Get your corporate ID bible e-ready

Ensure your corporate identity elements consistently appear in the same position and the same size in all places and on all corporate documents, and now in your e-marketing too.

Codify these decisions in a set of guidelines (some call it a 'bible'). This establishes and strengthens your overall company [brand] so that your audiences see the same image of your company at all times. It is this repetition of image - such as McDonald's 'golden arches' or the Coke logo - that begins to form a lasting impression in the minds of your key audiences.

The Coke and McDonald's guidelines are huge, so I found this smaller example on Trader's website. Simple language, easy layout and compact, but they don't have any guidelines for websites, microsites, banners, email, screensavers, etc which, let's face it, is where we are spending more and more marketing budget now isn't it?

It details how to use their [corporate identity] properly in the traditional channels. The colour palette, background colours, typography, stationery, Powerpoint, etc. It's a 30-page PDF available on their website. This is going to need updating to become e-ready.

(When you update yours to include onscreen/online usage, this is a great place to start. Download the PDF and chat with your designers about how they work with it in online marketing projects.)