Website and Company Branding Guide

Website and Company Branding Guide

Whether you run your own business or are in charge of branding and marketing for another company, you need to read our website and company branding guide. By following the recommendations including in our simple, ten step guide to branding for your company website, you will see a rapid increase in your lead generation and return on investment. Your company deserves to be visible to the masses, so visible that the image of your logo, tagline, website and key messaging get stuck in people’s heads as powerfully as the classic McDonald’s golden arch has for most of the world today. 

Brand guidelines, often referred to as a branding guide or brand identity, are the rulebook and instruction manual for how you, and all of your staff, present your brand to the world. 

1. Logos: This includes logo design, size, colours, ratios and alignment rules. 

2. Colour Palette: You can determine whether you want a soft, neutral palette or a bold bright palette… or anything in between. The palette you choose will determine who is attracted to your brand. I.e. certain colours attract different genders, ages and types of people.

3. Typography: This include font size, type and style.

4. Imagery and Iconography: What kind of people and places will star in your images? Will you use images or real people and products or icons? 

5. Videography: Today, the most powerful way to communicate online is with videos. Your job is to determine the style of videos you are willing to produce and share (short and playful TikTok or full-length educational videos?)

6. Voice / Tone: Are you speaking to a younger audience? Is your voice playful? Or perhaps your tone is serious and rigid. Depending on your product, service and target audience, you can decide which voice and tone best suit your brand identity.

7. Key Words/Key Messaging: If your key message of your brand is playful, perhaps brighter colours, childish fonts and loud images are ideal. If your message is more artistic, you might opt for more abstract colours and fonts. Consider your messaging when making the remaining of your branding decisions.

8. Mood: Do you want your website and company brand to trigger a happy mood, playful mood or dark and pensive mood? Knowing your mood intentions can help determine what your colours and typography will be as well.

9. Brand Promise: This could be one simple statement that embodies everything you have decided upon above. For example, Urban Outfitters brand promise is: “We will be forever identified by our free, fun, urban appearance”. This simple statement is then translated into their logo, imagery, videos and everything else that informs their brand online and offline.

10. Marketing Strategy: Finally, with your brand identity set in stone, you can use each of these pieces to determine how you can use your website and company branding guide to market your business to your target audience. 

Creating a strong and consistent brand identity enables your brand to become memorable, familiar and trustworthy to your client. While the overall brand identity must remain consistent, it can evolve and change over time, or depending on the market in which the brand is working. For support developing your website and company branding guide, contact our team at Skyfall Blue today.