Brand Standards

More than simply an attractive façade applied ad hoc to the surface of materials, campaigns and brochures, a true brand and its components convey the essence, character, purpose and value of an organization. Creating and establishing a strong brand identity is a process—one that is planned, strategically focused and integrated throughout an organization. If visual and messaging standards are developed in tandem, properly managed and communicated effectively, your brand can achieve its goals and objectives through strategic communications programs.

 

Brand Identity Guidelines Planning 

  1. Comprehensive Audit 
    • Interview key Stakeholders, both internal and potentially external.
    • Review current communications plans, the website and all collateral.
    • Research and analyze competitors.
    • Survey customers through a brand perception/reputation survey.
  2. Visioning
    • Identify your goals and business objectives.
    • Set priorities, and differentiate between long- and short-term goals and focus areas.
    • Establish audience profiles.
  3. Documentation
    • Develop a comprehensive strategic communications plan. 
    • Discuss ideation with internal and potential external stakeholders.
    • Finalize strategic messaging document and transition communications plan.

  4. Continuation /Stewardship
    • Adapt communications for sustained growth.
    • Plan for future deliverables.

Brand Identity Standards Comprehensive Audit

In order to develop an authentic brand strategy, Covalent Logic will lead in the gathering, discussion, drafting and finalizing of core materials. The process is well developed and defined with a final deliverable in the form of a branded document to share with key stakeholders to create consistent messaging strategy and tactics. 

To assess the status of messaging, voice and personality, Covalent Logic will conduct an internal brand audit of materials, offer an online anonymous survey to all employees and conduct interviews with key stakeholders to form a baseline of current thoughts and opinions. These could include the founder, partners and current and former clients. 

Deliverables:

  • Five to Seven Stakeholder Interviews
  • Survey Analysis

Visioning

Sharing the results of the information gathering phase in a small, trusted group is an important step in defining the brand. A meeting will be held to present the key findings and illicit additional insight, reactions and feedback. This activity will develop the brand as an expression of the group’s ideas. Stafford Wood, Accredited Public Relations professional, will lead a branding and marketing retreat for a core leadership group of approximately 10-12 leaders. Ideally, the meeting will be a full-day presentation and discussion. 

Deliverables:

  • Meeting Planning and Materials
  • Facilitation

Documentation

Utilizing existing research and information, along with insights gleaned from meetings, Covalent Logic will create a set of messaging deliverables that meets, as much as possible, the set criteria. Strategic messaging deliverables include:

At the heart of an organization’s culture, core values are the shared metrics of successful effort in an organization. While an organization has specific measurable motivations, core values determine who is a “good fit” and what makes someone “one of us.”
Simply put, an organization’s mission is its purpose and the unique difference it hopes to create in the world. It’s the definition of why they exist. The vision is leadership’s communicable process for how to create that impact.
More than a headline for an advertisement, the tagline is a succinct distillation—in one to eight words—that communicates the organization’s brand position to a variety of audiences.
A brand positioning statement represents the essence of an organization and, as such, should guide all internal and external communications. If successful, it accomplishes these objectives. It is desirable (by customers). It is distinctive (from the competition). It is deliverable (by the organization). It is durable (over time).
Defining three to five specific audiences based on demographic, characteristics, motivations and aversions helps to characterize your messaging and focus on the audience for any given piece. Typically, we describe internal audiences (employees, partners, investors), as well as external audiences (clients, prospects and strategic partners). Giving each a profile label and description helps define who is being written to in all future messaging.
A brand promise is what everyone who encounters the organization can expect to receive from the relationship. This messaging is developed to aid in the explanation of who the organization is and what benefits come from interactions. If developed properly, managed and communicated effectively, your brand promise serves the process of achieving its goals and objectives by guiding all strategic communications going forward. The brand pillars show what the organization does to support, protect and activate that promise. Everything we say, everything we do and everything we offer is a direct expression of the foundational actions that hold up the promise.
The style of writing and speaking is a custom, strategic tool that expresses the brand and communicates in a consistent, compelling way. A defined brand voice helps you to be heard, recognized and easily remembered. It animates the brand through words, bringing an organization’s culture and personality to life and building an emotional connection with all audiences. The voice can be used to speak directly to a specific audience, highlight a distinct benefit or find an organization’s unique angle.
A messaging platform is a foundation for consistently communicating the brand promise in a way that connects authentically with the audience profiles. The messaging examples in this platform can be used verbatim or as a starting point for future messages. By repeatedly emphasizing the same themes with fresh language, audiences come to understand what the brand stands for. Traditionally, financial institutions tend to focus on explaining complicated processes (in technical terms), rather than attractive benefits (in simpler terms).

Graphic Design Style Guide

A graphic design style guide will include PMS colors, hexadecimal colors for the web, typography, tagline treatments, margins, spacing and kerning guides. It sets the rules for using the brand’s logo in different settings, so all brand design expressions are consistent, using the same elements in the same ways. 

 

Trademark Registration

Federal trademark registration can provide nationwide legal protection for your brand in connection with particular goods or services. It is your choice whether to protect your brand under trademark law. Many business owners choose to protect their brand names for their main or dominant goods or services. You might also choose to protect a slogan or logo for those goods or services, if you have one. 

“Branding is about seizing every opportunity to express why people should choose one brand over another.” - Wheeler. Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team

FAQs

Brand standards matter because they ensure your company presents a consistent, professional image across all platforms and touchpoints. They help build recognition, trust and credibility by keeping your visuals and messaging aligned. Clear guidelines also make it easier for internal teams and external partners to use your brand correctly. Ultimately, strong brand standards protect the integrity and value of your brand over time. How do I create a brand standard guide? We use a multi-step process to develop your brand standards. First, we conduct an audit where we interview key stakeholders, review existing communication plans, website and collateral, research and analyze competitors and conduct brand reputation and perception surveys. Next, we identify goals and business objectives, set priorities, differentiate long-term and short-term goals and establish audience profiles. Finally, we develop a comprehensive strategic communications plan, discuss ideation with key stakeholders and finalize your strategic messaging guide and transition communications plan.
Your brand is often people’s first impression of your organization, so first impressions need to be as consistent as possible. To ensure consistency, everyone in your organization needs to have the same information, rules and files readily available, so no one has to use their own judgement about what logo, voice or photography style to use or how to create and design materials. Putting your brand standards in writing is the easiest way to communicate the guidelines to all relevant stakeholders. Having a consistent, strong brand not only protects your image and reputation, but it also helps with brand awareness.
Brand standards don’t need to be a “set it and forget it” guide. As your organization grows and evolves, your brand standards should evolve with it. It may be beneficial to set a frequency for updating your brand standards, like once every 12 months. Additionally, designating one person as the individual to actually update the brand standards and disseminate it to all relevant parties ensures everyone has the most up-to-date information.
If a partnering entity misuses your company’s branding, it can dilute your brand identity, confuse audiences and potentially damage your reputation. It may also violate the terms of your brand guidelines or partnership agreement, giving you grounds to request correction. The best approach is to address it quickly and professionally. Send a clear, documented request with your brand standards and the specific changes needed. Consistent branding protects your credibility, so it’s important to enforce it.

Contact Covalent Logic to discuss defining and documenting standards for your brand.