What to Do With Your Brand Guide—How to Actually Use It to Stay Consistent
So, you’ve invested in a shiny new brand guide—awesome! But now what?
A lot of business owners think of a brand guide as a "nice-to-have" document that just sits in a folder somewhere. In reality, your brand guide is one of your most powerful tools for staying consistent and making your brand look and feel professional everywhere it shows up.
In this post, I’m breaking down exactly how to put your brand guide to work—whether you're a team of one or managing a growing business.
Make Sure Your Team (and Partners) Have It
Your brand guide isn’t just for you—it’s for anyone who touches your brand. That includes:
Team members
Freelancers (designers, copywriters, marketers)
Printers and manufacturers
Web developers
Visme explains that sharing your brand guide upfront ensures everyone is on the same page from day one, saving time and preventing off-brand mistakes.
Use It to Keep Your Visuals Consistent
Your guide includes critical visual details like:
Logo usage rules
Brand color codes (HEX, RGB, CMYK)
Font guidelines
Before publishing anything—whether it’s a social media post, flyer, or new website section—refer to your brand guide to check colors, fonts, and spacing. Canva emphasizes that visual consistency strengthens brand recognition over time.
Set Up Templates
Take it a step further by building branded templates for recurring needs:
Social media graphics
Email newsletters
Slide decks
Business cards
As Lucidpress points out, using templates cuts down on production time and helps you stay on-brand even when working quickly.
Guide Your Tone of Voice
Your brand isn’t just visual—it’s also verbal. Most brand guides include a section on tone of voice, covering:
Key messaging points
Taglines
Do’s and don’ts for writing
HubSpot’s Tone of Voice Guide explains that following your voice guidelines helps build a consistent personality across emails, ads, social media posts, and more.
Check Before Partnering or Advertising
If you’re running ads or collaborating with another brand, your brand guide helps ensure the partnership visuals align with your standards. This prevents mismatched colors, stretched logos, or messaging that feels off-brand.
99Designs notes that even when you're part of a collaboration, maintaining your own identity is key to brand strength.
Train New Team Members
As you grow, onboarding new team members becomes easier when you have a clear guide to share. Your brand guide serves as a training tool to help new hires understand your company’s look, feel, and messaging style from day one.
As Workstream mentions, the faster your team aligns with your brand, the more consistent and polished your marketing efforts will be.
Keep It Updated
Your brand evolves, and so should your brand guide. Set a reminder to review and update your guide at least once a year—or whenever you make a big change like a new logo, updated colors, or new product line.
Adobe suggests treating your brand guide as a living document that grows alongside your business.
Wrapping Up:
Your brand guide is more than just a pretty PDF—it’s a practical tool to keep your branding consistent, polished, and effective. The more you use it, the stronger and more recognizable your brand becomes.
If you don’t have a brand guide yet—or need help making yours more actionable—let’s talk. I’d love to help you create a guide that works for you, not just sits on your desktop.
