Brand guidelines establish internal alignment and the consistent application of your brand. Without a comprehensive brand guidelines document, you risk inconsistency in the way you visually and verbally represent your business to audiences, hindering your ability to create awareness and build brand equity.
But crafting a brand guidelines document is only part of the challenge. In today’s digital workplace, accessibility is key and traditional PDF formats pose serious challenges to internal teams. To maximize impact and ensure consistency, it’s critical to make the transition from a PDF format to digital brand guidelines.
Key benefits of switching your brand guidelines from PDF to a digital format
A strong brand is critical for any B2B company. Branding sets you apart from your competitors and drives customer loyalty — it’s important to have a clear and consistent brand identity that accurately expresses your company’s value propositions, values, mission and voice.
Digital brand guidelines strengthen internal teams’ ability to deliver a clear and consistent message across all channels. By transitioning from PDF to digital brand guidelines, you can increase the likelihood that your branding will be consistently applied across all branded assets. This helps create a brand identity that can be easily recognized by potential customers.
Digital brand guidelines also ensure that all digital communications are aligned with your company’s overall marketing strategy. By equipping internal teams with highly accessible brand guidelines, you can more effectively connect with target audiences across channels.
Other benefits your organization can expect to achieve with digital brand guidelines include:
- Increased accessibility and adoption
In a digital format, brand guidelines are much easier for teams to find, search, and reference. And since digital files can be stored in the cloud, they can be shared and accessed from anywhere at any time — making it simpler for geographically distributed teams to stay on brand. - Version control and ease of updating
It’s much easier to update digital brand guidelines than traditional PDFs. With digital files, you can track changes, roll back to previous versions, and easily see who made which changes and when. This is a huge advantage when multiple people are tasked with keeping your brand guidelines up to date. - Central hub for branded templates and documentation
Digital brand guidelines act as a centralized hub for all your branded template files and documentation. This makes it easy for teams to find the assets they need, when they need them. It also reduces the amount of time it takes for team members to create branded assets that engage key audiences. - Simplified process for downloads
Digital brand guidelines make it easy for teams to find and download logo files, colors, and the other brand assets they need — without having to search through folders. This reduces the potential for errors and makes it more likely that team members will include the most recent brand elements in the work they create. - Enhanced security
In a digital format, brand guidelines are more secure and less likely to be accidentally shared outside your organization. With digital files, you can password-protect sensitive information and restrict access to certain users.
Digital brand guidelines offer a number of advantages over traditional PDFs — from increased accessibility and digital adoption to improved collaboration and enhanced security. If you’re looking to take your brand to the next level, consider making the switch to digital. Your team (and your customers) will thank you.
Ready to get started? Contact us today to learn more about digital brand guidelines and let’s start a conversation about how Walker Sands can help take your brand to the next level.
