How to Enforce Brand Standards For a Global Marketing Team

Brand standards are essential to global companies, yet marketing teams often have trouble enforcing them. Global marketing often exists within the bubble of the country the branch is located. Different branches of the same company sometimes run independent campaigns that are so tailored to their country that they have almost nothing in common with other branches.

While languages, customs, and opinions differ across your global offices, your brand shouldn’t.

With offices operating in different time zones and with employees who speak different languages, unifying your global marketing can seem daunting. It’s easier than it looks with these simple steps:

1. Brand Guide

A brand guide defines exactly what your brand means to your customers. This includes logo colors, brand voice, company culture, your most popular demographic, and more. Having a guide that employees can refer to mitigates the room for error. After all, it outlines the exact colors, logo styles, and even writing voice your employees should be using.

2. Brand Compliance Guidelines

Your brand guide is the foundation, and your brand compliance guidelines are the supports. Setting these will establish the universal experience all of your customers should have when they interact with your brand.

These guidelines should include specifications, such as:

-Acceptable logo colors

-Acceptable logo sizes

-Approved fonts

–And more

Setting guidelines not only creates a uniform experience; it also increases brand recognition. A customer in Asia will have the exact same experience if they move to the Americas. Like a brand guide, this is key for growth and company success.

3. Approved Assets

Building assets, such as PowerPoint templates, ensure that your global team is creating uniform customer-facing content. Setting approved stock images is also a good idea because the image styles will be uniform across the entire company.

4. Global Marketing Centralization

Using technology allows you to centralize your global marketing while delegating tasks. Different platforms are useful for different purposes, for example:

• Canto Flight

Canto is a platform for managing and organizing your digital assets in one central location. This includes an image library, which is where pre-approved stock images can be housed.

Mimeo PrintX is a global marketing-centric print application. Because it’s run globally, all collateral is uniform. This ensures brand unity. It’s also easy for employees to order from, making it hard for them to mess up. Through a network of 30+ Print Service Providers (PSPs), your tradeshow materials in Brazil will turn out identically to those at a conference in Australia. 

Creating a uniform global marketing experience is vital for a cohesive customer brand experience. It also helps prevent employees from feeling stuck or lost when creating content for your brand. By taking the time to create brand tools for your marketing team, you will ensure your organization’s strong global presence.

[Free Guide] How to Gain Control Over Your Global Brand’s Print Materials

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