Stage 2: Building Your Brand and Guidelines

Step 2: Building Your Brand and Guidelines

Once your identity is in place, it’s time to translate that into how your brand looks, feels and behaves. This is where your business starts to show up consistently, online, in print, across socials, and in the hands of anyone who might work with or represent you.

This stage is all about turning the thinking from Stage One into a usable visual identity that you can share with collaborators, designers, marketers, or anyone else helping your business grow.

Why Are Branding and Guidelines Important?

First impressions count. Your brand visuals and voice are often the first thing someone experiences before they read about your services or get in touch. If the visual side of your business doesn’t align with your values or your message, it can lead to confusion and mixed signals.

This stage gives you consistency. It helps you feel more confident, look more credible, and give your audience a clearer experience. Whether you’re a retreat host, architect, nutritionist, or interior designer, having a professional, well-crafted brand builds trust and recognition.

It also brings cohesion to areas you might not have considered yet.

From email footers and automated workflows, to newsletters, lead magnets, internal documents, and printed materials. Your brand guidelines give you a clear framework to apply your look and voice consistently across the board.

Who is it for?

This stage is for small businesses, independents, and rebrands who want to take the ideas from Stage One and turn them into a brand they can use and grow with. And if we've already worked together on Stage One, then we already know everything we need to know about your business, making this process even more efficient. If you’re tired of using mismatched visuals or relying on guesswork every time you create a post, document or web page, this is for you.

How I Help

We start with a detailed Q&A that captures the full picture of your business. From your values and audience, to how you want people to feel when they experience your brand. I use this as the foundation to build a full visual identity and brand guidelines document. These guidelines are a powerful tool not just for clarity, but for delegation too—giving external teams like designers, web editors, and social marketers a clear structure to follow so your brand stays consistent even as you grow.

Here’s what to expect:

• visual identity design

  Together we explore colour palettes, typography pairings, logo styles, layout rules, and image guidance. We think about how each of these choices helps communicate your message visually.

  
  

• mockups and examples

  I’ll show you how your brand works across key materials like social media posts, website elements, or marketing content so you can see everything in context. I won’t design every template, but you’ll have the clarity to build consistent assets from a strong foundation.

  
  

• brand guidelines handover

  You’ll receive a comprehensive, easy-to-use Brand Guidelines document. This can be shared with any internal team or external collaborator so your brand always shows up in the right way.

This stage ensures that your business doesn’t just sound consistent, but looks it too. And if you ever bring in designers, social media managers, or marketing support down the line and they’ll have exactly what they need to hit the ground running.

Example in Practice

When CoWorking Devon rebranded, this stage was key. We worked through typography combinations, colour choices, photography direction, and layout consistency, all tailored to match the tone and energy of the space.

From there, we applied the new brand across social content and marketing materials, testing how each element worked together and refining where needed. The end result was a polished, easy-to-use brand kit that now guides everything from signage to Instagram stories.

By the end of this stage, you’ll be ready to build your online presence with clarity. Your brand visuals will be ready to plug into a new website, email automations, online booking pages, lead magnets, or whatever comes next.

If this sounds like the right next step for your business, you can book a free 30-minute discovery call with me. We'll chat through where you're at, where you want to go, and whether this stage is the right fit to help you get there.

Next up: building your digital presence in Stage 3.

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