Step 8: How to Build & Use Your Brand Style Guide

 

I launched!!! *Happy Dance* Hi guys, what’s up! As you can probably tell, I’m super excited this week? Why? Because this is our final week in our series building a brand from scratch with Fiverr and it definitely has to the most exciting week of all.! That’s right the new brand shop is officially live! Come one, come all and get your work from home shoes! If you’ve been following along,  you know that I’ve partnered with Fiverr to show you how they can help solopreneurs and small teams get more done faster by outsourcing work to their freelancers. This week we are diving right into talking about our brand style guide.

 

Where it ALL Began

My brand began with an idea to launch a new a line of apparel and accessories for the freelance lifestyle. And it started with one product – my work from home shoe.

With the help of Fiverr I was able to turn all of that into a full fledged brand complete with a brand identity, website, social media strategy, and so much more.

I couldn’t be more excited to see it all come to life, and so fast!

When we last got together, I’d mentioned that everything  was nearly ready to go live. The missing element was making sure I had the systems support in place to make sure everything went smoothly when I hit the green light. So this past week I was focused on exactly that.

The first thing I wanted to do, was make sure I had all of the important parts of this new brand I’ve built gathered into one place. I love to use a tool called a brand book to do this. It’s where I document my brand mission, equity, design theme, and tone of voice.  The reason that I like to put it into a book is because it makes it super shareable.

 

Growing Your Team

As you seek to grow your team, your brand book will help new members rally around your vision. When they first join, it will be the book that gets them onboarded. And, as they grow with your company it will be the thing that helps them make decisions in the best interest of the brand.

For designers you hire, your brand book will serve to inspire their creativity. It will also give them clear boundaries in which to play, ensuring your brand always shows up consistently. No matter who you work with, they will all be playing by the same rules.

And for partners you work with, your brand book will serve as a source of inspiration. They will be able to see what you’re aspiring to build and be able to offer the right kinds of ideas to help you get there. It will also help make sure they don’t suggest ideas that would be clearly off brand.

Now that I’ve launched my site I’m going to be looking to Fiverr to help me do all of these things.  In fact already, I’ve hired a virtual assistant and a customer service rep who can help me field questions and troubleshoot during these first few weeks. I’m also going to bring on a Fiverr social media manager to make sure I’m able to keep up with regular posting and community building.  And those are just a few examples.

 

Your Own Brand Style Guide

Need some help developing your own brand style guide? Click below to purchase my easy to use template with ALL of the information you need to help support the growth of your brand! This ebook is JAM packed with lots of wonderful tips and tricks.

 

 

Services Used + Cost

I Will Provide Exceptional Customer Service

– Basic, $5
– Medium, $180 (My choice)
– Premium, $315

 

I Will Be Your Virtual Assistant

– Basic, $5
– Medium, $15 (My choice)
– Premium, $40

 

I Will Effectively Manage Your Email Marketing Campaign For 1 Month

– Basic, $125
– Medium, $245 (My choice)
– Premium, $315

 

I Will Boost Your Sales Of Shopify Website

– Basic, $10
– Medium, $95 (My choice)
– Premium, $150

 

Total: $535

Final Total: $3,625

 

I’m still a team of one, and plan to keep bootstrapping for a while. So I’ll be continuing to outsource projects to my extended Fiverr team to help me scale up my business.

It was amazing to have all of you on this journey with me and as a special thank you I want to offer all of you an exclusive discount to shop the brand. Enter this promo code at checkout for 20% off your purchase! FIVERR20.

Make sure to follow the brand @livefreelyco to stay up to date with how things are going!

 

We did it!!

 

PS: Want to learn more creating brand book complete with a template? This post is for you.

If you missed week 1, week 2,  week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, or week 7 of this series, check them out.