Social Media has completely changed the way companies reach customers through marketing. Many may view traditional marketing as dead. Others never experienced the ‘old way’ of marketing and to them, it may seem archaic. However, there is a foundation to all marketing. Your foundation may be lacking a few of the fundamental building blocks from which traditional marketing was built upon, and those elements should be integrated into every marketing touch-point you have with your customers today, even via social.
“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
The purpose of creating Editorial Guidelines is for writers and editors to maintain consistency in style of communications.
Every interaction is an opportunity to say something representing your company. Your communications represents the voice of your company and what it stands for. Personality projects the values of your company. To build an integrated brand requires consistency in communications.
- What is the tone of your company?
- How does it sound when you write about it?
For some, humor may be an important way to build a following, for others it will turn them away. It is important to determine the style of communications that will represent your company and will also resonate with your customers, to build trust and credibility.
Aside of defining the tone, your Editorial Guidelines should provide specific details regarding:
- Style and Formatting (titles, headlines, bulleted lists, fonts and font sizing)
- Punctuation
- Spelling
- Trademarks
- Legal Copy (copyright & trademarks)
Providing structure around the copy ensures consistency and also will require editing to ensure compliance to your guidelines. Too many companies disregard this step. It is disheartening to see the effort to promote new guides or participate in a webinar only to have misspellings or awkward phrasing within the content.
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 will include the logo, company name, website, emails, print and eGuides, images and video. In addition, Brand Guidelines will 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. Who wants to buy from a company that doesn’t appear to have their act together?
When you see a piece that has been designed using guidelines you’ll see a piece that flows well, enabling you to really focus on the information. 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.