What are Brand Guidelines?

Apartment brand guidelines are like a road map to your apartment community's brand. You'll be able to get where you want to go with this map in hand!

Everything you ever wanted to know about apartment brand guidelines is here. But you might also be wondering how to apply it at the on-site level. So much to do, so little time. We'll get right to it.

Brand positioning, defined:
A short, sweet brand statement about your community that communicates what you are and what you're known for in the industry, market, and to your ideal resident.

How to implement brand positioning:

Use the brand positioning statement as an internal guiding light for everything you're doing. Everything should measure up to it, especially if you're concerned about brand loyalty and brand authenticity, and creating a brand that's based on a lifestyle.

Brand attributes, defined:
These are the descriptors that embody your brand, as if it were a person. We like to do the "which celebrity would your brand be and why?" to get closer to the heart behind your community.

How to implement brand attributes:
On-site managers can use brand attributes to verbalize the difference of the community (useful for any social media captions) and help embody the spirit of the culture while they give tours.

Ideal Resident Profile (IRP), defined:
Your community's key audience. Age, Gender, Race, Income, there are plenty of things that you can identify as the "ideal" when it comes to the resident you'd like in your community.

How to implement the IRP:
Use your knowledge and data from your IRP to communicate better. It's like a platonic version of "The Five Love Languages." You can alter how you speak to the type of prospect you're selling when you know more about them— resident demographics must influence your branding.

Brand voice, defined:
Your brand, in words—showcasing your community's personality and style. This is how others perceive you and hear you in written word. This will show up in your brand identity statement, your tagline, your headlines, and your general brand vocabulary.

Brand tone, defined:

Using your brand voice in different settings, as it's called for. Informative tone, descriptive tone, it all depends on the occasion and audience.

How to implement brand voice and tone:
The tone you use in flyers for upcoming resident events should be a little different than your brochures for touring prospects. Use your brand voice across all your collateral, but tilt your tone to angle to the right part of the customer "funnel". Resident announcements will also require a slightly different tone, too—a little more casual, warm, and excited…rather than 100% informative.

COLOR PALETTE

Color palette, defined:The color palette is the exact colors that are to be used in your branding materials and not meant to be strayed from. It's between 3-6 colors, typically, and all four color codes will be identified so you can color match no matter the program or medium (RGB, CMYK, PMS, AND HEX).How to implement color palettes:Royal blue isn't the same everywhere. Use the codes to look up the exact match. Close enough isn't good enough. Find the right one in the assortment in your email newsletter builder. Type in the code in Canva. Save it. (After all, you'll definitely use it again.) Ordering swag? Use the codes.