Blog, Branding
spaghetti thrown against a wall with a dart sticking out of it

Throwing spaghetti at the wall is costing you opportunities.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s a time and a place for trying something and seeing if it works.

But taking that approach to your entire marketing plan is a great way to waste time, money, and energy on things that will never work.

And a strong brand guide could have told you that from the beginning if only you had invested in it.

Because marketing with a brand guide is less like throwing spaghetti at the wall and more like throwing darts at a bullseye: you know exactly what you’re aiming for and you know the path you need to take to get there.

The spaghetti approach to marketing can waste a lot of time and resources as you try to figure out what does and does not work.

For example, when I join a new networking group, I give it a year to pay off. If I don’t get at least one high-quality client in my first year, I move on to another networking group.

That’s a year of networking events and one-on-one meetings. Depending on the networking group, I could easily spend 5 hours a week devoted to that networking group. I’m no mathematician, but 5 hours times 50 weeks is 250 hours of my year that could have been better spent at a networking event where my ideal clients are already hanging out.

You can waste a similar amount of time and energy creating the wrong content and publishing it in the wrong places if you don’t first take the time to define your brand and the people you want it to attract.

But first, I have to know who my ideal clients are and where they’re hanging out. That’s where the brand guide can help by drawing that bullseye and putting the darts in your hand.

The problem some people have when it comes to investing in a brand guide is they don’t know what’s in a brand guide. It’s common to think you have a brand once you have a logo, but there’s much more to it than that.

If you’d rather watch the video in which I talk about it, you can find that here:

Table of Contents

Yes, there’s more to your brand guide than your logo, but you do need a logo, and no, you can’t use AI to draw one for you.

That’s because, despite how much we all love to talk about “generative AI,” the truth is AI doesn’t generate anything. It just regurgitates what humans have already created and it repurposes it into whatever it thinks we want. That means anything repurposed by AI can’t be copyrighted, and if you can’t own your logo, you can’t own your brand.

So, yes, you need to invest in a graphic designer who understands brand strategy so they can create a simple, yet compelling logo that accurately reflects your brand.

Logo Usage Guidelines

A logo isn’t just to be slapped on business cards. It’s the ambassador of your brand, which means it needs to be used as strategically as you would use any other ambassador.

A good brand strategist won’t just give you your logo and send you on your way. They’ll provide guidance on the best ways and places to use your logo so it can earn its keep.

Primary Color Palette

The colors you include in your logo should be used all over your marketing materials, not just in your logo.

I’ve even seen women who feature a certain color in their brand color palette make sure to always wear something in that color. It’s a great way to make themselves memorable while ensuring we never forget what their brand is.

You don’t have to take it to that extreme, but you should include at least one or two of your brand colors in every piece of content you create for your brand, especially images and videos.

Brand Fonts

I remember talking to my soon-to-be-aunt about her upcoming wedding and she was saying how she wanted to be cool and relaxed about the whole thing, but she didn’t always live up to her own expectations.

She spent hours choosing a font for the seating cards at the reception, but when my uncle went to print them out, it defaulted to a different font and he didn’t notice.

She couldn’t believe she had spent all that time agonizing over the nuances between fonts and he didn’t even notice the difference.

You might be tempted to think your audience will be similarly oblivious to the fonts you use in your messaging, but there’s a difference between something your soon-to-be-bride sent you once and something you see again and again.

First of all, yes, the fonts you choose do say something about your brand, and it will make an impression, even if it’s only subconscious. And people will definitely notice if you suddenly change fonts without explanation.

In addition to designing your logo with you, a brand strategist can help you identify a font (or fonts) for your brand and provide guidelines for how to use it throughout your content.

Brand Voice Guidelines

My favorite TV show is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’ve watched the whole series (and Angel) all the way through more than a few times. One time I was watching an episode with the commentary, and a writer talked about how they were struggling with a scene, so they took a line they had initially written for one character and assigned it to a different character. When they turned in the script, the editor immediately identified the line as belonging to the first character.

Your content needs to be that identifiable. It needs to be so uniquely you that people can identify it as your content even without your logo or company name alongside it.

Creating (and using) your brand voice guidelines is how you ensure your content is that consistent and on message, regardless of who’s creating the content.

Words to Use Throughout Your Content

Aside from relevant keywords and industry-related words and phrases, there should be certain words and phrases you want associated with your business.

For example, I worked with a business coach who loved her business and wanted to help her clients love their businesses. Her goal was to help struggling entrepreneurs get excited about their businesses again, so she tended to use words like “excited,” “awesome,” and “super.”

So I used those words throughout the content I wrote for her. Not only did it make the content sound like her, but it helped her readers feel the emotions she wanted them to feel every time they encounter her and her brand.

That’s why brand voice guidelines always start with the emotion you want to evoke in your audience, followed by the words that elicit those emotions.

Words to Avoid

The words you avoid using say as much about you as the words you use.

Just like there are certain emotions you want to evoke in your audience, there are certain emotions you want to avoid. For example, I tend to avoid the words “dumb,” “stupid,” etc. because no one likes to be called or made to feel dumb.

Along those same lines, I also tend to avoid using big words. It avoids confusing people who aren’t familiar with that language and makes the content easier to read, even for those with a larger vocabulary.

Voice Definition and Description

You can’t have a consistent voice without first defining and describing that voice.

Determining which words to use and which to avoid is a good first start, but defining and describing your brand voice is where we start to flesh out the brand.

This is where we start to get to the heart of who you are as a brand so we can ensure all your messaging uses that voice.

Writing Style Dos and Don’ts

Everyone has their own style of writing, and that style says something about them.

By defining what you do and don’t do when writing for your brand, you make it easy for everyone referring to your brand guide to create content that looks and sounds like all the other content representing your brand.

That consistency is key to building trust, and that trust is key to convincing people to work with you.

Marketing Dos and Don’ts

do's and don'ts content marketing

The great thing about digital marketing is there are so many opportunities to get in front of your ideal client.

The overwhelming thing about digital marketing is there are so many opportunities to get in front of your ideal client.

You can’t possibly be all over the internet, so the question becomes: where does it make sense for you to invest time and energy into creating, publishing, distributing, and promoting your content?

Then there’s the question of what types of content are you going to create?

What types of content will you avoid?

What topics will you cover? How will you cover them?

What topics will you avoid covering because they’re not aligned with your brand?

A brand guide answers all these questions for you so you can focus on creating content that is aligned with your brand, resonates with your ideal client, and attracts them to you so you’re only talking to people who are interested in working with you.

Brand Personality Traits

brand personality

You know those moments when a friend does something you weren’t expecting, and yet you feel you shouldn’t have been surprised. Those are the “that is so you” moments.

On the other hand, when someone does something that is truly out of character, you start reassessing everything you thought you knew about them.

The same is true of your audience interacting with your brand. If they thought they were getting one thing from you and suddenly you turn around and show them a whole new side of yourself, it can give them emotional whiplash. Suddenly they’re not sure what to expect from you, and people don’t like handing over money to someone they can’t feel sure about.

So, by defining (and consistently referring to) your brand personality traits you ensure your brand behaves consistently when out in the world and interacting with your prospects.

Basic Examples

It’s one thing to tell you (or your marketing department) what to do and go forth and have fun. It’s another thing to see it in action.

The more helpful brand guides provide examples of types of content to create for your brand so you can see what a good content marketing campaign for your brand looks like.

Then all you have to do is emulate that until the hot leads start knocking down your door.

Marketing Personas

marketing personas

As important as it is for your messaging to align with your brand, it’s equally important for your messaging to resonate with your ideal clients. If it doesn’t, they’ll keep scrolling while the prospects who are not a good fit for your company will come knocking on your door, wasting your time in endless sales calls that will never convert.

That’s why you can’t just use language you like to use, you have to use language that your ideal clients use, because that will tell them you’re a member of their tribe, and therefore trustworthy.

Your marketing personas will also tell you where your ideal clients are hanging out and the types of content they prefer to consume, so you can focus your efforts on creating that content and making sure it uses language that resonates with them.

Last, but certainly not least, your marketing personas will help you understand the buyer journey prospects go through before they finally reach out for a consultation. Once you understand what that journey looks like, you can create content that meets them where they are and leads them to the next step of the buyer journey.

Now that you know everything that goes into a brand guide, you know how overwhelming it can be. That’s why we walk our clients through the process. We live and breathe this stuff, while you just want to get back to doing what you do best.

So if you need a new brand or a brand refresh, let’s talk.

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Alison is the owner of AV Writing Services. With a degree in English and Psychology, and almost a decade of experience working as a professional content marketer, Alison is committed to helping her clients use high-quality content to grow their online visibility.