Even if you’re experienced in the world of marketing and its lingo, as a Greenville luxury business owner, you probably haven’t spent too much time obsessing about style guides.
You’re busy enough meeting with clients, fulfilling orders and worrying about the day to day operations. You don’t have hours to focus on your brand’s aesthetics, even if you realize the importance of it.
However, there are many exciting parallels between your luxury business and a marketing/advertising style guide, so let’s get into it.
Basically, a style guide is a cornerstone for all your marketing, a container for all the preferred ways your business is presented to the world — with its brand voice, colors, fonts, and graphics.
It eliminates the guesswork for both seasoned and new employees on what to say and how to say it, as well as the signature “look” you have created and standardized for all the world to see.
Let’s go through all the components of a winning style guide, so you’ll have more than just a basic understanding of what goes into one, and why.
Logo
Creation of or rebranding of an existing logo. Specifications for proper logo placement, size, and variations, such as primary and secondary colors, or black and white. Codes are used by professional designers for print or digital applications.
Fonts
These are the different typography your business uses for all print and digital assets, including font families and related styles. Different fonts apply for headings, body text and other placements.
Photography
This is where your guidelines for image selection, composition, and treatment will reside. Rules for filters, cropping and editing will be outlined as a reference point.
Iconography
Meant to live alongside or as part of your overall logo, your brand’s icon will be part of your brand’s signature look. Guidelines within the style guide will show approved icons and their appropriate usage.
Illustration
This section outlines the selection, placement and usage of graphic elements and any illustrations used for your brand’s advertising.
Copywriting
Brand voice guidelines depicting the right tone and personality in all written presentations such as website, social, and printed materials.
Social Media
Best practices for posting on various social media platforms, including content types, tone, and engagement strategies.
Email Marketing
Establishment of standards for email design, subject lines, and content structure, along with email cadence and segmentation.
Now, this might all sound like a complicated mountain of rules to follow to a busy luxury business owner like you. The good news is that with the right expert help, you don’t have to worry about the how, you just get to enjoy the results — which is attracting and keeping more loyal customers.
Anvil Marketing Co. creates, refines and seamlessly integrates luxury brand style guides all day, every day. To get an idea of how they would approach yours, schedule a free consultation today.
