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Your Style Guide Tells Everyone What You Consider In-Bounds & Out-of-Bounds (for Your Marketing)
Establishing the ground rules for everyone who “touches” your marketing materials. You tell people how you want your logo and other identity materials—even voicemail greetings—reproduced, what are acceptable uses and what are not acceptable. This may sound a little strict to some of you, but trust me, it is necessary. If you fail to police your identity and have rules for everyone to follow, you will regret it later when you’re seeing five different looking business cards at a customer presentation and all five are from your company.
Strategy
By developing the rules-of-the-road for the use of your corporate identity, you’ll gain a multiplier effect by way of brand consistency.
Assignments
Marketing Team:The corporate Style Guide establishes guidelines for brand consistency for corporate communications used by all employees and other authorized personnel such as the company’s advertising and PR agencies or independent reps and dealers. Style Guides can be made available as a bound book, on a designated area on your web site or digitally on a CD. For most companies, the Style Guide includes usage guidelines such as:
- Trademarks—Any registered trademarks (®), intended service marks (SM), or trademarks (™), (see
Play T-07 ) owned by the company with proper usage described. - Copyright notices—Proper copyright disclaimer(s) should be listed with usage guidelines.
- Logos (product and company)—Logo usage rules are the most often violated. Many companies have to become quite rigorous about enforcement. I’ve heard the term, “Logo Police” many times—and for good reason. Imagine if McDonald’s allowed franchises to use their own version of the golden arches. It would be a mess, to say the least. The Style Guide helps you document proper and improper use of your logos and keeps everyone supporting the brand.
- Corporate colors—Proper reproduction guidelines for printing, PMS colors for both uncoated and coated paper stock, RGB values for monitors, and CMYK values for four-color process printing.
- Taglines—Describe appropriate use.
- E-mail Signatures/Voicemail greeting—Provide several options for each, and voicemail can include options by department, by occasion (work hours, out-of-town, after hours).
Other typical sections include: business card reproduction; glossary of terms (including unacceptable terminology); letterhead reproduction; Microsoft Word templates for letterhead and second page letterhead; corporate font usage, web font usage, web logos—.gif and .jpeg; usage of marketing and packaging collateral.
Coaching Points
- Use a lot of do’s and don’ts examples. Keep the language clear and simple.
- Make sure your Style Guide is easily accessible. Most firms today publish it on their web site in the PR area.
- Create ready-made templates of all your elements.
- Conduct a brief training session for employees and external users, especially your resellers.
- Involve your legal team for review of copyright statements and trademark issues.
Costs
- Other than your marketing team time, a printed Style Guide will cost $1–$2/page.
