Brand Guidelines: Leading Your Team In the Right Direction


Having set guidelines as to how anyone who interacts with your brand (whether internal or external) is a great way to be more transparent about your brand as a whole, and helps to clarify exactly how you want things to look, feel and understood whenever someone is speaking on behalf of you. Here are what your goals for brand guidelines creation should look like:


Brand guidelines operate at two levels: they explain why your employees, distributors and marketing agencies should use the brand to achieve business objectives and they provide practical instructions on how to use brand elements consistently. According to control manufacturer Honeywell, every employee is an ambassador for the company’s brand. Brand guidelines explain how employees can reflect brand values, such as customer focus, innovation or leadership, in the way they deal with customers.

A key goal of brand guidelines is to ensure that all parties use the brand elements consistently. Brand guidelines provide information and tools and set the standards for using brand names, logos, typefaces and other design elements in advertisements, brochures, newsletters, packaging and online communications. Guidelines give your company control over the way other people use your brand so that its visual appearance is always consistent.

Your brand is one of your most important assets. It is essential that everyone understands the value of the brand and knows how to use it. A 2005 study by consultants Booz Allen Hamilton and Wolff Olins found that brand-guided companies outperform their competitors, with results that improve profitability.’ (Ian Linton, smallbusiness.chron.com)

Here at Xactly your Ottawa marketing, branding and advertising specialist we will work closely with your brand in order to create a set of guidelines that can accurately reflect what your company is all about, and further help potential clients/partners engage with you. Contact us to learn more about how we can help your brand.