Brand guidelines for a small business
Written by Jack Harrington and Gabriel Pozo, the founders of Urban Media, Melbourne. Updated .
Brand guidelines are the rules for how your business looks and sounds. For a small business they fit on one page.
The point is not decoration. It is that the person making your website, your sign and your Instagram all reach for the same things.
Logo
- Which files to use where: full colour, white, black, with and without the tagline.
- The clear space around it, so nothing crowds it.
- The smallest size it can be used at.
- What not to do: stretching it, recolouring it, putting it on a busy photo.
Colour and type
- Three to five colours, each with its exact hex code.
- Which colour is for backgrounds, which for text and which for buttons.
- One heading font and one body font, and where to get them.
- A rule for sizes, so headings and body text stay consistent.
Voice
- Three words that describe how you sound, such as plain, direct and friendly.
- A few phrases you use and a few you never would.
- How you sign off an email and how you answer the phone.
Photos
- The kind of picture that fits: real work, real people, natural light.
- The kind that does not: stock images, heavy filters, mixed styles.
Keeping it alive
Put the page where the people who make things for you can find it, and send it before any new supplier starts. A guide nobody reads is a guide that does nothing.
More guides for new businesses
- Logo or website first for a new business
- What to do after registering an ABN
- New business launch checklist, Melbourne
- How to name a business in Australia
- Business name vs company name in Australia
- Do I need a website for a small business
- What is a brand identity for a small business
- How to get your first customers as a new business
- Google Business Profile for a new business
- How much a new business should spend on ads
- Website checklist before you launch a small business site
- What photos a new business needs
- Landing page or website for ads
- Social media profiles for a new business
- How to start a business in Melbourne
- How to start a clothing brand in Australia
- How to register a brand name in Australia
- Do I need an ABN to start a business in Australia
- Sole trader or company in Australia
- Do I need to register for GST
- How to choose a .com.au domain name
- How to get a logo for a new business
- Business email for a new business
- Privacy policy for a small business website in Australia
- What to post on social media when you start a business
- Setting up a business in Victoria
All of them are on the guides page.
Who is behind this
Urban Launch is built and run by Urban Media (ABN 28 169 446 902), a Melbourne studio founded by Jack Harrington and Gabriel Pozo. Urban Media makes video, design and websites for clients including Box Hill United, Brighton Grammar and Porsche Club Victoria.
If you want to talk to the people doing the work, call 0456 785 904. More about who we are, and how to check us, is on the About page.
Common questions
- How long should brand guidelines be?
- For a small business, one page is enough: logo rules, colours with codes, fonts, voice and photo style. A longer brand book can come once there is more to govern.
- Who should have a copy?
- Anyone who makes something with your name on it: your web designer, your signwriter, whoever does your social posts, and any printer.
Start with a Launch Call
Live and generating enquiries within 45 days, or we keep working at no extra cost until you are. The Launch Call is where we check it is the right fit before we book anything in. For a real example, read the Airwize case study (12 conversions, meaning leads that became sales, in the first month of Google Ads from $70 of ad spend, our figures). You can also read how a launch package compares with hiring separately, or go to the packages and prices on the homepage.
More: Brand and website package, Melbourne, Startup package for a new business, Melbourne, Branding, website and photography package, Melbourne.