10 Best Brand Guidelines Templates (+Tips) | Visme
Your business growth depends largely on a successful branding strategy. Studies show that consistent branding can increase a business's revenue by up to 33%, proving that a strong brand can directly impact your bottom line.
But before you can create a solid branding strategy, you need to know what branding is, why it’s important and how to leverage it to take your business to the next level.
In this complete guide to branding, we’ll take you through all the essential tools and techniques you need to know about building a strong brand. At the end of this guide, you’ll be ready to create a new brand from scratch or rebrand an existing one.
Let's explore the essentials of branding, including branding terminology, branding design, and how it powers online branding, company branding, and other vital aspects of building a successful brand.
Let’s get started.
If we look at the traditional definition, a brand is an idea, name, symbol or any other feature that identifies a product or service and differentiates it from the competition. Branding is the process of giving a product or service the power of a brand.
But branding is not just a logo or a color palette; it’s much more than that. Assuming your branding only goes as far as a few visual assets will just limit your business growth and impact.
There are many definitions of branding out there, but our favorite one comes from our friends at The Futur; “Branding is a gut feeling about a product, service or company.”
Branding is all about how a business makes you feel. It’s about how you perceive it, remember it and ultimately buy from it and become a loyal customer. Turn that around and apply it to your business or product; that’s branding.
Now that we've understood branding, it's essential to differentiate between ordinary and good branding. Not all branding strategies are successful. Some may not connect with the audience or give a negative impression of a business. So, what makes successful branding different from unsuccessful ones?
Consistency is critical, whether it's the colors and fonts used across all communication platforms or the tone and style of your messaging. Consistent branding builds familiarity and trust with customers, making it easier for them to identify and remember your brand.
Exceptional branding goes beyond visual appeal to resonate emotionally with customers. It conveys your brand's story, values and personality, which speaks to your audience's sensibilities and need for genuine connection.
In a crowded market, standing out is crucial to securing customer attention and loyalty. Good branding differentiates your business in terms of unique selling propositions, exceptional service or innovative solutions that keep you ahead of competitors.
Great branding always focuses on the customer. It highlights what you offer and how your offerings can solve your customers' problems or enhance their lives. When your brand genuinely understands your customers' needs and desires, it becomes more appealing and relatable.
Another characteristic of good branding is adapting and evolving without losing its core identity. Market trends, customer preferences and technology constantly change, and your branding should reflect this dynamism.
Good branding is displayed by clear, concise and convincing messaging. Every word should embody your brand's personality, reinforce your brand promise and encourage a specific customer response.
Your branding is the foundation of everything related to your business and/or product — from your brand story to how you communicate with clients to the internal reporting decks your sales team shares every week.
Branding is the essence of your business, the life and soul of everything your business represents. You have to take branding seriously from day one and keep it at the top of your mind through every success and failure that your business goes through.
Let’s look at the benefits of branding and how it makes a difference in your business.
When someone sees any visual asset from your brand — a social media post, product packaging, an email or a video ad — they will instantly feel something. Ideally, that “something” should be positive and memorable.
As consumers encounter your brand at different touchpoints, they will start putting together an identity in their minds — that may or may not stick. The trick is to build that identity beforehand, knowing full well that the consumer will receive bits and pieces over time.
Their perceptions, ideas and feelings about your brand start at awareness, and progress to preference and eventually loyalty; all as long as their perceived identity of your brand is positive and memorable.
Visme brand identity templates are the best way to streamline crafting a cohesive brand identity. They provide a framework for developing all the crucial visual and messaging elements that define your brand.
Branding is essential, both on the outside and the inside of your business. Just how a brand identity becomes memorable and inviting for your consumer, it also creates a solid and dependable company culture.
When your brand is strong and has a good foundation, your employees and team members will feel a higher sense of connection and motivation. Clearly defined brand goals and projections, alongside core values and personality, will help create a company culture that everyone on the team can be proud of.
Finally, a strong brand is the basis of your marketing strategy, both visually and with storytelling. It guides the ideation, production, promotion and distribution of all your marketing content and materials.
When your marketing is supported by strong and consistent branding, it resonates more with your target audience and delivers better results in the form of engagement, sales, sign-ups, customers and loyalty.
Since branding is a complex organism, there are a number of related terms that mean different things. Knowing these basic terms will help along your branding journey. They include:
Let’s take a look at each one in detail.
A brand strategy covers everything your brand needs to exist, including how it’s shared and talked about and what brand guidelines the team should follow as it grows.
Your brand strategy helps build the initial perception with potential customers, maintains regularity with repeat customers and builds loyalty with long-term customers over time. The brand strategy is usually laid out at the beginning of a brand’s journey, prior to planned growth or right before a rebrand.
Here’s a brand strategy document template you can use for your own business. It will help you brainstorm and finalize important aspects of your brand.
Projected growth is an essential part of a branding strategy in order to reach ever-evolving goals and objectives. As a business grows, the brand will grow along with it. Brand strategies that are prepared for change and the eventual pivot are the ones that will come out on top every time.
Brand awareness is the first stage in the customer journey. It’s all about how consumers see the brand and how aware they are of it and its offerings.
As a business owner, your role is to create a brand strategy that your ideal client notices and impacts their daily lives. This way, they start being aware of your brand while also building a perception of it in their minds.
Of course, what you want is to create a positive perception. So when someone asks, for example, “Do you know of a good company that does patio roofing?” They’ll remember you and the content they’ve seen from you. If you made a good impression, then they’ll mention you.
Awareness and perception are also critical when interacting with clients and selling your products and services. Every step of the customer journey should be a positive one, and if there are any customer roadblocks, your brand should overcome them with grace.
Brand positioning is all about where your brand stacks up to the competition. It’s about understanding your differentiators, or the specific details about your brand that make it different. Technically, it’s about ‘positioning’ your brand at a certain point in the minds of your customers.
Here’s an example of a brand positioning map, where three brands are placed at distinct points based on quality and price perceptions.
These differentiators can be elements that pertain to your particular products and services, or they can be about your brand values and story. They can also be the price point. The best differentiators are the ones that appeal to both physical and emotional needs.
Effective positioning works in your brand’s favor, making it trustworthy and recommendable. Let’s look at an example of a local accounting agency in a small town. Let’s say there are up to 5 other accounting agencies, larger agencies from the city and plenty of agencies online.
A local family runs the agency in question in the small town, and the person in charge is not only very good at their job, but they’re also friendly and honest about what clients need.
The brand differentiators of this small-town accounting agency are:
Most importantly, they are trustworthy. Eventually, the surrounding towns hear about them, and their clientele grows. They might grow to be a national business but never change their differentiators of being personable, helpful and almost friends. These things position the brand in high standing, and they are more successful.
Check out this infographic on the benefits of brand positioning to learn more about how it can help you grow into a successful business.
As time passes, your brand positioning may transform and evolve, but hopefully in a positive direction. Some brands achieve good positioning globally, while others only need to have successful positioning in their local community. It all depends on what the brand offers to its customers and how big it wants to grow.
Brand relevance is closely connected to differentiators and positioning, but it goes one step beyond the ordinary and into the realm of emotions. When a brand is relevant, its ideal market feels an emotional connection to it, almost like a “gut feeling.”
To achieve a good brand relevance, customers should feel connected to and understood, heard and seen by your brand. How can you do this as a brand? You must get to know your customers to a deeper level.
Talk to your customers, have one on one conversations, run focus groups, conduct user testing with diverse groups of people, and fully understand what they need and how your brand can help them in a way that feels natural, positive and rewarding.
When it comes to execution, the most important aspects of a brand that help build relevance are the visual and textual messaging used to connect with customers. Your research should guide the production and distribution of these materials.
Customers start preferring a brand when they notice that it works for them. They’ll use the brand once and, if they have a positive experience, they’ll likely choose it again when they need that product or service.
Studies show that 77% of consumers return to the same brands again and again. When a brand consistently satisfies its customers, they will turn loyal and won’t use another brand unless there’s a force majeure in play.
Brand loyalty is essential for a brand to grow exponentially. It’s what inspires customers to tell others about the brand, and even become spokespersons or ambassadors for the brand.
Brand equity is the perceived worth of your brand in the eyes of your customers.
Brand awareness, perception, positioning, relevance and loyalty all work in unison to build a brand’s equity. This legacy level isn’t something you can achieve right away; it takes time and dedication to build successful brand equity.
In the article we published on brand equity, we used an example of how when you need a plaster — or adhesive bandage — for a cut or scrape, most of us say, “I'll get a bandaid for that.” A band aid is not a thing; it’s the name of a brand: Band-Aid. The fact that we use it as a noun is proof of the brand’s high level of equity.
Creating a brand involves following a systematic process — from research to the creation of assets to implementation. Jumping ahead will only mean having to go back later to finish what you didn’t in the first place.
Below are 8 steps you can follow to build a brand of your own. We’ve also included tips and templates along the way to help you get there fast.
The first step to creating a brand is doing the research. If you’ve already been functioning without a proper branding strategy, you'll need to conduct a brand audit as well. These steps are important for creating the first pillar of your foundation.
So, gather as much data as you can on your business, industry and target audience. This information will help you create a brand that’s relevant and profitable in the long run.
Here are some questions you can answer about your brand to start gathering data.
If you’re looking for additional help, the template below will help you run an audit for your brand and collect information in an organized manner.
A SWOT analysis is a great way to get to know your brand or business at a deeper level. It’s an essential part of a brand audit because it brings out aspects of your brand that help build it stronger and give it direction.
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Use the worksheet template below to help you along the way.
Use the strengths to make your brand stronger, the weaknesses to see how you can improve, the opportunities to know in which direction to grow and the threats to know what’s up against you, and plan accordingly.
A big part of conducting research in the first step is gathering data on your target audience and understanding their demographics, needs, personality and motivations on a deeper level. This can be your buyer, customer or user persona.
In this step, you’ll visualize all of this information in the form of an easy-to-read graphic or document called a customer persona.
Customer personas are also known as user personas, buyer personas or audience personas. They are essentially fictional characters or archetypes that represent your target audience.
Here’s a customer persona template you can use for your own brand.
Brands can use customer personas to help guide their marketing efforts and messaging strategies. Personas help provide direction and strategy — it’s easier to be relevant and build good positioning when you know to whom you are directing your messaging.
A brand will generally have 2 or 3 different user personas, or as many as 10 for more complex businesses. If your customer personas are created in the form of infographics or documents, you can easily share them with your team so everyone is on the same page.
A mission statement is a small paragraph that describes a brand’s mission, a purpose statement is one that describes its purpose and likewise, the vision statement describes the brand vision.
Some brands use one or the other, and some use all of them. But what’s the difference?
Here’s an example of an automotive brand’s mission, vision and values. You can also use this template to communicate your own mission and vision statements.
A brand strategy should include these statements, with a clear explanation of each. Smaller, newer brands might not know their vision statement yet. That’s why brand strategy documents are amended over time.
All three of these work in unison with the user personas to create a clear messaging that your target market will feel connected with.
Sometimes, finding the perfect words to express your mission, purpose and vision can be challenging. That's where Visme's AI Writer comes to the rescue. This advanced tool helps you craft compelling statements, refine your brand messaging or even rewrite content to suit your desired tone. Describe your intended message briefly, and the AI Writer will generate it for you.
Storytelling is an essential factor in branding marketing. It helps convey your brand’s message in a way that it resonates with your target audience.
There are three aspects of brand storytelling you need to define before creating any identity or communication material, such as a logo, website or even an Instagram post.
Let’s look at them in detail.
Brand personalities are unique to your brand, but they will almost always fit into one of the Jungian personality archetypes.
RELATED: 12 Brand Archetypes by Carl Jung (& How to Use Them)
According to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, all people exhibit a single dominant trait that shapes their behavorial patterns, wants, values and motivations — which can often be predictable.
Here’s an infographic that sums up these brand archetypes.
These personalities, or archetypes, can also apply to brands. When you understand the different types of branding and identify the dominant archetype your brand falls under, you’re able to better craft the right messaging, and connect with your audience on a deeper, more personal level.
The brand story works side by side with the brand personality. When you have a story to tell, it’s easier for your brand to become relatable and approachable. Brand stories explain why the brand was born in the first place, what its inspiration was, its drive for growth and most importantly, the people involved.
Your brand story isn’t your elevator pitch; it’s more like a superhero’s “origin story.” It’s the information that goes on your About page, the brand history and the evolution timeline.
Use storytelling techniques to create a short two or three-paragraph statement that tells the exciting story of your brand, how it came to be and why it exists.
As you write your brand story, you’ll start to notice an underlying trend about your brand values. In many cases, brand values reflect the personal values of the founder and then expand from there.
These are the values that will run through the veins of your organization, and will eventually grow into your company culture and a brand people can trust.
5W Public Relations’ 2020 Consumer Culture Report
Brand values are also called core values, as they are the core of everything your brand stands for and represents.
For example, the core values for Adidas are:
Before we move on to visualizing this newfound identity of your brand, there’s one more step that will help you understand the purpose of its existence: identifying what makes it different.
Much like mission, purpose and vision statements, the value proposition is a one or two-sentence statement that describes precisely how the brand solves a problem for its customer.
For example, the value proposition for Slack is “All your tools in one place.”
Your brand’s value proposition can be used as an essential part of your messaging on website pages, social media bios and video intros.
At this point, you might or might not have a name for your brand.
Before you choose the name for your brand, consider the voice you’ll be using to communicate with, both internally and externally. Defining your brand’s voice will help you figure out a good name that makes sense.
For example, ask yourself the following questions:
Another thing to consider when choosing a brand name is what you have planned for your brand’s future. Do you plan to grow into other fields? Or do you plan to offer different products later on? Remember; the more specific your name, the harder it will be to branch out over time.
With a name decided and a voice to match, it’s time to create the visual identity that will represent your brand in front of customers.
This step primarily involves establishing your brand logo, color palette and imagery. These three things will directly impact the creation of your visual assets and marketing materials later on.
Your logo is the most important visual element you’ll create for your brand. It’s the first thing most people would come across when they encounter your brand, so make sure your logo captures the essence of what your brand is and stands for.
Logos should have variations for different uses. These will depend on how you’re going to use it and where it’s going to be placed. For example, the logo must fit inside a circle on social media, but it’ll look better as a rectangle on your website.
You can have multiple variations for your brand logo, depending on how you’re going to use it and where it’s going to be placed. Here’s an example of a set of logos for a retail brand.
To create a logo, you have to consider your mission, purpose, vision statements, value proposition, user personas, core values, personality, story and voice. If you don’t, you could find yourself making costly and time-consuming changes sooner than later.
There are several ways to create a logo. Some brands prefer hiring professional branding agencies or graphic designers. However, this can be expensive, especially for new and small businesses already on a tight budget.
In that case, you can also create a logo yourself. You don’t need to be a designer to create one — there are plenty of online logo makers and logo templates available to help you out.
If you’re DIY-ing your brand logo, search the main words of your values and statements for shapes or colors that might represent the idea or feeling. Learn more about the right symbols to use for your brand in our in-depth guide to symbols and their meanings.
The next step is to choose the color palette to use within your brand’s visual assets. Do the same type of research you did for the logo to figure out the colors.
Choose the colors wisely; consider color psychology, culture and color perception. All these play a part in creating your brand positioning and relevance. The colors you choose must support your brand story, personality and values.
Create mood boards, test colors out with the name and logo. Look at all of them as a whole entity and start making decisions. Our article about choosing brand colors will be of great help.
Also, check our article about 50 logo color schemes to learn more about the use of colors in logos and how to choose the perfect one for your brand.
Just like with all the other aspects of your brand, your imagery will evolve continuously over time as trends, technology, desires and habits change.
However, it’s important to set a standard at this point so you can stay consistent and strengthen your brand image. For example, do you want to adopt an illustrative style or do you prefer using photography?
Then, go deeper. If you want to use illustrations, specify what type of illustration speaks more to your audience and aligns with your brand identity — 3D, flat or isometric? If you’re going with photography, are you okay with using stock photos or do you strictly want to use original photos?
Specifying your brand’s imagery is also helpful for your team. It will act as a guiding hand for when they’re looking for new images or when they need direction or inspiration for UX/UI design.
Pro Tip: Create a library of visual assets that you continuously add to. Visme offers you an easy-to-manage media library with folders and tags to keep images, illustrations, icons and other visuals for repeated use in the future.
Next up is deciding on the typography for your brand. This step is crucial because the choice you make will be on every piece of written or visual content with text that you share internally and externally.
Many brands don’t consider that the brand font needs to be consistent across all of their customer touchpoints — from their website to social media to print assets and more. Typography is part of a brand’s visual identity, and when you change fonts for every instance, your brand gets diluted.
To choose the typography for your brand, you can use the same research that you conducted for your logo and colors. Fonts have perceived personalities, and you can harness them for your brand. Check out this list of 100 best free fonts for brands.
When choosing brand typography, you have three main options:
Whichever option you choose, make sure it aligns with your long-term brand goals and brand voice, is scalable and fits within your budget.
With Steps 1 through 6 completed, you can now start creating various visual assets and marketing materials to represent your brand on both digital and print mediums.
The list you saw above is only the tip of the iceberg of all the branded materials you can create with Visme. Start with your logo and business card, and move on to social media graphics, letterheads, proposals and even a pitch deck.
Marketing is the vehicle for your brand to grow, and branding is the fuel. Here’s a list of the most common marketing materials for a business.
You can generate all of these assets with a few clicks using our Brand Wizard. Simply input your website URL, and let the AI create a set of 30+ branded templates for all kinds of use cases.
If you are working on a time-constrained design project and need a quick but reliable solution, Visme's AI document generator is all you need.
Simply input a prompt describing the document you want, and the AI will generate a customized design with relevant text, visuals and formatting. You can further refine and customize the document to achieve the perfect look and feel for your brand.
Finally, it’s time to ensure that every visual asset or marketing material created is always on brand and in tune with your brand voice and values.
Make sure that everywhere your brand interacts, the visuals involved have your brand front and center — from name tags to banners, social media bios, blog posts, employee handbooks, customer service systems and more.
Your brand voice is important for all communication, both internal and external. So, just how the copy on your social media posts must be in tune with your core values, brand personality and voice, so should the way your customer-facing employees deal with client interactions, complaints, demos and emails.
Also, just like you show your company's brand everywhere, it's also good to show your personal branding along with it. Combining personal branding with your business branding shows the real person behind and makes people more interested in your business.
Let's take a look at some stellar examples of branding that have set an example for every business to follow. These brands stand out not just for their logos or color schemes but for how they communicate with their target audience and represent their values in every aspect of their business.
Apple's branding strategy revolves around sleek design and innovation. The company's minimalistic logo, the product's aesthetic and the concept of user-friendly technology speak volumes about what the brand stands for—simplicity and functionality. Maintaining this across all its products and communications has cultivated a loyal customer base that values design and innovation.
Nike's "Just Do It" slogan and swoosh logo resonate with motivation, action, and achievement. This branding aligns perfectly with Nike's target audience—active and aspiring athletes. Nike's commitment to inspiration, represented through stories of perseverance and triumph in sports, highlights why its branding continues to succeed.
Coca-Cola's consistent branding over time is a testament to the power of maintaining core messages and aesthetics. The company's use of the color red, dynamic ribbon and script font has been remarkably stable. It has consistently evoked happiness, togetherness and nostalgia among its customers. Furthermore, its seasonal marketing campaigns have remained true to these sentiments, helping to cement its position as a household name.
From a company that started as a way to earn a few bucks renting out an air mattress, Airbnb's branding is now centered upon the concept of 'Belong Anywhere.' The design of their logo, the Bélo, encapsulates feelings of belonging, trust and connection among people around the world. This branding direction aligns with the company's mission to create a world where people feel they belong in any environment they travel to.
Spotify's branding taps into the vibrancy and dynamics of music itself. Their "duotone" theme showcases bold colors and gradient overlays, representing the diversity and energy seen in the music industry. Their personalized playlists and recommendations reflect a brand that knows its users, contributing to its strength as a leading music streaming service.
By following the steps above, anyone can build a brand. But not every brand manages to outrun the competition and become memorable and great. We’re here to help you walk the extra mile.
To help you grow your business and take your brand to the next level, here are some key tips and best practices to keep in mind as a brand manager. These tips will help your team stay on brand and work together towards the same goal and vision.
A brand style guide, also known as brand guidelines, is an internal document that outlines and showcases all your brand’s visual elements. For example, it can include your logo, fonts, color palette and moodboard, along with usage instructions, dos and don’ts and best practices.
Here’s a brand style guide template you can use for your own business.
Creating a brand style guide can help your entire team — of any size — work on visual assets together while staying on-brand easily.
You can create your brand style guide in a format you prefer, or whichever is easier to share with your team. Most brands prefer creating a PDF document, and using both digital and printed versions of it.
Pro Tip: If you’re using Visme, you can create an interactive brand style guide and publish it as an online document that can be shared with a link. Embed videos, add links and more, and even add animated GIFs to bring your document to life.Another option is to create a brand kit. For example, if you’re using Visme to create all your brand and marketing materials, you can store your logo, fonts, color palettes and templates to use later.
This way, even if multiple members of your team are creating visuals, they can all stay on-brand and use a consistent design — whether they’re creating social media graphics, documents, presentations or invoices.
Another great way to help your team stay on-brand is to create a set of branded templates for various uses. This way, every time you need to create something for external or internal communication, you can simply edit a pre-made template and you're good to go.
Visme’s Brand Design Tool is an excellent tool to help you create branded templates. It’s AI-powered, and will automatically pull your logo, fonts and colors from your website, and generate a set of branded templates for you — from letterheads, business cards, social posts to infographics, charts and more.
You can also create graphics manually in Visme if you’d like. When you’re happy with the way your design looks, you can save it as a template for later use.
Pro Tip: Invite your team members to participate in your branding process to gain a variety of perspectives that can help you create a strong brand. Visme's workflow management features can streamline and enhance the collaboration process for design projects. This feature allows you to easily assign roles and tasks, manage deadlines, track progress and more.
Consistently measuring and analyzing performance is key to improving any business process — the same applies to branding. You need to measure brand equity to know if your brand is growing in the direction it should. Is it living up to its name? Is it relevant? How is the perception of your brand with your customer base?
There are three main factors to consider when measuring brand equity:
The combination of the three will give you a good idea of your brand equity.
Last but not least, what if you already have a brand and you want to achieve growth. Is it time to rebrand or should you continue with the same branding?
All brands, at some point, will go through a rebranding. In some cases, it’s minimal, and no one even notices; other times, it’s a big deal, and it’s a media event.
But what is it that brings a brand to the point of needing to rebrand? In our guide to rebranding, we explain in detail all of these possible scenarios:
Rebranding is much like starting over and can take some time to get right. When you announce your rebranding, your customer base might like it, or they might not. You’ll have to decide to stand your ground or listen to what they have to say.
Wow, you made it all the way down here! Good stuff. How did you like our complete guide to branding? Do you feel like you have a better grip of what branding is all about now?
Branding is one of our favorite topics here at Visme. We love seeing how companies build their Brand Kits and use the assets to create all their visual graphics. That’s why we created the Visme Brand Wizard to make it even easier to stay on-brand.
If you don’t have a Visme account, you can create one easily with your email or Facebook credentials and start working on your branding right away.
Or, learn more about how Visme can help branding and marketing teams.
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