A  brand has many voices. All parts of the brand should work together in a complete design, from messaging and photos to colors and font choices. That’s why the Marketing and Media Department should create brand guidelines, and a brand webpage or brand brochure to help everyone understand the look, feel, tone and voice of the brand.  The brand webpage or brochure can provide direction, tips, and best practices to help unify the look, feel, tone and voice of the brand.  We all know that social media can be a great way to communicate with audiences, provided it’s used in the right way, and the for the right reasons. An organization might have many Facebook accounts and Twitter accounts already. So taking a little time to think through the reasons for wanting to get on social media—and to plan for how you’re going to do it related to the brand is important.

Try to use only one logo for all, both organization-wide and at the department levels.  Require the use the organization’s logo to be uniform with very few exceptions. This also includes wordmarks. (A wordmark, word mark, or logotype is usually a distinct text-only typographic treatment of the name of a company, institution, or product name used for purposes of identification and branding.) Modifying the logo can become confusing to audiences and possibly make it difficult to control the direction of the brand as a whole.

Any other graphical or typographical designs that represent the organization, and all of marketing and communications efforts must be identified with the brand accompanied by a marketing lockup. (A lockup refers to the positioning of the brand’s symbol and its wordmark. Some lockups may also include a tagline or secondary copy. The arrangement of these pieces can exist in multiple versions, especially if a brand has more than one division. This is especially common for clothing and fashion brands.)

The iconic brand logo is the foundational element of the organization’s visual identity. It is the unifying symbol that represents the organization.  For that reason, it is the most recognizable element of the organization and should appear on all marketing materials.  See below the list of brand guidelines to consider.

Brand Guidelines

✯Logos and Lockups
✯ Fonts
✯ Colors
✯ Photography
✯ Graphic Elements
✯ Examples

In short, the brand defines who the organization is, what the organization stands for, what the organization says about itself, what the organization does, and how the organization acts. This, in turn, defines the experience the organization wants its audience and partners to have when they interact with the organization. As a result, the organization as a rock-solid foundation for a brand strategy.

Photography and Imagery

To connect with our brand messaging, an organization must use emotionally engaging, active images that capture the spirit and strength of the organization. Stay away from stock photography when possible.  When forced to use stock photographs, consider editing the images to push the message your organization is looking for.  Most photos will fall into one of three categories—topical, cultural, or environmental. Topical photographs connect the content to the subject. Topical photos capture people in the environment they work in and allow the subject to walk, talk, and move through that environment in an authentic manner. These photos should feel organic, casual, and confident. Use a short depth of field that creates a strong focus on the subject. Cultural photographs showcase the organization’s spirit, diversity, and energy. Cultural photos capture the spirit and uniqueness of the organizations, including what makes that organization what it is. These photos might capture the lifestyle an employ, leader, or customer. The photos highlight the experiences that an audience might want or are already familiar with. Environmental photographs capture the beauty and uniqueness of the organization. Environmental photos may showcase a workplace, home, or iconic landmarks, such as a state capitol, dramatic architecture, natural backdrop, or room inside a structure. The key is making your audience feel like they can imagine themselves in that environment.

Editorial Style Guide

Editorial style guides cover all elements of usage, from spelling, capitalization, and punctuation to the official names of an organization and how to style content related to the entity. Anything wrote for a particular organization such as an email, a brochure, a web page, or a poster – the Marketing and Media Department should provide a guide. It could even include advice on grammar style.  Here is an example:

abbreviations and acronyms
Do not use full points in abbreviations, or spaces between initials, including those in proper names: IMF, mph, eg, 4am, M&S, No 10, AN Wilson, WH Smith, etc.

Use all capitals if an abbreviation is pronounced as the individual letters (an initialism): BBC, CEO, US, VAT, etc; if it is an acronym (pronounced as a word) spell out with initial capital, eg Nasa, Nato, Unicef, unless it can be considered to have entered the language as an everyday word, such as awol, laser and, more recently, asbo, pin number and sim card. Note that pdf and plc are lowercase.

If an abbreviation or acronym is to be used more than once in a piece, put it in brackets at first mention: so Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), seasonal affective disorder (Sad); alternatively, use the abbreviation with a brief description, eg the conservation charity the RSPB. Remember that our international online readership will not necessarily be aware of even well-known UK and US abbreviations. If an organization is mentioned only once, it is not necessary to give its abbreviation or acronym.

Notice the number of details given to how this company wants abbreviations to be spelled and in which the manner it will be done. Good style guides document and standardizes everything, from the unique terminology an organization uses to describe itself, to again, its spelling and punctuation preferences. In doing so, the style guide becomes a basic roadmap that everyone can follow to help create consistent, high-quality businesslike communications.  Below are subjects to consider:

Guide to Editorial Style Guide

✯ Clearly define objectives and audience
✯ Create a structure that’s well organized and easy to navigate
✯ Pick pillars that are widely recognized
✯ Add a few personal touches
✯ Make it a living document
✯ Promote and enforce

Creating a good style guide is no small undertaking. But, if the above has been considered, the process is a lot easier and end product more valuable.

Marketing Curators

The Marketing and Media Department is the department who has the care and superintendence of marketing materials.  The department must be meticulous about details so that as the organization reaches out to prospects, customers, investors, or the community, it create an overarching image that promotes the organization in a positive light—that is appropriate to the mission of the organization.  In order to maintain a high standard, an organization will have to consider leading in the following roles.

✯ Creating content for search engine optimization (SEO). The organization’s website is often the first (and often the only) place people go for information.The organization’s marketing department is responsible for keeping Web content current, while also working to ensure the site comes up quickly when someone searches for your type of business.

✯ Monitoring and managing social media. Marketing should contribute to, manage and maintain social media pages and accounts.  In addition, the organization is responsible for carefully watching what’s being posted on the organization online.  In other words, look out for bad reviews and comments.

✯ Conducting campaign management for marketing initiatives. Marketing proactively identifies the products and/or services to focus on over the course of a sales cycle and then produces materials and communications that get the word out.

✯ Producing marketing and promotional materials. Your marketing department should create the materials that describe and promote your core products and/or services, and keep them up-to-date as those products and services evolve.

✯ Producing internal communications. Employees need to understand the organization, its values, its goals and its priorities. Marketing is often responsible for employee communications through a newsletter and/or intranet.  Perhaps a weekly email blast.

✯ Conducting customer and market research. Research helps you define target markets and opportunities accordingly and also helps the organization understand how products and/or services are perceived.

✯ Overseeing events. In many organizations, the marketing departments are responsible for organizing events, such as tradeshows, exhibitions, seminars, sales conferences or customer hospitality events. They plan the logistics of the event, booking show booths or meeting facilities. Marketing departments provide event material, such as signage, displays, promotional giveaways, presentations or handouts. They also promote external events to customers and prospects to ensure successful attendance.

✯ Overseeing outside vendors and agencies. Marketing is typically responsible for selecting and managing the agencies and vendors who produce marketing materials and or/provide marketing support. These may include ad agencies, print vendors, PR agencies or specialists, Web providers, or really other organization outside.

 ✯ Serving as media liaison. When the organization is cited in the media, a member of the marketing department often acts as spokesperson for organization or guides executives in how to respond to media queries.

✯ Collaboration and coordination. Marketing Departments usually occupy one of two positions in the organizational structure – Directly below the CEO, or Below or within Sales.  Either way, communication must be clear and consistent.

Marketing Department leads in these roles is ensure that the organization stays in line with its Marketing Strategy, Marketing Research, Product Development, and Communications.  All of which is the lifeblood of the organization itself.