Why all companies should have digital brand guidelines

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Why all companies should have digital brand guidelines

Brands need to be consistent

Brands need to be consistent in order to win customers, and one of the best ways of doing that is by having clear digital brand guidelines that specify how the brand should be portrayed.

Such guidelines can help companies define their brands and ensure a clean, consistent identity.

So how can you create your own brand guidelines or refine existing ones? We’ll look into that today!

In this article

    What are digital brand guidelines?

    Digital brand guidelines are a set of rules that define your brand. Their primary purpose is to educate employees internally in how to use brand assets, write in the right tone of voice, and otherwise communicate in line with the brand’s identity so that the brand keeps a consistent face. 

    Some key components in a set of digital brand guidelines are the instruction of how to use logos, slogans, fonts, color palettes, and other branding elements in internally produced branded content.

    Why is it important to have digital brand guidelines?

    There are more than 350 million companies in the world according to statistics portal Statista. Competition is fierce, and one of the best ways to stand out among the masses is by having a great brand. There are many ways of creating a great brand, but there are some things that all great brands have in common. This includes ensuring brand consistency across all platforms so that customers and other stakeholders always meet the same face of the brand.

    The benefits of having clear digital brand guidelines

    • Brand consistency: If a company has clear digital brand guidelines, all employees know how to use the brand assets in a consistent way. This increases brand recognition and makes the brand come across as more professional.
    • Efficient content creation: With a set of digital brand guidelines, marketers and other content creators don’t have to start from scratch every time they create new content. The starting point is the guidelines that prescribe a way of creating the content. 
    • Fewer errors: Once a brand has established guidelines, there’s less room for errors. This decreases the risk of reputational damage to the brand as internal rules are followed for each piece of content.

    The risks of not having digital brand guidelines

    Just as digital guidelines can help brands stay on track and produce great on-brand content, the lack of a set of guidelines can be a disadvantage in a competitive landscape. Let’s look at some of the risks of not having digital brand guidelines. 

    • Brand inconsistency: A brand without digital brand guidelines will lack a red line in its branding efforts. This will be visible for customers who may meet an inconsistent brand which can be perceived as unprofessional, leading to a lack of trust in the brand. 
    • Inefficient content creation: Without digital brand guidelines, content creators are left with just their own imagination every time they produce content. This can lead to an inefficient content creation workflow as there’s no clear starting point.
    • Reputational risk: The absence of digital brand guidelines can weaken the brand in the eyes of the customer. However, in the worst case scenario it can also lead to legal issues with copyright laws and other regulations. This can increase the risk of reputational damage to the brand.

    Digital brand guidelines example:

    An example of a company that has established clear, consistent digital brand guidelines is Asana. Asana is an American software company that has created a platform for work management with a suite of productivity tools. There’s a range of such tools in the field, but with a valuation of three billion dollars, Asana has managed to stand out among competitors. 

    One of the central ways the company has managed to do that – apart from creating a great product – is by having a clean visual identity that is enforced by a set of clear digital brand guidelines. The guidelines state how employees and other stakeholders should use the Asana assets such as logo and color palette, as well as how partner logos should be featured next to the Asana logo

    How to create your own digital brand guidelines

    As we have learned, it’s important for brands to establish digital brand guidelines that will ensure consistency and effectiveness in all branding efforts. But how can a brand create such guidelines? Here’s a brief step by guide to get you started:

    1. Define your brand’s identity

      Do a brainstorm of all the elements that define your brand. This includes the mission, vision, and the central values that define your brand. These will be the guiding principles of your digital brand guidelines.
    2. Create visual identity guidelines

      If you haven’t already, come up with a logo. Start by writing down what attributes you want your logo to symbolize and then use a free tool like Canva to sketch it out. Once you have a logo, decide on the color palette you want to use for your brand, find a font you like and decide on a tone of voice that fits your identity.
    3. Write down the digital brand guidelines

      You know the core of your brand, and you now have the fundamental assets that define your brand. Write it all down with visual representations and you have a starting point for your digital brand guidelines.

    How to enforce digital brand guidelines

    One thing is to come up with digital brand guidelines, another thing is to enforce them. Traditionally, employees would produce a piece of content and continuously consult a PDF file with the digital brand guidelines during the production process. 

    However, there are challenges to this. The guidelines may have been updated since the last time the employee downloaded the PDF which could lead to producing content in line with outdated guidelines. It can also break employees’ workflows as they have to switch tabs during the production process. There are easier ways to enforce digital brand guidelines nowadays.

    How brand guidelines and digital asset management work together

    In recent years, tools for managing digital assets have gained popularity. Brand asset management (BAM) tools work by providing a central hub for managing all brand assets. Once digital guidelines and brand assets are uploaded to the platform, brands will have a single source of truth which ensures that employees always use the most up to date brand assets. 

    While this provides easy access to the most up to date digital brand guidelines and assets, effectively eliminating the risk of using outdated elements, employees still have to go to the platform to retrieve digital assets they want to use. Some BAM tools have found a clever way of overcoming this challenge.

    Automating compliance with digital brand guidelines

    By implementing brand management tools like Templafy, companies can not just ensure their digital brand guidelines are always up to date, but also that they are automatically enforced. 

    The platform works by continually monitoring employees’ production process and checking the content against brand guidelines. This ensures compliance with both internal and external guidelines without having to go to a separate system. 

    As the Templafy platform integrates with widely used office applications, such as Office 365 and Google Workspace, company-approved brand elements are made available right within the applications employees already work in, creating a streamlined workflow and removing the need for manually checking digital brand guidelines.

    How Templafy helps Coloplast enforce their digital brand guidelines

    Coloplast is one of the world’s leading suppliers of healthcare products and services. The company wanted to ensure that updated branded content is always available to employees across departments, and implemented Templafy to enable their marketing and communications departments to control brand assets centrally. 

    Coloplast’s employees can now access pre-approved document templates and other brand assets directly within the Office 365 application, enabling them to focus on core work, knowing that content is always on-brand and compliant. 

    “Our local brand management departments can now edit corporate content directly and apply respective changes immediately – a facet our IT admins are particularly intrigued by as it takes everyday management off their shoulders and thus adds more hours to their day”, Head of Corporate Branding at Coloplast Wakana Pivoteau Sakihama says.

    digital brand guidelines

    Key benefits of integrating Templafy

    The Templafy platform is used by more than 800 enterprises across the globe. This is due to some of the central benefits brands are experiencing when using the platform:

    • Centralized access:
      One of the tools offered by the Templafy platform is the digital asset management system that enables all employees to access the brand’s assets wherever they are.
    • Consistent branding:
      By having a central hub for brand management, employees can access the most up-to-date versions of branding assets which ensures the brand has a consistent face in all touchpoints with customers and other stakeholders.  
    • Automate compliance:
      Templafy’s brand compliance platform helps employees streamline their workflow and focus on core work by automating the otherwise tiresome process of manually ensuring content produced is compliant with digital brand guidelines.

    Enforce your digital brand guidelines with Templafy

    Templafy is a market leader in helping companies effectively manage brand assets and enforce digital brand guidelines.

    Schedule a product tour with Templafy today and achieve a consistent and compliant brand!