Ineffective or inconsistent marketing plagues the business world today. You may be one of those organizations who is stuck on fixing minor tweaks rather than addressing root causes. If so, maybe it is time to get back to basics and create a brand guide that puts you on the profit express.
Before you begin, you will want to fully understand everything about your business, including these five key components:
- Mission
- Vision
- Target audience
- Brand personality
- Core organizational values
How to Create a Brand Guide
Many marketing campaigns fail because of a lack of pre-planning. If you develop a brand guide at the outset, it will help establish a more-defined brand identity for your company.
1) Set Clear Goals
Effective marketing campaigns follow a clear path to success. Before creating social media marketing graphics, you must know the direction of your campaign and the results you hope to achieve.
Use these five SMART goals as you develop your brand guide:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Timely
For example, your goal could be to create three campaigns, which include blogging, calls-to-action, landing pages, forms and measurement, that aim to increase website visitors by 10 percent, leads by 10 percent and customers by three percent in six-months.
2) Develop Buyer Personas
Once you have a sense of your target audience, you are ready for the next step: buyer personas.
According to HubSpot, “Buyer personas — sometimes referred to as marketing personas — are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. They help you visualize your audience, streamline your communications, and inform your strategy.”
Your personas are the backbone of your marketing campaigns. It’s always easier to shape and strengthen your brand guide if you know exactly who you are trying to reach.
3) Decide on Deliverables
Today, there are more and more options for deliverables in traditional and digital marketing. You can choose between tactics like search engine marketing, Facebook ads or even business cards.
4) Develop Messaging
After you have chosen which type of deliverables to use, you are ready to create a messaging strategy that separates your business from the competition. This strategy is a recipe you can follow as you create everything from email marketing to Instagram captions.
As always, create marketing materials that resonate with your target audience, but don’t be afraid to take risks in your brand messaging!
5) Integrate your Entire Campaign
Once you have nailed down your messaging strategy, it’s time to implement it across all channels. Whether you focus on native advertising or remarketing, strive to deliver a consistent message that your target audience can easily recognize.
Establishing and following these brand guidelines will allow your company to more easily reach its marketing goals.
