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Navigating the line between adhering to brand rules and coveted unfettered creativity can feel like walking a tightrope over a canyon. For enterprise tech and consulting marketers, the challenge is real.
On one hand, you know brand guidelines provide a framework to ensure consistency, professionalism, and recognition across all communications. On the other, the need for fresh and engaging content often pushes you to think outside the box—and outside those guidelines.
With brand teams tasked with enforcing rules and marketing departments under pressure to deliver results, tensions can arise. But when approached strategically, balancing brand guidelines with creativity can lead to outcomes both sides can proudly stand behind.
Enterprise tech and consulting companies understand consistency is a crucial element. Any time your audience, whether prospective clients or partners, interacts with your brand—on a website, in a sales deck, through customer support—they need to experience the same entity. Brand guidelines build that familiarity.
But—and it's a big but—strict adherence without flexibility stifles innovation. Too rigid an interpretation risks making campaigns feel generic or uninspired, leaving a disconnect between your audience’s expectations and your message.
Marketers are wired to push boundaries, spot trends, and devise unique ways to connect with their audience. It's this drive that keeps campaigns fresh, relatable, and impactful. You might be brainstorming video content that humanizes a complex technology, or creating an interactive social campaign that conveys benefits and stats in real-world relevant use cases. Creativity is your lifeblood, and being boxed in by rigid rules can feel suffocating.
Building a partnership with brand starts with understanding and clear communication. Here’s how to pave the path to collaboration:
Many brand teams realize that every consideration hasn’t been mapped to their established guidelines, and may be open to interpretations and suggestions that build on them. Some creative ideas may feel risky, or come across as frivolous to brand, when described with words alone.
Wherever possible, develop wireframes, mock-ups, or storyboards to demonstrate how your visuals and copy will combine into a cohesive story. And when presenting or submitting your request, position how your campaign or project builds on the established guidelines developed by brand. When you do this, along with your visual and copy supporting your objectives, you set yourself up for a discussion vs a flat “no.”
Consider a switch in positioning and explain how a varied approach will support broader business objectives. For instance, elaborate on how your campaign will attract a previously untapped segment of your audience while still maintaining brand integrity.
When you align your campaign objectives to driving brand visibility and creating business impact, everyone is set up for success and recognition.
You’re sitting on an untapped gold mine. Keep track of your previously approved deliverables and campaigns, and the results seen from those initiatives, especially those that were brand approved and deviated from the norm. Lean into what’s already been approved as a viable option, noting what tactics were employed when presenting previously. Incorporating those elements, and noting their prior approval of use, are more likely to be considered. You never know, they could even be wrapped into the next brand update.
Achieving a balance between guidelines and creativity comes down to open communication, a mutual understanding of goals, and respect for branding. Consider these strategies for taking your relationship with the brand team from workable to productive to collaborative.
Don’t wait until your campaign is fully formed to seek brand approval. Loop them in during the brainstorming stage. By making the brand team part of the process up front, you’ll give them table stakes in the outcome and open communication to discussing ideas that might push beyond the norm.
When you deviate from the guidelines, ensure there’s a clear rationale. Providing context shows you're not pushing boundaries on a whim, but thoughtfully and intentionally marrying the campaign and your marketing vision and goals with brand guidance.
When collaboration leads to successful campaigns, share the wins with your brand partners. Celebrate key metrics and showcase how adhering to (or flexing) the brand guidelines contributed to those results. This can deeply strengthen the relationship and set the stage for more collaborative projects.
If you’re working with an agency, make sure to leverage their expertise. Approved agency vendors and your accounts team understand your objectives, know how to push boundaries, find cost-effective solutions, and win brand buy-in without compromising on quality, or your timelines. Their ability to spot opportunities for creative flexibility can make a huge difference.
The ultimate goal is to work where brand guidelines and creativity intercept—professionally and purposefully. This is where innovative campaigns that are rock solid and align to brand values come to life, elevating not just your marketing efforts but the perception of your entire brand.
By approaching this balancing act with preparation and partnership, you’ll not only win buy-in but create campaigns that resonate with your audience and reinforce your brand’s place in the market.
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