How to Create Brand Guidelines for Consistent, Easy Marketing

Struggling to create content that feels right for your brand? You're not alone! Whether you're DIYing your marketing, using AI, or outsourcing, inconsistent branding could be the reason why your marketing isn’t working as well as it should.

In this episode, I’ll break down:
✅ Why brand consistency builds trust and increases sales (by 10-20%!)
✅ The key elements of brand guidelines that make marketing easier
✅ How to stop wasting time on content that doesn’t feel right
✅ How to create brand guidelines that help you show up confidently

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Transcript

Kate (2): 0:14

does this sound familiar? you sit down to create some marketing content for your business and your mind just goes blank. You stare at the screen thinking, what should I post today? What should I write about? What should I say? Three hours later, you're still sitting there scrolling through competitor's content, looking for inspiration. Throwing spaghetti at the wall just to see what sticks. Or maybe you decided to let AI take the reins. You've asked for a caption here or an email there, But the ideas always feel out of touch, and the content you come out with is filled with rocket ship emojis and buzzwords like synergy and uplevel. Basically, it sounds like anyone could have written it, or nobody at all. It's kind of like letting a stranger take over your marketing, just to get something out there. Here's the truth. Whether you're doing your marketing yourself, using AI, or even outsourcing, it's never going to feel right if you haven't done this one step first. What you really need is to clearly define your brand and your messaging. Sure maybe you have a logo, you've got colors you like and fonts that you like to use, but it still feels like you're winging it every time you go to post. And you're not alone in this. the statistics are eye opening. only 30 percent of companies consistently use brand guidelines. And 15 percent of companies don't have brand guidelines at all. And yet businesses with consistent brand guidelines see an increase in revenue from 10 to 20%. now I know those numbers might feel a little overwhelming, like, great, Kate, one more thing I need to figure out, right? But here's the thing. Being consistent becomes so much easier when you've taken the time to get clear on your brand and your messaging first. When you know what makes you stand out, Showing up consistently just feels natural. Because here's what really matters. 81 percent of consumers need to trust a brand before they'll buy from it. And do you know what builds trust? Consistency. And here's something else you need to know. Maybe you've heard it before, but Research shows that people need to see your brand six to eight times before they really notice you. Think about that. If you're using different brand messaging, different colors, different fonts, every time you show up, it's like starting from zero every single time. Like you're introducing yourself as a completely different person every time you meet someone. Nobody's going to remember you because you're never the same person twice. Consistency is about becoming memorable and building trust. And trust is what turns followers into customers. So what happens when you finally get clear on your brand and start showing up consistently? Everything changes. The right people start taking notice. The ones who get excited about what you do and value your unique approach. And that means you get to do more of the work that you actually love doing. when you have clear brand guidelines, you stop wasting time figuring out what to post. Your content creation becomes effortless, your audience starts to recognize your voice, and most importantly, people start trusting you enough to buy. That's the power of consistent, authentic branding. Now that you understand why that consistency is so important. Let's talk about Brand Guidelines. Brand Guidelines are typically just a document that includes all of the pertinent information about your brand. so that you can stay consistent. Brand guidelines should include the following things. First up is your USP, or unique selling proposition. This is basically just a concise statement about what differentiates your brand. Here, you'll talk about your strengths, your values, how you're different from your competitors. benefits you provide and for who, as well as like the desired outcome for what you offer. Next up is your target audience. This is just a description of who you wanna work with and serve, and the next section you'll put in your messaging guidelines. These are going to be things like your brand personality, your brand voice, words and phrases you use all the time, things you'd never say, core themes, which are those recurring topics that resonate with your audience. Next up are brand stories. Brand stories are ways that we can communicate what we do, who we do it for, and the transformation we provide in a storytelling manner. I Recommend the book Stories That Stick by Kendra Hall. she outlines four different brand stories for you. The value story, the founder story, the customer story, and the purpose story. Again, those are from Stories That Stick by Kendra Hall. Next up in our brand guidelines, we're going to tackle our visual identity. So once we've got our messaging, our stories and our target audience in place, we can go into the visual identity piece. Our visual identity should back up that messaging piece, and help tie our messaging to our ideal clients. Visual identity is going to include things like your colors, your fonts, your logos, as well as the aesthetic and types of imagery, to use with your brand. next up in brand guidelines, I recommend putting in past client testimonials. These not only show what transformations you provide, but it shows how clients are talking about them, which is really crucial to making sure that you're using words throughout your copywriting, that are going to connect with those ideal clients. and then finally we'll put in our FAQs and any common objections. It again, just kind of helps steer the conversation around our brand. Having all of those brand elements clearly defined will make all of your marketing efforts so much easier and more aligned with your brand and the business you want to build. Whether you're creating content yourself, using AI, or outsourcing, these brand guidelines become like a main source of truth about your brand and your business. They help ensure that every piece of content and marketing collateral stays on brand and consistent no matter who creates it. You can always check your marketing efforts too, against your guidelines to make sure you're staying on that right path. And remember, your brain guidelines aren't set in stone. As your business grows and changes, It's completely ok to go in and adjust them to make sure that they better reflect your direction and your vision. now that you know what goes into creating brand guidelines, let's get started creating yours. I get that that list might feel overwhelming, especially when it comes to your messaging and what makes you unique, but here's the good news you're not starting from scratch. You already have all of the ingredients. We just need to figure out the right blend to connect you to your audience. So how do we do that? if you're ready to dive in and figure out what makes you unique and how to stand out from the crowd. I'd love to invite you into the Marketing Trail Mix Method. It's a free audio mini course where I teach you how to find that right combination of ingredients to make the perfect Marketing Trail Mix for you. It's made up of your zone of genius, your past experience and skills, your why and your values, and your four key brand stories that we discussed earlier. With the Marketing Trailmix Method Mini Course, you get a private podcast feed with five actionable audio lessons to help you get clarity., You also get this workbook, your field notes worksheets, which pairs with the audio content and is easily fillable right in Google Docs. Finally, you'll also get 5 days of emails helping you stay on track and motivated To get your marketing trail mix and your brand guidelines in place. Creating brand guidelines isn't just another task. It's the foundation of effective marketing. when you take the time to define your brand, everything else, content, messaging, and visibility becomes so much easier. You'll attract the right people, build trust, And most importantly, feel confident in how you show up. This is the first step that I walk my students through in brand base camp when they're building their new website. Before we touch a single design element, we make sure that their brand messaging is rock solid. Your visuals, your colors, and your typography should all work hand in hand with that messaging to reinforce your brand identity. When you have a clear and cohesive brand, your online presence feels unified and impactful. Now these brand guidelines aren't just for when you're redoing your website. they serve as your go to reference for everything from social media posts, to emails, to collaborations, to even how you interact with people in person and talk about your business live. whether you're doing your marketing yourself using AI or hiring help you can always check back to your brand guidelines to make sure that you stay true to your brand. I'd love to see you inside the marketing trail mix method. You can get access at dear Kate brand strategy. com slash trail mix, or find the link below. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll see you there.