Some 20-something relatives are shopping for their first house this spring, with big, optimistic thoughts of landing that perfect starter home that ticks off all their boxes. After spending exhaustive weekends driving from one For Sale sign to another, they return with the same downtrodden, disheartening, disillusioned disappointment: it’s not that houses are not in their desired neighborhood, or don’t have the right square footage or don’t have the yard they’ve always dreamed of. It’s that the owners tiled the bathroom themselves, laid down flooring using the instructions on the back of the box, or did their very best while putting up wallpaper … all with the predictable and unfortunate lack of workmanship that comes with homeowner Do-It-Yourself (DIY).
The DIY revolution nurtured by how-to TV and big box stores is being mimicked everywhere from home improvement to cooking and finally, to marketing materials. Everyone with a French cast iron pot is somehow magically transformed into Julia Child, and everyone who buys matching napkins is surprisingly vying with Martha Stewart to be the model of entertaining. This misguided notion that anyone can do anything just by having the right tools has infiltrated branding and marketing: anyone with Microsoft Word is now Shakespeare, and anyone who knows the difference between Arial and Times New Roman is now Paul Rand.
Brand managers have to get more tactical and understand the reality of DIY
Yet again, the world has changed. How many times can that happen in our careers?
You’ve all undoubtedly heard the buzz that “brands are becoming publishers” by now. While few brands have truly become publishers in the traditional sense (apologies to the folks at Red Bull and Virgin), the reality is that many people within your enterprise are publishing content on their own, DIY style. All without the benefit of your experience or understanding of the brand quality control you’ve spent years ensuring. And these are all major touch points between your customers and your brand.
So, as a brand manager or marketing pro dealing with this new reality, are you prepared to stomach some slightly askew tiles? Accept the floorboard cuts that don’t line up? Ignore unsightly seams in the wallpaper? Are you going to adapt to the reality of the contemporary business need for publishing by anyone with valid content to share, and attack the problem head on?
Traditional brand guidelines or a style guide is not the answer
Every enterprise has thorough Brand Guidelines documented, but the problem is that they’re written for graphic designers with the education, experience and skill set to interpret them and execute on them while maintaining the integrity of the brand. But the DIY crowd is left confused and uninformed, and gravitates towards easy to grasp subjects like using a particular color without understanding how that plays only a small role within a much larger picture.
It is not up to brand managers to be the judge, jury and executioner when it comes to all things brand, but rather a more collaborative role of teacher, guide and one who empowers others to make good brand choices. Remember, your brand will be broadcast and shared by customers, prospects and advocates, so you need to be on the same page to put your best foot forward – it is up to brand managers to facilitate this process.
As we at TechTarget are beginning the process to update our style guide, we’ve come to the now obvious conclusion that we need an additional style guide that directly addresses the needs of DIY publishers. If we don’t, we can expect some downtrodden, disheartening, disillusioned disappointment not only within ourselves, but more importantly, from the people we’re trying to sell our brand to, our customers.
6 ways a DIY publisher style guide differs from a traditional style guide
- Describe everything in simple terminology
- Explain why individual choices matter so much, and why personal preferences can be the enemy of the brand
- Encourage constituents to always stop and think how the brand is being portrayed to customers before publishing anything
- Decide what you're willing to overlook, and define the important balance between flexibility and the rigid rules that protect the brand
- Show not only the right way to do things, but also the wrong way, with examples of good intentions gone wrong
- Find DIY’ers within the enterprise who can be advocates for your cause
I’m very interested to know who else might be heading in the same direction. Feel free to leave a comment or connect with me on LinkedIn. I’d love to share ideas, and share the lessons i learned when I (semi-successfully) built a staircase myself.
Originally published on TechTarget's Mktr2Mktr Blog.