What to Include in Brand Guidelines When Working With Freelancers

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, every piece of content, graphic, and campaign reflects your brand. And when you’re outsourcing creative tasks to freelancers, the need for consistency becomes even more critical. Whether you’re building a new website, launching a product, or scaling your content strategy, clear brand guidelines ensure every contributor is aligned from the start. 

Knowing what to include in brand guidelines—from tone of voice to visual elements—eliminates guesswork, reduces unnecessary revisions, and helps maintain a consistent identity across platforms.

When working with freelancers—especially through platforms like FreeUp—having these guidelines ready means faster delivery and better results. Freelancers work faster and deliver better work when they know your brand’s voice and style upfront.

The Purpose of Brand Guidelines

Before diving into what goes into brand guidelines, it’s important to understand their core purpose. Brand guidelines are more than a document—they’re a tool for alignment, clarity, and efficiency.

They help define who you are as a business and ensure that no matter who’s creating your content—an in-house designer or a freelance writer—your voice remains consistent. Let’s explore how they protect your brand’s integrity.

Define Who You Are as a Business

Your brand guidelines serve as your identity card. They tell the world—and anyone working with you—who you are, what you stand for, and how you wish to be perceived. Whether you’re bold and disruptive or warm and trustworthy, your guidelines should communicate that clearly.

Ensure Consistency Across Content, Design, and Messaging

One of the main challenges of outsourcing is maintaining cohesion across different channels and touchpoints. Brand guidelines ensure that your emails, blog posts, ads, and web design feel like they came from the same source—even if multiple freelancers are involved.

Prevent Miscommunication and Missed Expectations

Without brand guidelines, every project begins with uncertainty. Misunderstandings can lead to unnecessary back-and-forth, extra revisions, and missed deadlines. Guidelines help set clear expectations upfront and give freelancers a concrete framework to work within.

What to Include in Brand Guidelines

A good brand guide covers both the visual and verbal components of your identity. It should be detailed enough to direct creative work, but simple enough to be user-friendly. Below are the essential elements to include:

Logo Usage

Your logo is often the first impression your brand makes. Giving freelancers specific rules around logo use helps maintain visual consistency.

• Approved Logos: Provide high-quality files for primary, secondary, and icon versions of your logo.
• Sizing, Spacing, and Placement: Specify minimum sizes, padding requirements, and preferred placements on different media.
• Don’ts: List things like stretching, rotating, recoloring, or placing the logo on clashing backgrounds.

Brand Colors

Color plays a major role in brand recognition. Your guide should provide clear color codes and context for use.

• Primary and Secondary Palettes: Include hex codes, RGB, and CMYK values for each color.
• Usage Rules: Explain when and where to use each color (e.g., primary for headers, secondary for backgrounds or accents).

Typography

Fonts reinforce your brand’s personality and readability. Outline your brand’s typography choices and fallbacks.

• Brand Fonts: Specify fonts for headlines, body text, buttons, and captions.
• Alternatives: Provide substitute fonts in case your primary choices aren’t accessible on certain platforms.

Voice and Tone

This is crucial for anyone writing or scripting on your behalf. A clear voice and tone guide ensures your messaging resonates consistently.

• Overall Personality: Define whether your brand is casual and fun, or professional and formal.
• What to Say and What Not to Say: Give examples of on-brand and off-brand language.
• Platform Adjustments: Tailor tone for emails, social media, blogs, and product descriptions.

Pro Tip: Wondering about the difference between a copywriter vs content writer? Your brand guidelines can help clarify what each should focus on, ensuring both are aligned to your messaging tone and goals.

Messaging Pillars or Key Phrases

Help freelancers understand your foundational messaging and what phrases to repeat across content.

• Core Brand Values: Share 3–5 pillars that represent your mission and values.
• Taglines or Must-Use Phrases: Include slogans, product-specific language, or phrases that reflect your positioning.

Visual Style Guidelines

Beyond your logo and colors, freelancers need to understand the aesthetic you’re going for in all visual content.

• Photography Preferences: Indicate if you prefer candid, real-life photos or styled stock images.
• Iconography and Illustration: Explain whether your brand uses simple icons, detailed illustrations, or custom artwork.
• Design Layout Preferences: Provide layout direction for digital and print, including white space, alignment, and grid systems.

Audience Overview

Understanding your target audience allows freelancers to create with purpose.

• Customer Profile: Define demographics, interests, pain points, and behaviors.
• Resonant Tone and Style: Share how your audience talks and what appeals to them. For example, Gen Z may prefer informal language and emoji use, while a B2B audience may expect clarity and professionalism.

Examples of On-Brand Work

Show, don’t just tell. A few strong samples can give freelancers the clarity they need to hit the mark.

• Screenshots or Links: Include well-executed social media posts, landing pages, product sheets, or email newsletters.
• Annotations: Add notes explaining why the work is successful and how it aligns with your brand.

File Access and Tools

Avoid bottlenecks by centralizing the resources freelancers need to get started.

• Asset Library: Provide a shared folder with logos, brand templates, font files, and style sheets.
• Tools and Platforms: List tools you use (e.g., Canva, Figma, Google Docs) and provide access instructions.

Bonus Tip: If you’re hiring a freelancer to design your site, having your brand files ready can speed up onboarding and reduce your total investment—especially when you’re asking how much does it cost to build a website.

Tips for Sharing Brand Guidelines With Freelancers

Having great guidelines is just the beginning. Sharing them effectively ensures they’re actually used and understood.

Keep It Simple But Thorough

Balance is key. Overwhelming a freelancer with 100+ pages of rules can be counterproductive. Instead, focus on the essentials while providing references for deeper dives. A 10–15 page guide is usually ideal.

Choose the Right Format

Use formats that are accessible and easy to update. Consider:

• PDF: Great for visual consistency, but harder to update.
• Google Docs: Easy to share and edit in real-time.
• Notion: Excellent for interactive, easily navigable guidelines.
• Slide Decks: Useful for presentations and creative briefs.

Make sure links to assets and tools are embedded and current.

Walk Through It on a Kickoff Call

Whenever possible, schedule a brief kickoff call to walk freelancers through the brand guide. It gives them the opportunity to ask questions and prevents misinterpretation. It also signals that your brand guidelines are a priority—not just an optional read.

Learn What to Include in Brand Guidelines

Knowing what to include in brand guidelines when working with freelancers leads to faster timelines, better quality, and fewer revisions. When freelancers understand your brand from the start, they can deliver work that fits your vision. 

A strong brand guide protects your image and helps everyone stay on the same page. It also makes it easier for freelancers to do great work quickly. Hiring freelancers on FreeUp? Include your brand guidelines up front to get aligned from day one. Book a consultation call to get started!