staff, employees, volunteers, board members, etc.) know what it is and how to use it? If you do not have one yet, it is relatively easy to set up and maintain.

Your brand style guide needs consistency, and addressing the issue promptly is essential to maintaining a cohesive and professional brand image. Here are some steps you can take:

1. Review and Identify Inconsistencies: Gather and carefully review your brand style guide and identify areas where inconsistencies exist. This could include discrepancies in color usage, typography, logo placement, tone of voice, etc. Review all materials, documents, websites, logo files, promotional items, email signatures, etc., used.
2. Establish Clear Guidelines: Once you've identified inconsistencies, establish clear and comprehensive guidelines for each element of your brand. Clearly define rules for logo usage, color palette, typography, imagery, and other relevant aspects.
3. Document Guidelines: Document the guidelines in your brand style guide. Make sure it's easily accessible to all team members involved in creating or using brand assets. This could be a digital document, a PDF, or an online brand portal.
4. Communicate Changes: Communicate the updated guidelines to all relevant stakeholders, including designers, marketers, content creators, project committees, boards, team members, and anyone else who may interact with the brand assets. Make sure everyone understands the importance of consistency and adheres to the guidelines.
5. Provide Training: If there are specific areas where team members need additional training to understand and implement the guidelines effectively, please provide training sessions or resources to help them, especially for any new team members. Make sure all are included, from in-person, hands-on training to virtual training sessions.
6. Regular Audits: Regularly audit your brand materials to ensure ongoing consistency. This could involve spot-checking marketing materials, social media posts, website pages, etc., to ensure they align with the brand guidelines. Make it a quarterly agenda item to review the guidelines and uses.
7. Gather Feedback: Encourage feedback from team members on the effectiveness of the guidelines and any challenges they may encounter in maintaining consistency. Use this feedback to continuously improve and refine your brand style guide. Setting up form submissions or surveys for specific feedback can be the easiest way to communicate with stakeholders and members.
8. Designate a Brand Guardian: Consider assigning a dedicated individual or team responsible for overseeing adherence to the brand guidelines and ensuring consistency across all touchpoints.

Following these steps, you can address inconsistencies in your brand style guide and maintain a solid and cohesive brand identity across all channels. MemberLeap can help you set up and maintain the necessary steps to keep your brand on point and consistent using the MemberLeap software and website systems. Ask us how we can help!