Brand Style Guides & Brand Messaging
Clarify Your Unique Message With a Brand Style Guide
It’s easy to see the benefits of creating online content for your business and want to jump right in. Unfortunately, it’s also easy to become frustrated when that content doesn’t work as it should.
For your content to make a positive impact on your business, it must connect with your audience. And it’s impossible to build that connection without a cohesive brand message. A brand style guide (also known as a brand book or brand guide) can help.
The Brand Guide
Your Complete Brand Messaging Roadmap
A brand style guide is the only roadmap you’ll need to create, clarify and share your message with your prospective customers. It’s a living, breathing document that guides all of your content marketing efforts.
For example, a brand guide will help you:
- Build a consistent brand: The content you create, whether video or blog post, must be consistent across the web. This ensures your message is relevant to your audience no matter where they find it.
- Keep your content creation team on the same page: Do you work with freelancers or have a large marketing team? This document helps everyone follow the same guidelines when creating content.
- Identify and reach those who need you the most: The message you share must be tailored to fit your ideal audience. The guide will outline that audience in detail so you can speak their language.
What’s Included in Our Brand Style Guide Services
When you’re so close to your business, it can be challenging to see yourself through the eyes of others. That’s where we come in.
The Word Nerds at Custom Content Solutions are here to help you clarify your brand message and develop your very own custom brand style guide, which will include:
- Brand messaging
- Avatar / persona
- Editorial style, formatting & writing guides
To round out your brand guide, we’ll ask you to supply us with your visual identity (logo, brand colors, usage guidelines, etc.), if you have it, and your advertising rules and limitations, if applicable. When we’re finished, you’ll not only understand your message, but you’ll have the tool necessary to share it with the world.
Brand Style Guide Discovery & Development
1. A 2-Hour Brand Strategy Chat
First, we’ll kick things off with a 2-hour deep dive into your business, goals, audience, mission, values and so much more. During this call, we’ll get to the heart of your business by asking questions and chatting about what makes you tick.
2. Brand Message Breakdown
We’ll compile all of the notes from our call and get to work creating your brand messaging, which will include your:
- Brand story (who you are and how you got here)
- Mission, vision and values (the direction of and objectives for your business)
- Brand purpose (why your business exists)
- Unique selling propositions/value props (what makes your business different)
- Brand promise (the experience your customers can expect to receive)
- Positioning statement (how your business fits and stands out in your industry)
- Tagline(s) (the phrase(s) that conveys your business’s purpose, personality and positioning)
- Elevator pitch (the summary that entices prospects to want to learn more about you)
- Key terms and phrases (the words that come to mind when you think of your business)
- Voice, tone and point of view (how you want to convey your message)
3. Ideal Customer Avatar Development
Next, we’ll dive deeper into your target audience to create a custom ideal customer avatar (ICA) or persona. This includes customer research and competitor research to truly define who it is you serve. With this picture of your ideal customer, you’ll know exactly who you need to connect with when creating your content.
4. Complete Brand Style Guide
Finally, we’ll put everything together into a cohesive and custom document that’s equal parts accurate and appealing. You’ll have a professional and polished PDF brand guide you can share with your team, marketing partners and more.
Connect With Your Audience by Clarifying Your Brand Messaging
Your brand guide is the foundation of your content creation efforts. Without it, you run the risk of being disconnected from those who need you most: your dream customers.
Let us help you clarify your message so you can connect with and convert your ideal audience into loyal fans. Call the Word Nerds at 612-643-1824 or fill out the form here.