As a marketer in the professional services ecosphere, you understand the role a solid demand generation  program plays within your overall business strategy. 

But one does not just … start marketing … without a robust foundation of branded assets that work together to define your business and deepen your differentiators. 

Core brand assets (CBAs) are essential to  your brand identity. There’s a difference between CBAs and what we’ll call “steady state marketing content.” Steady state marketing content is always flowing, and changes based on campaigns and initiatives. CBAs, on the other hand, are your brand’s fundamental visual and messaging elements that remain consistent over time. These assets include:

• Logo 
• Tagline
• Typography
• Color Palette
• Imagery
• Tone of Voice
• Website

It’s also important to note that core brand collateral (stationery, brochures, presentations, sales sheets and other documents containing visual assets and content) can be (but aren’t always) included in your CBAs. 

Core Brand Assets are Evergreen

CBAs should remain consistent over time because they are what your customers recognize and associate with your brand. Especially within the professional services landscape, they provide a solid foundation for developing thought leadership  content, ensuring your messaging is coherent and instantly recognizable.Yes, they may evolve as your brand does, but for the most part should remain consistent in general, everyday use. 

Core Brand Assets are Versatile

Here are some real-world instances of how CBAs can be used:

• A key services brochure that uses branded fonts, colors, imagery and messaging
• A presentation template with your brand fonts, colors and imagery, and templates for diagrams and charts
• Printed POV sheets with your tagline, brand colors and stock photos
• Letterhead, envelopes and business cards featuring your logo and brand colors

Best Practices for Developing Core Brand Assets that will Position Your Brand for Viability and Growth

Following these steps will ensure your brand is set up in a way that empowers and enhances your marketing and sales teams’ efforts and initiative. Skip steps at your own risk! 

1. Audit Current Brand Identity and Collateral
   Evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Take a deep dive into your existing brand materials to assess their current state.
2. Define Target Audience and Brand Positioning
   Clearly identify who your brand is targeting and its position in the market. Be as specific as possible. Thoroughly understand how your service offering cures the pains of this audience.
3. Conduct Market Research
   Analyze competitors and industry trends. How is your service offering different?
4. Facilitate Branding Workshops
   Collaborate with key stakeholders to define your brand character, personality and values. Getting buy-in from your organization’s leaders is imperative right from the start. Importantly, you should include key voices from your company, but recognize that too many voices can water down your brand—don’t try to please everybody.
5. Design Core Brand Assets
   This includes logos, submarks, typography, color palette, imagery and branded collateral.
6. Create a Style Guide
   Develop a guide that defines visual identity and usage rules. Be sure internal groups other than marketing will find it easy to understand and use.
7. Finalize Official Brand Guidelines
   Share these guidelines internally for consistent implementation.
8. Build Out a Full Suite of Core Brand Assets and Templates
   Create all necessary materials for your brand. This includes items such as a logo file library, presentation templates, printed stationery, a website, solutions or capabilities brochures and sales sheets. CBAs and core content include any materials you may use on the regular to define and differentiate your core offering.
9. Train Your Organization
   This often-ignored step is essential for brand awareness, consistency and reputation. Ensure that everyone in your organization knows how to implement the assets correctly and provide them with easy-to-access tools to do so.

Finally, You’ll Have all the Tools you Need to Start Marketing.

Inevitably, your brand will evolve, and your CBAs should follow suit. For example, has there been a merger or acquisition? Have you added or removed a service? Has the mission changed? Have you narrowed your core audience? All of these reasons justify a change in your brand. 

At Scribewise, we always begin work with our clients with our Articulation and Alignment project, during which we will help you align your business goals with your marketing efforts. From there, during our Essentials work, we help build out a library of content that reinforces your point of view, brand guidelines, an updated website, service pages, sell sheets and thought leadership platforms. At that point, your professional services firm will have the tools it needs to continue on to a successful Demand Activation program. 

Remember, the most successful marketing programs use their core brand assets to their advantage. Once they’re developed, it should be easy to implement new marketing materials and enjoy the results of a robust and successful demand generation  program.