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  What is a Brand Asset Kit? Your brand is much more than your logo and color template, but these do make-up parts of your branded collateral. Building your brand identity as it relates to your message are key parts of your marketing plan. A Brand Asset Kit helps you keep this information relevant, organized and consistent. As a reference tool, it demonstrates how your brand looks, feels and sounds so everyone on the team delivers the same personality and message of your brand. What do you do with a Brand Asset Kit? In this instant access digital age, email marketing, websites, blog, social media accounts, all become part of your branded collateral and with that, you need a centralized system for your brand identity assets. When you are producing sales sheets, slides-hares, client documents, e-books, quarterly or annual reports, or any kind of physical or downloadable presentation, you want to set the expectation and be consistent with every piece. This includes brochures (printed or digital), letterhead and business cards. So even if you are a one-person show, your professional branded content transcends all client/customer touch-points the same way you would expect from large corporate companies with a team of marketing experts delivering consistency. How to make a Brand Asset Kit: Setting up a Brand Asset Kit also referred to as a Style Guide or Brand Bible can be easy when you have all the information available. Starting with the basics you want to include your logo, color palette, fonts and icons or graphics for digital media like your website or blog. In addition, consider versions of your logo depending on where it’s used, rules around standards of use, who can use it and so on. Within your marketing plan, you have already identified your brand message and determined how you will integrate this into the customer experience, creating the BCX (Branded Customer Experience). You know why you do what you do and how you do it. You know what you believe in and create your messages to attract others who believe what you believe, (your ideal customers). Your mission, vision, target audience (ideal customers) and core values can be included in your Brand Asset Kit. Here is an example of SKYPE’s Brand Kit Style Guide. Keep your message on point, consistent and professional. Create a Brand Asset Kit / Style Guide which is shared with team members, a print house or any service providers you hire to outsource your special projects. Create your own template/checklist by following these guide tips: Brand Asset Kit Elements: Your Message or Brand Story
Why you do (Vision) what you do (mission) and who you do it for (ideal customer) Strap line or Tag Line
A clear explanation of your offering or what your brand is all about. Where and how it should appear. Ideal Customer / Buyer Persona
Align your marketing strategy to attract your ideal customer. Understand what they value and how to define them through research around demographics, attitudes, concerns, goals, motivation and behavior patterns. Logo
Size, white space, colors and versions of your logo depending on where and how it is used. Save in various file types depending on use. Color Selection
A palette of colors to be used across digital and physical touchpoints with your brand. Pantone name and number, print color CMKY, digital color RCB, and HEX codes Tools to help pick colors: FONT Selection
Typography for Headlines, sub-titles, content/body text, captions. One of my favorite tools is Stencil. They have a blog post about Fonts for Successful Content Marketing. A best practice is to contrast the font choice from your logo typeface. Also, consider spacing and alignment for the copy. Images & Illustrations
A picture’s worth a thousand words. Selection should reflect your message and fall within your style guide standards/rules. Demonstrate the mood and tone of imagery by including samples. Consider how your images will be displayed, with an overlay, monochromatic, full color, watermarked, etc. You can find many free images on Unsplash. Brand Voice
How you demonstrate the personality of your brand, keeping in mind 3-5 adjectives to describe your brand language. Best practice, keep it simple and conversational. Conclusion Taking the time to organize your brand asset elements will save you time in the long run and keep your branded messages consistent across all marketing touch-points whether you are a team of one or many. It sets the foundation and guiding principles, helping others believe what you believe so you can achieve your goals. |
CindyGirard
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