Brand Assets

What Are Brand Assets in Marq?

Brand Assets in Marq are brand-specific resources—such as logos, colors, fonts, and images—that are centrally managed to ensure brand consistency across all projects and documents. By using Brand Assets, organizations can equip teams with the correct visual resources, reducing the risk of using outdated or incorrect branding elements.

Key Benefits of Using Brand Assets

Consistency: Brand Assets help enforce brand guidelines by providing a centralized source for approved brand visuals and other resources.
Efficiency: Team members can access a pre-approved set of brand materials, reducing time spent searching for logos, images, or other assets.
Control: Administrators can manage which assets are available to users and keep brand resources up-to-date as changes occur.
Improved Collaboration: With centralized assets, collaborators within and outside your organization can access the correct branding elements, ensuring consistency in shared projects.

Types of Brand Assets in Marq

Marq offers various types of Brand Assets that can be tailored to meet an organization’s specific needs. Here are some of the main types of assets:

Logos: Store multiple logo versions (e.g., full color, black and white, monochrome) to ensure the correct logo is always used in documents.
Fonts: Upload and manage brand-specific fonts to maintain typography standards in every project. Font styles and sizes can also be standardized to prevent off-brand text styling.
Colors: Create and manage brand color palettes. Marq allows you to set primary, secondary, and accent colors, which are then locked and available for consistent use in all projects.
Brand Images: Store approved images, icons, and illustrations that align with the organization’s visual identity. This might include product images, team photos, or specific illustrations associated with your brand.

Smart Brand Assets

Smart Brand Assets are an advanced feature in Marq that automatically apply brand elements within templates and documents. This functionality allows users to customize content while Marq enforces brand standards behind the scenes.

How Smart Brand Assets Work

Automatic Replacement: Smart Brand Assets automatically replace placeholder elements in templates with pre-set brand assets, such as logos, colors, or fonts. For example, if a user opens a template containing a logo placeholder, Marq will automatically populate it with the correct, approved logo for that organization.
Adaptive Content: Users can swap images or logos in templates while staying within the constraints of approved brand assets. This flexibility allows customization for specific use cases (e.g., using a different product image) without deviating from brand standards.
Content Locking: Marq enables administrators to lock specific aspects of a template (such as colors, fonts, or logos) to prevent unauthorized changes. Users can still make adjustments within these constraints but cannot change the locked brand assets, preserving brand integrity.
Dynamic Updates: Smart Brand Assets are dynamically updated to reflect any changes made to the brand assets library. For example, if a new logo is added or an existing color palette is updated, templates and projects using Smart Brand Assets will automatically reflect the changes.

Key Benefits of Smart Brand Assets

Automated Brand Compliance: Ensures that brand elements are always up-to-date and correct, without requiring manual intervention.
Efficient Content Creation: Reduces the time and effort needed to apply brand standards by automatically placing approved assets in the right locations.
Scalability: Allows large teams to create on-brand content at scale by streamlining access to brand assets and locking down brand-critical elements.

Setting Up Brand Assets in Marq

Setting up Brand Assets in Marq is a straightforward process that allows administrators to manage and organize approved brand materials.

Upload Brand Assets: Administrators can upload and organize logos, colors, fonts, and images directly into the Brand Assets library in Marq.
Organize Assets by Category: Group assets into folders or categories to make them easily accessible to users. For example, logos can be organized by type (e.g., color, grayscale) or by department.
Set Up Smart Brand Assets in Templates: Enable Smart Brand Assets in your templates by assigning placeholders and pre-selecting brand elements for logos, colors, and fonts. This will automatically populate these elements in projects created from the template.
Apply Content Locking: Administrators can lock specific assets to prevent unauthorized changes. For example, logos and primary colors can be locked so that users can customize templates without altering critical brand elements.
Maintain and Update Assets: Regularly update brand assets as needed to reflect the latest branding guidelines. Changes in the brand asset library will automatically propagate to any Smart Brand Assets applied in templates.

For more details on setting up and managing Brand Assets in Marq, refer to these articles:

Brand Assets Overview: A general overview of Brand Assets in Marq.
Smart Brand Assets: Learn more about Smart Brand Assets and how to implement them in templates.
Managing Brand Images: Detailed information on uploading, organizing, and managing brand images.

Use Cases for Brand Assets in Marq

Brand Assets and Smart Brand Assets can be utilized across various departments and project types. Here are a few common use cases:

Marketing Campaigns: Ensure that all campaign materials adhere to branding standards by providing marketing teams with approved logos, fonts, and colors.
Sales Presentations: Store approved logos, product images, and icons for use in sales presentations to maintain consistency in customer-facing content.
Internal Communications: Use Smart Brand Assets in internal documents to apply brand colors and fonts consistently across memos, reports, and internal presentations.
Events and Conferences: Provide pre-approved logos, graphics, and color schemes for event materials, reducing the risk of off-brand visuals at public events.

Best Practices for Using Brand Assets

Keep Assets Updated: Regularly review and update brand assets to ensure all approved materials reflect the latest branding guidelines.
Use Smart Brand Assets in Templates: Enable Smart Brand Assets in templates for commonly used documents, like reports and presentations, to streamline content creation.
Leverage Content Locking: Lock critical brand assets to maintain consistency, especially for logos, primary colors, and key fonts.
Organize for Easy Access: Structure asset folders and categories clearly so that users can quickly find the assets they need without confusion.
Communicate Usage Guidelines: Educate users on how and when to use brand assets, which will help maintain brand integrity across all content.