Brand Bible

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Your brand bible is the go-to internal document that is going to clearly communicate the vision and mission of your company's branding to your team.

Other names for it include:

  • Brand Book
  • Brand Guide
  • Brand Standards

A brand bible is the way in which you define, preserve and promote your corporate identity.

Go Media's, "Create Your Own Brand Bible" template, available through our Arsenal, offers businesses the ability to quickly and easily build their own brand bible from a basic, 35-page template. But there is a strong case to be made for allowing our Cleveland branding experts to design a custom brand bible for your firm.

You want to make sure every element of your branding is consistent across all platforms. This is important even for small businesses. Let's say you have a single designer who works on your logo design, website design, business cards, packaging and all other material. That designer knows by heart all the exact colors, sizing, typography and layout. That may work fine for a while. But if you ever grow, hire a new graphic design firm or freelancer or expand your existing promotional outlets, it will be very difficult to unearth all of these specific elements months or years later. A clear guide ensures you maintain consistently, which is a huge part of ensuring brand recognition and brand loyalty.

Similarly, anytime you launch an advertising campaign, promotion or event, it helps to have all this information handy in a single location.

What is Included in a Brand Bible?

Brand bible guidelines should be flexible enough that graphic designers can tap into their creativity, but rigid enough to ensure your brand is still easily recognized and stylized consistently.

A basic brand bible will contain:

  • A general overview of your brand's history, vision, messaging, personality and central values.
  • Logo specifications, including tagline use.
  • Visual examples of both correct and incorrect treatments of logos.
  • The company's color palette.
  • The company's type face.
  • Letterhead and business card design.

If you are only just beginning your firm and/ or you require very few marketing tools at this juncture, this could be sufficient.

However, many businesses are going to need something much more detailed. Our brand bible designers will work to include:

  • Cover
  • Letter form the President
  • Company Story
  • Company Purpose, Vision, Values and Mission
  • Advocacy Document
  • Company Core Services
  • Key Triggers
  • Brand Positioning
  • Audience Association
  • Website Layout
  • Supporting Graphic Elements
  • Signage Specifications
  • Slogans and Mottos
  • Tonality and Voice
  • One-Minute Elevator Pitch
  • Logo Guidelines
  • Typography Guidelines
  • Color Specifications
  • Photography Style Guidelines
  • Icon Guidelines
  • Product and Collaboration Branding
  • Marketing and Collateral Guidelines
  • Merchandising Applications
  • Social Media Profile Page Applications
  • Copywriting Style (also referred to as "tone of voice")
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Contact

Again, these are just the basics of what we would include. Each organization is going to have differing needs and goals, so each brand bible can be custom built to address specific areas of concern - and we can help you identify those as well.

How Do I Use a Brand Bible? 

You will use your brand bible anytime you are working to promote your brand. It should be provided to anyone who has a hand in doing this - from the person who updates your social media accounts to the company you are trusting to design your website.

Anytime you hire a third party, such as a photographer, advertiser, designer or printer, there is a strong chance that individual is going to need to fully understand your brand and the specifications. When you can supply them with a brand bible, you ensure they will be prepared to conduct their work in a way that aligns with your goals and brand identity.

Using a brand bible will help you to avoid:

  • Wrong use of your logo and tagline;
  • Wrong colors, typefaces and other design elements;
  • General lack of cohesion with your logo and design;
  • Cheap-looking or confusing branding;
  • Inconsistent messaging.

When Do I Need a Brand Bible?

Usually, we recommend having a brand bible created when you have your logo design created.

The purpose of this timing is to ensure all your promotional outlets are properly aligned, regardless of who is developing them or using them in the future.

If your logo has already been designed but you don't have a brand bible, it's not too late to ask the Cleveland brand experts at Go Media for help. We will create a user-friendly document that can be easily accessed and shared with those who need it. It's created as a component of your overall branding strategy.

The brand bible we create for your firm will ensure all of your consumer touch-points receive the proper branding treatment.

To learn more about our Cleveland brand bible services, call Go Media at 216.939.0000 or contact us online.