Does your business work with a lot of independent contractors and external vendors? How do you communicate with those people about your brand? Many businesses view a brand style guide as an internal document. Instead of limiting the document’s utility to your employees, share the style guide with vendors and contractors, too. That way, these professionals can easily capture the essence of your brand while they’re working for you, which cuts down on the amount of back-and-forth you have to go through with your external business contacts.
When you hire a designer, for example, sharing a style guide is essential to getting the product you want. Your style guide needs to cover color schemes, fonts, page spacing, and other details that define your brand. Provide examples, include logo variations, and ensure you’ve got a section about spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You might think these language rules are set in stone, but compare AP and Chicago style to see how different they truly can be. If a designer will be including any text, he or she needs these details.
Even if a vendor won’t be creating advertising or marketing content for your brand, communicating your brand’s identity never hurts. What if you don’t have a style guide? Well, you might need to work on your brand identity. A style guide isn’t just there to ensure all your documents look the same. It also helps you nail down the tone and texture of your brand. Scroll below to check out a Copypress infographic giving you more details about style guides.
