So you’ve created brand guidelines. Now what?
How to distribute brand guidelines to gain traction
You’ve labored, you’ve almost given up, you’ve poured every ounce of yourself into crafting brand guidelines for your organization. Months later, edits are done, and you have a foundation for your brand’s communication and visuals. But instead of being energized, you’re staring at the guidelines thinking, “Now what?”
At Whiteboard we’ve found that building a brand means nothing unless you’ve locked in a plan for implementation. Yup, you heard that right! your distribution plan is just as important, if not more so, than the creation of the brand guide itself.
Your distribution plan is just as important, if not more so, than the creation of the brand guide itself.
As you were creating your brand guidelines, you most likely had a set of audiences in mind. Now’s the time to revisit those audiences and come up with a plan to empower each of them.
It’s very likely that each audience does not need every section of the brand guide. You don’t want to overwhelm them with a 50-page book if they’re trying to write a single article, for example. By putting yourself in their shoes, you can create a plan for distribution based around their needs.
So, let’s use a real example.
You’re a large non-profit based in the U.S, and this past fall, you worked with an agency to refresh your brand guidelines for the first time in 6 years. It was a long, arduous process as you examined your values, audited your communication, and put together a guide for storytelling. Now the question is, how do you make the months of work useful for your team?
How do you implement your brand guidelines without losing momentum?
The first step is to get into the mindset of your audience.
Let’s say your audiences for the brand guide are Executive Leadership, Communications Staff, and Contract Writers & Designers. Each of these audiences has a very different purpose and will likely use the brand guide in a different way. It’s helpful to get into their mindset before you create a plan to empower each of them.
If you’re an executive, your focus will probably be to ensure your team understands the vision and values. You know the more each team member resonates with the core of your organization, the more they’ll be efficient, succeed in their day-to-day, and represent the company well.
If you’re on the Communications Team, your focus will be to ensure that emails, social posts, video collateral — you name it — are all on brand. In your day-to-day, you often balance clear, on-brand communication with a new campaign or idea that’s higher risk.
If you’re a contractor, your focus will likely be to learn as much as you can in a short amount of time so you can write a story. You’re paid by the hour, and you definitely don’t have time to read a 50-page book.
Now that mindset is locked, you can come up with a plan of attack.
Your plan to empower each audience might look something like this:
For Executive leadership, you decide to distribute the whole book to the 6 or 7 in leadership. You meet together to review vision and values, then ideate on training and implementation for staff. You decide not to print hundreds of copies (that’d be insane), but you do create a presentation around Vision, Values, & History to review in the all-staff meeting. From Marketing to Donor Development, every department hears the refreshed values coming from leadership and has a time implement a plan within their own department.
For the Communications Team, you pass along the most detailed sections. You package any sections on the core brand or communication, from Values and Brand Persona, to Voice & Tone, to detailed Communication Examples for each medium. You also empower the team with all of the storytelling components, knowing the strongest campaigns center on the power of narrative.
For Contract Writers or Designers, you choose the pieces particular to their medium. For example for writers, you choose Voice & Tone, Grammar Guide, and the storytelling components. For photographers you choose Photo Guidelines and Visual Storytelling. For each audience, you establish that these are the focus, but you do have more resources should they need them.
There isn’t a cookie cutter approach to determine which audiences need which sections of the brand guidelines. But if you’re stuck, a great place is to start is by asking them. The more involved your audiences feel in the process, the more likely they’ll wave the On-brand Banner, to protect your brand equity and allow for growth.
Remember, break your guidelines into sections and tailor the approach to each audience — you’ll get your money’s worth, and stay on brand.
Looking to create brand guidelines but not sure where to start?
