Most small business owners don't often think about their own personal brand. They just focus on the product they are trying to sell and in the worst case, hope for the best. You can't blame them, when running a small business people often wear many hats and may not have the time to focus on branding or marketing until they really need to!

In reality, if you're not thinking about how your business perceived by its customers, you're doing yourself a disservice. Your website should be a 24hr beacon of your brand; highlighting what your values are as a business in addition to being an extension of your products or services.

How does a style guide help?

In a nutshell, the style guide ensures that there is always an underlying consistency in how people experience your brand. It helps to build and keep customers loyal by maintaining this level of quality through every touchpoint they have with your business - and this is a very important consideration for your website as well.

When you engage a web pro and already have a style guide in hand, you are going to save a significant amount of time (and potentially money) during the development process. Existing fonts, colour palettes, logos and more will allow your web designer to create a web presence that truly represents your business, brand and style. It will potentially save unnecessary revisions as well. Bonus!

What should be included in a style guide?

This all depends on who you ask. Publishers include specific grammar rules, writing tips for voice and guidelines. Graphic designers would use fonts, colours and sizes in their work with branding as well as appropriate usage of the logo or tagline to make sure it's cohesive across platforms from social media marketing to digital and print.

For a website you would look to include guidelines that cover digital elements (even down to navigation buttons) to ensure your website is a living and breathing representation of your brand. If you're a small business having a great logo and a basic colour palette is a great start - and if you have an approved font, even better!!

There are some great examples online to inspire you OR if you are looking for a great Ipswich designer please don't hesitate to reach out, we work with some wonderful local designers that will make sure that your business is looking it's best!