In many organisations, colleagues outside the Communications team create their own communication materials every day. Think of HR, recruitment and various project teams, as well as different locations and branches. An invitation to an open day at a university campus, a menu for residents at a care home, or new house rules for an apartment complex managed by a housing association: the central Communications team would quickly become overwhelmed if it had to be involved in every single piece of communication. It is therefore not only practical, but often essential, for colleagues to be able to create communication materials independently.
But the more people create communication materials, the more challenging it becomes to maintain a consistent and recognisable brand identity.
We have all seen them: communication materials that don’t quite follow the established brand guidelines. A promotional poster in a shop using a different font, a poster for a school event with the logo positioned incorrectly, or an outdated brochure where the year hasn’t been updated.
In most cases, colleagues want to stay on-brand, but do not always have easy access to the right tools, up-to-date files or clear guidelines.
Some common challenges include:
In many cases, it becomes increasingly difficult for the central Communications team to keep track of all the materials being created and used across the organisation. And even with a clear overview, a lot of time can still go into corrections and revisions.
The principle is simple: The more people communicate on behalf of your organisation, the less you can rely on checking everything afterwards. Brand consistency needs to be built into the process.
Having the Communications team review every piece of content creates unnecessary extra work. It adds rounds of revisions, slows things down and leaves colleagues dependent on Communications. If your current process looks something like this, you’ll know what we mean:
There is a more efficient way:
clear guidelines + approved assets + flexible templates = the freedom to create while staying on-brand
Flexible templates give colleagues creative freedom while keeping the essentials in place. A good template puts your brand guidelines into practice. Elements such as logos, fonts, colours and margins can be locked, while text, photography and certain layout options remain flexible.
That means colleagues don’t need to know exactly how much white space a logo needs, for example. The template takes care of it for them.
But what about brands that need a lot of variation? Can templates still work?
Absolutely. NHL Stenden is a good example. The university of applied sciences has several academies, each with room to express its own character within the overall brand identity. Flexible templates provide this freedom without compromising the recognisability of the NHL Stenden brand. Read how NHL Stenden approaches this.
However, templates are only one part of the solution. Colleagues also need easy access to the right logos, images and other brand assets.
Even the best templates won’t prevent someone from using "logo_final_v3_new.png" if it is still sitting on a local drive. Storing brand assets in one central location makes it much easier to ensure everyone is working with the latest versions.
Many organisations use a DAM (Digital Asset Management) system to manage their assets centrally. It gives colleagues a single place to find images, logos, documents and other brand assets, with filters and search functionality to help them find what they need quickly.
Version control and approval workflows help keep approved, up-to-date files readily available. Roles and permissions can also be used to control who has access to specific materials.
A DAM makes it easier for colleagues to find and use the right assets. But it doesn’t necessarily bring those assets together with brand guidelines and templates in the same working environment.
A DAM focuses on managing and sharing digital assets. Flexible templates give colleagues the tools to create materials that stay within the brand guidelines. A brand portal brings both together with your brand guidelines in one central environment.
Depending on how the brand portal is set up, colleagues can:
Not every organisation needs all of these features. If your main challenge is managing files centrally and making them easy to find, a DAM may be all you need. If colleagues also create their own communication materials and maintaining brand consistency is becoming more challenging, a brand portal offers a broader solution.
A brand portal works best when colleagues can use it easily and independently. Templates should therefore do more than safeguard the brand: they also need to reflect the communication materials colleagues actually create.
That makes usability an important part of brand consistency. By involving colleagues during implementation, templates and processes can be better aligned with what they need in practice. After all, they are the ones who will be using them every day.
ViVa! Zorggroep paid particular attention to this during the implementation of its brand portal. Training, guidance and conversations with colleagues helped users become familiar with the new way of working. As Communications Advisor Masja Slootweg puts it: “Ultimately, people simply have to start using it. That’s where real adoption begins.” Read more about ViVa! Zorggroep’s experience with a brand portal.
Brand management doesn’t stop once a DAM or brand portal has been implemented. The platform needs ongoing attention to stay useful and up to date.
Make sure it is clear who is responsible for:
Templates evolve, files need updating and new requirements will emerge across the organisation. Clear ownership helps ensure the environment continues to meet the needs of both Communications and its users.
When everything is set up effectively, colleagues no longer need to rely on the Communications team for every piece of content they create. That means fewer rounds of revisions, fewer small design requests and shorter turnaround times.
Colleagues can create what they need more independently, while Communications keeps control of the brand. This also frees up the Communications team to spend more time on strategic advice and support.
As Masja Slootweg explains: “We've shifted from being primarily execution-focused to playing a much more strategic advisory role.”
Maintaining brand consistency doesn’t mean the Communications team needs to check every piece of content. By making approved brand assets easy to find, turning brand guidelines into flexible templates and setting clear parameters, you can give colleagues the freedom to create communication materials independently while staying on-brand.
A brand portal can bring these elements together in one central environment. But technology alone isn’t enough: implementation, adoption and ongoing management all play a part in making it work.
Instead of checking whether everything is on-brand afterwards, you make it easier for colleagues to get it right from the start.
Curious about what a brand portal can do for your organisation?