CGS Creative Branding Style Guide & Strategy Manual

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BRANDING STYLE GUIDE & STRATEGY MANUAL PAG E 1


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THE GOAL To transition your lifestyle blog to a profitable business offering photography services, stock photographs and online courses. The challenge is turning your loyal and large readership into paying customers/subscribers through an effective sales funnel. We can do this by creating professional branding and cohesive and consistent online presence that will draw your reader first to your free offerings (blog, email courses), then to stock photography through their monthly subscriptions and paid online courses. Eventually the goal is for these readers/clients to hire you for custom photography for their business. They will only do this once they established trust in your skills and expertise which will be showcased through your Instagram feed and challenges, resourceful blog posts and email courses.

DREAM CLIENTS Your dream client are primarily female, with their age ranging from early 20’s to retirement age. They either have established business or are in an unsatisfying position working for someone else with a dream to become an online entrepreneur. They’re interested in being a part of a larger online community and place value on working with other women entrepreneurs. They stay on top of trends in the lifestyle/home decor/online worlds and have an awareness of the importance of professional and consistent visuals. However, they need a bit of convincing they can either learn how to do it themselves (e-courses) or invest in their business knowing it has the potential to bring in new leads & income.

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TRANSITION YOUR LIFEST YLE BLOG INTO A PROFITABLE BUSINESS OFFERING PHOTOGRAPHY SERVICES, STOCK PHOTOGRAPHS AND ONLINE COURSES MAIN GOAL

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YO U R CO M PETITI O N You competitors vary as your services vary. Stock subscriptions sites are becoming quite trendy in the online world a few other creative photographers are offering this service although mostly they are selling per image and not with a monthly subscription. These sites also tend to offer very feminine images that would not suit either male entrepreneurs or the not-overly-girly entrepreneurs whose brand colours lie outside of the pink, black and white scope. The market if quite open for custom stock and portrait photography for creatives and your primary competition in this regards is based in the US. Free and paid courses for Squarespace are picking up steam as Squarespace becomes a popular web platform although there is plenty of space for teaching here and people are keen to get informed and be taught how to create a great website by themselves.

YO U R U S P Your unique selling point is the variety of services you offer to the same audience and the fact you have been blogging for 6 years, generating a wealth of information and a large readership who are ready to be put through your sales funnel. In addition to this your positive and easy-going manner makes it a delight for people to connect with you. Building up a relationship with your clients and readers that goes beyond the teacher/photographer-client dynamic is inevitable. No other stock photography site is partnered with a charity and using it as a marketing tool. This has the potential to be a strong marketing tool in gaining new subscribers who believe in your cause and are ready to help where they can whilst still looking after the business and enhancing their online presence.

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B R A N D WO R D S FEMININE

C R E AT I V E

P L AY F U L

CALM

ELEGANT

BRIGHT

DELIGHTFUL

CLEAN

KIND-HEARTED

TRUSTWORTHY

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INSPIRATION

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LOGO PRIMARY LOGO

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LOGO A LT E R N A T E L O G O S

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LOGO SUBMARKS

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LOGO DO’S

When the primary logo is on a white background, it is shown in the above colours.

When the primary logo is on a colour background, it is always shown in white.

LOGO DO NOT’S

The primary & alternate combination mark logos are never shown in one colour, except the greyscale version, when on a white background.

The primary & alternate logos are never shown offbalance or rotated.

When the primary & alternate logos are on a very light background colour, it is shown in it’s original form.

The primary & alternate logos are never black on a colour background.

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CLEARSPACE RULES

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REPEAT PATTERNS 1 | MONOGRAM

2 | LEAF 1

3 | LEAF 2

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TEXTURES 1 | GRUNGE

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FONTS 1 | H E A D L I N E

Uppercase only; Tracking 100-200

PONTIAC ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1 2 3 4 5 678 9 0 2 | S U B - H E A D

Sentence or lowercase only; Tracking 100-150

L i b re Ba sker v ille a b c d e fg h i j klm nop qrst uvwxyz 1 2345678 90 3 | B O D Y C O P Y

Tracking 0-50

Source Sans Pro ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 4 | A C C E N T

Emily Lime Standard abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

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COLOURS 1 | P R I M A R Y

Used on website & business stationer y

#F9CBBF

#A7ACB6

#DBE2D9

#343538

C1M23Y19K0

C36M27Y21K0

C13M6Y14K0

C71M64Y59K55

R249G203B191

R167G172B182

R219G226B217

R52G54B56

2 | S E C O N D A R Y

Used in blog graphics, photographs and other items

#F8A993

#9E8B64

#F1BEC0

#CFD1D5

C0M41Y37K0

C38M39Y67K7

C3M29Y15K0

C18M13Y11K0

R248G1 69B147

R158G139B100

R241G190B192

R207G209B213

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BLOG GRAPHICS

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