Every agency, no matter the industry, should create and follow a brand style guide. A brand style guide is the heart of your agency’s personality and it should include the following:
- Brand color palette
- Typeface
- Brand voice
- Logos
Brand color palette
Choosing your company colors may seem like a fun and simple process, but it’s actually an integral part of developing your brand’s personality.
The colors you choose give your clients their first experience with your agency; a visual experience.
Every color evokes different emotions for your consumers, so you want to make sure the colors you choose not only look appealing, but give your customers the right impression of your agency.
Consumers use color in their decision making process when choosing a product or service to purchase. Having an understanding of the psychology of color is important when deciding which colors are right for your company.
To create consistent marketing materials, you should choose a set of primary and secondary colors that can be used in a variety of marketing materials. This includes colors that can look appealing on your website, printed materials, social graphics, and more.
Keeping these applications in mind will help create consistency and give your branding flexibility.
Typeface
Just like colors, fonts have their own associations as well; different fonts cause consumers to experience different emotions. While there may seem like thousands of fonts to choose from, there is a process to help you choose the right type of font for your agency.
Your agency should have a primary and secondary typeface that can be used in various marketing materials. Having different font variations of these choices, such as bold or italicized will allow for a stronger brand identity.
In order to create a strong brand, identify what purpose each font will serve. You should have a font type to be used for a header, sub-header, and the body of your written text.
Your agency should also have a web-friendly font that your employees can use in their own written materials and emails. This may not be the font used in your logo, but it is a secondary font that is used by everyone to maintain consistency.
Brand Voice
Your brand voice is how your agency chooses to communicate with your consumers. This voice is different for every company, and should be unique to fit your target audience.
Reflect on your company’s values, mission statement, and vision. What personality would a company with those attributes have? Choose the type of tone that will resonate with your audience, but also represent the voice of your agency.
Your brand voice should include the writing style your content follows, the words you choose to us (and not to use) when writing, and the tone of the text.
To understand more about unique brand voices, check out the seven best examples of brand voice.
Logos
Once you have established your colors, typeface, and voice, your agency is finally ready to create its logo. Your logo will incorporate all of these elements.
Your logo doesn’t have to be complex, it just needs to represent your agency in the best way possible. Key factors to keep in mind when creating your logo is that it should be simple, eye-catching, memorable, and distinctive.
A single logo will not always fit or look visually appealing on every type of marketing material you create, so multiple variations of your logo should be designed to accommodate these different circumstances. These logo options should include a horizontal, vertical, black & white and a bullet (or icon).
Consistency is key in a brand, and a brand style guide will help you stay consistent. A customer should be able to recognize your agency’s marketing materials without even seeing the name.
As Dani Kimble, CMO of O’Neill Insurance, said, “When your culture is weak, your brand is weak.” So remember that consistency goes beyond just your marketing department. Every person in the agency should be familiar with the personality of your agency. Their posts about the agency, their business cards, and how they talk about the agency should all be similar.
The easiest way to do that? Give them a guide!
