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One of the simplest things you can do to make your brand and your business more professional is to create some ‘brand guidelines’.

So, what does this mean?

Well, the basics of ‘brand guidelines’ is to decide on a colour palette, font(s) and logo(s) for your business.

Then, you make sure you stay consistent to these colours, font(s) and logo usage on all your marketing materials.

All major companies have brand guidelines like this but as an example, let’s look at the basics of the Vans brand guidelines.

In the below image you can see that Vans have had a few logos over the years and that only the new version should be used.

They also give examples of things you should not do with the logo (distort it, change the colour or frame it)

Next, Vans give details of the EXACT colours they use. Including the CMYK codes that are needed when printing.

The last part of their guidelines I’m highlighting is the typography. Vans explain the font they use, when it should be upper case / lowercase and whether or not you can use it in bold.

It’s worth pointing out that Vans use the same font for headlines and paragraph text. Lots of companies will have 2 or 3 fonts. They’ll use one for headlines, another for sub-headers and another for paragraph text.

Having a couple of fonts to hand gives you more versatility, but sticking with one font gives you more brand consistency. So, it’s up to you to decide which you prefer.

The full brand guidelines for Vans are 46 pages long and covers a whole spectrum of details.

But to get started, I think the above 3 details (logo, colours & typography) are the most important things to decide on.

Once you start consistently using the same logo, colours and typography across all your marketing you’ll immediately notice how much more professional everything looks.

Remember, you marketing is not just what you put on social media. Marketing incorporates quotation documents, branded workwear, your website, leaflets, business cards, signwriting on your van and more.

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