How to create a kick-ass brand communication guideline for your startup
Hi! Who are you? Tell me a little about yourself.
I’m Vanshi, I’m a brand strategist and storyteller. I am friendly, jovial, casual and yet blunt. I enjoy the finer things in life, like the Oxford comma, and red velvet cake.
Each one of us is unique. Each one of us has words and traits attached to us. That’s what makes us different and unique, and the best part is we’re like an amoeba — we keep growing and evolving.
Did you know the earliest record of an amoeboid organism was produced in 1755 by August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof? — The reason I’m telling you this is because we live, we breathe, we enjoy everything around us. We are alive.
Are brands alive, though? Do they just exist or do they live?
The first thing you’d say is that humans live and exist, brands just exist. But, that’s the biggest misconception everyone has.
Brands exist and grow in a mystical place called the mind.
A deep abyss.
That being said, let’s do a quick check? — let’s see what brands you think of
Think of a brand that’s funny
Think of a brand that’s serious
Think of a brand that’s sophisticated
I thought of Asos, WSJ and Apple.
They’ve all taken the effort to be human, to relate to human emotions, and moreover speak like humans while maintaining their personality.
The best part is they break through the clutter, and turn information into conversation and engagement.
To do this, they most certainly have a brand guideline, but what they also have is (I presume) a detailed verbiage on how to execute on this document.
Here are the must-haves in a brand communication guideline, just so you’re aware:
- How does your brand represent itself—Personality
- How does your brand express itself— Voice and tone
- What’s the story you want to talk about to your audience— Brand story
How do you execute on it?
Let me show you a great example of a brand communication guideline from Mailchimp.
One of the major reasons I love their brand guideline when it comes to executing the brand guideline — they are verbose. And there is zero reason not to be.
This is where the proof in the pudding lies because there’s a huge difference in knowing this in your head, and executing this at scale.
This is where your brand guideline helps as you lead a team of executionists who have to make this document come alive. Moreover, you might not be at the company forever — so, how does the brand survive without you?
Here are some things to keep in mind when creating an execution-focused brand communication guideline:
- Start with the philosophy and the why. Every brand needs to first decipher why they exist on touchpoints. While it is common to be on every channel, it is not mandatory. And, if you believe it is, what is the purpose of every channel? What kind of audience are you trying to attract on each channel?
- Know your USP like ABC. As a brand, repetition and clarity are your best friend. When communicating on multiple channels it’s easy to sound like 10 different people and it’s also easy to sound as 1. If you crisply clarify your USPs — you can’t go wrong. What makes your brand you, and why are you important in your consumer’s life?
- What are the do’s and don’ts. To ensure your brand doesn’t sound wishy washy, there have to be boundaries drawn out with say this but not this. For example: You can be confident and not pompous, minor difference but it needs to be called out
- Create messaging pillars. Your brand has a niche and positioning statement so that you can talk to a certain segment of the audience. Messaging pillars help when you’re executing on messaging because it tells the executor what to talk about and what not to, along with all the things that can be included within. So for example if your messaging pillar is Beauty for all, then you’ll talk about for example skin types and understanding that better. So on and so forth
- The troll-guide. Nowadays, consumers have a voice and they will share their opinions on social media if anything goes wrong. When working with big brands, I always include this troll-guide because ORM is essential these days. As a brand, there should be a guideline on what to say and what not to.
That’s what a troll looks like, in case you were wondering.
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So, the next obvious question would be what are the benefits of doing this. I gotchya!
- The brand does not lose its heart and/or core because of being too vague or different on every channel
- Consistent communications build trust with the audience because you’ve set the right expectation
- Associations are created with the brand based on resonance
- Increase in top of mind recall when consumers think of a product category
In conclusion
Brand messaging is a mammoth task. And it might even take weeks to granularly lay out — but that does not mean it’s impossible. Your brand communication guideline needs to be as straightforward as possible, whilst at the same time it is a breathing document; let’s not forget that. Don’t wind yourself up with being ‘perfect’, instead wind yourself up on being precise.
Let’s geek out!
If you liked what you read, please do reach out and tell me on My Linkedin and if you want to work together, check out my website and let’s get chatting.
