How can you make brand guidelines relevant and engaging to your target audience?

1 Audit your current guidelines

The first step is to review your existing brand guidelines and identify what works and what doesn't. Ask yourself questions like: Are they clear, concise, and easy to follow? Do they reflect your current vision, mission, and values? Do they align with your audience's needs, preferences, and expectations? Do they cover all the aspects of your brand, such as logo, colors, fonts, tone of voice, imagery, and messaging? Do they provide examples and best practices for different channels and formats?

3 Define your brand personality

The third step is to define your brand personality and how you want to communicate with your audience. Your brand personality is the human-like traits and characteristics that make your brand unique and relatable. It can be expressed through your tone of voice, your word choice, your style, and your humor. To define your brand personality, you can use frameworks like the brand archetypes, the brand voice chart, or the brand personality spectrum. You can also create a list of adjectives, keywords, and phrases that describe your brand.

4 Showcase your brand stories

The fourth step is to showcase your brand stories and how they connect with your audience. Your brand stories are the narratives and anecdotes that illustrate your brand's purpose, values, and benefits. They can be told through different formats, such as videos, testimonials, case studies, or blog posts. To showcase your brand stories, you need to craft them in a way that is engaging, authentic, and emotional. You need to use storytelling techniques, such as hooks, conflicts, resolutions, and calls to action. You also need to align them with your audience's goals, challenges, and interests.

5 Simplify your brand guidelines

The fifth step is to simplify your brand guidelines and make them easy to access and use. You don't want to overwhelm your audience with too much information, jargon, or rules. You want to make your brand guidelines clear, concise, and user-friendly. You can do this by using simple language, short sentences, and bullet points. You can also use visual aids, such as icons, charts, diagrams, or screenshots. You can also organize your brand guidelines into sections, sub-sections, and headings. And you can make them available online, in PDF format, or in print.

6 Engage your brand advocates

The final step is to engage your brand advocates and encourage them to follow and share your brand guidelines. Your brand advocates are the people who love your brand, support your brand, and promote your brand. They can be your employees, your customers, your partners, or your influencers. To engage your brand advocates, you need to educate them, empower them, and reward them. You need to educate them on the importance and benefits of your brand guidelines. You need to empower them with the tools and resources to apply and showcase your brand guidelines. And you need to reward them with recognition, feedback, and incentives.