Out of the Fog Marketing

So many tech companies, especially startups, gloss over the importance of consistent branding. I was searching for a blog and came upon Dawud Miracle's blog. I liked the look and content of his posts so I scanned a few. About halfway down the page I instantly recognized a home remodeling photo of one of our website clients' Meadowlark Builders. At the time I didn't know Dawud lived in same town (Ann Arbor) as I did. But I instantly knew that kitchen was a Meadowlark remodel. Their kitchens have a particular look. Meadowlark's work along with their logo, website and collateral IS their brand.

Well it's just as important for your tech company to have a look and feel in marketing materials, online presence and even public relations that instantly identifiable. We often talk to $20M and $30M companies with online retail presences that don't have a style guide.

Here's the bare minimum you should have in a style guide:

Acceptable logo treatments: color, B&W and text-only along with sizing and placement guides.

Colors: Primary and secondary colors, PMS spot and process equivalents. Can colors be screened? Are some only designated for background and not text?

Corporate fonts: Headline font, text font, accent font; include leading, kerning, font size, all caps or no, and other style specifications. Also a good idea to specify common alternates in the case the fonts are not available in a particular setting.

Check out our marketing portfolio and you'll see the application of style guides across website, collateral and advertising. Thanks to Cathy Colson our creative director for the style guide list. Stay tuned for an upcoming post on advanced style guides.

Labels: ann arbor, branding style guide, cathy colson, chris slocumb, clarity quest marketing, corporate fonts, dawud miracle, logos, marketing portfolio, meadowlark builders, style guides