Social Media has changed the way companies reach and communicate to customers through marketing. And while many may view traditional marketing (such as direct mail) as dead, there is a purpose to establishing a foundation for all types of marketing communications. One of the fundamental building blocks of a foundation for marketing communications is having an editorial and branding guidelines. Once created, integrate the standards into every marketing touch-point you have with your customers, even via social, to provide a consistent look and feel.
“A brand is a living entity – and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures.” — Michael Eisner, CEO Disney
Editorial Guidelines
Every interaction is an opportunity to say something representing your company. Your communications personifies the voice of your company and what it stands for. Personality reflects the values of your company. To strengthen your brand impression, create guidelines to ensure there is consistency.
The purpose of having Editorial Guidelines is to provide standards pertaining to the style and tone of all communications created by your company. The idea is that this will help maintain quality and make the process more efficient for your writers and editors.
Definition of tone:
“The general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.”
To help determine the tone that is right for you, answer the following:
- Who is your customer?
- What types of communications you will be creating?
- Where the content will be distributed?
For some, humor may be an important way to build a following, for others a more direct style is fitting. Knowing your customer will help determine what tone will most resonate with them, helping to engage, build trust and credibility.
In addition to defining the tone, look to include the following:
- Style and Formatting (titles, headlines, bulleted lists, fonts and font sizing)
- Punctuation
- Spelling
- Trademarks
- Legal Copy (copyright & trademarks)
Providing structure around your copy ensures consistency and also helps editing to ensure compliance to your guidelines. If you have multiple contributors to content without the benefit of an editor, this will help make sure the content continues to reflect the style of the company and also serves as a great reminder to use spell check before distributing.
How you say something, and how it is represented (proper grammar and spelling), makes an impression of your company. The guidelines ensure you are consistent and always putting your best foot forward.
Brand Guidelines
The purpose of Brand Guidelines is to provide visual and graphic standards with all aspects of your company’s brand. Consistency in presentation is important to strengthen the impression of your brand. This includes logo placement, company name, website, print and eGuides design, email formatting, types of images and video. In addition, Brand Guidelines often include a palette of colors to use that provide compatibility with the primary branding colors.
I’m sure you seen a number of presentations that simply import random photographs, add text, use a variety of colors and skip use of the company logo. Simply providing a hodgepodge of information. While the content might be very engaging and informative, will you remember where it came?
When you see a piece that has been designed using guidelines you’ll see a piece that flows well, and fits well with other communications from the same company. And with the inclusion of a logo, you will always know who is the author of the information. Providing a consistent brand experience at every customer touch point increases the impression they have of your company.
Unless you have absolute clarity of what your brand stands for, everything else is irrelevant. – Mark Baynes, global cmo, Kellogg Co.
While Editorial and Brand Guidelines may seem like the old way of marketing, they actually enable your company to provide a consistent impression upon new and existing customers. Using guidelines and planning, your marketing efforts can build off of one another helping to strengthen your brand in the minds of customers and giving you a competitive advantage.