Do you start from scratch every time you create an email? If so, it’s time to stop. Not only is this approach inefficient, but it also risks diluting your brand’s visual identity. Consistency matters, and not just in how your wines taste. It matters in how your brand shows up at every customer touchpoint, including the inbox.
This post walks you through why your winery needs an email brand guide and how to create one in under an hour. (Prefer to watch? This one’s also an episode.) With this guide in place, you’ll save time, keep every channel aligned, and even boost your revenue.
What Is an Email Brand Guide?
An email brand guide is a simple document that outlines how your winery’s visual identity should be represented in email marketing. It ensures your email campaigns align with the rest of your brand communications, from your website and social media to press pieces and print ads.
Without one, email marketing often devolves into a mishmash of random fonts, default template colors, and inconsistent design. Your brand deserves better, and so do your customers.
Why Email Branding Matters
Consistency isn’t just about aesthetics. It directly impacts your bottom line. Research aggregated by G2 found that 50% of companies say their customers expect great design and cross-channel consistency, and that consistent branding across platforms can increase revenue by 10 to 20%.
Every touchpoint matters, and email is no exception. When your emails look like your brand, you build recognition, trust, and loyalty with every send. It’s the same reason your winery’s storytelling should sound like you: people buy from brands they recognize.
The Six Elements of an Email Brand Guide
Your email brand guide doesn’t need to be a lengthy document. Ours is three pages long. Here’s what to include:
1. Logo
Decide which version of your logo to use in emails. Many brands have multiple variations (full color, black and white, a logo lockup). Choose one and stick with it. This ensures your logo is always clear, professional, and on-brand.
2. Brand Colors
Define 3 to 5 brand colors and document their hex codes. Then specify where each color gets used in emails:
- Background colors
- Headlines and secondary headlines
- Calls-to-action (buttons)
Most email platforms, including Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and WineDirect, let you input hex codes directly. This keeps your emails polished and cohesive.
3. Typography
Establish your brand fonts for email. Since not all devices support custom fonts, you’ll also need fallback options. At minimum, include:
- Primary headline font
- Secondary headline font
- Paragraph text font
- Styles for quotes and links
A consistent typography hierarchy makes your emails easy to read while reinforcing your brand’s identity.
4. Buttons (Calls-to-Action)
Define the shape, color, and font for your email buttons. Are they rounded or square? What’s the default button color? What font appears on them?
Set guidelines for when button designs can vary (seasonal campaigns, for example) so even the exceptions stay on-brand.
5. Links and Navigation
Standardize your header and footer navigation links. Many wineries use these sections to send traffic to key pages: Shop, Wine Club, Events, Blog.
Don’t forget contact information in your footer, plus links to your social accounts. Test these links regularly to make sure they’re driving traffic where it matters. And since the first email most subscribers get is your welcome email, make sure that one is the best-branded send in your account.
6. Flourishes (Optional)
If your winery has unique design elements, document them too. Think icons, dividers, and textured backgrounds.
One of our clients uses floral designs and butterflies as recurring elements in their emails. Another uses a subtle vineyard texture as their background. If you have creative assets like these, make sure they’re documented and easy to find in your email platform.
How to Create Your Email Brand Guide
Believe it or not, you can build this in under an hour:
- Gather your existing brand assets (logo files, hex codes, typography guidelines).
- Create a simple document. A Word or Google Doc works fine.
- Outline the six elements above.
- Save your guide and share it with your team or email designer.
That’s it. A little upfront effort, and every email you send from now on starts from brand instead of from scratch. (Need somewhere to apply it? Start with these winning winery email templates and watch the difference one send in.)
Start Today, Reap the Rewards Tomorrow
Your brand deserves to shine in the inbox, just like it does on your wine labels, website, and social media. Take an hour today to create your email brand guide, and you’ll see the benefits for years to come.
And if you want the whole email system built this way, brand guide included, that’s exactly what we teach inside PRESS SEND Foundations. Explore the course, or subscribe on YouTube for more like this.
Let’s make your emails as polished and memorable as the wines you produce. Cheers to great branding! 🍷
Email Brand Guide FAQs
What is an email brand guide?
An email brand guide is a short document (ours is three pages) that defines how your winery’s visual identity appears in email: which logo version to use, your brand colors with hex codes, typography and fallbacks, button styles, standard navigation links, and any signature design flourishes.
What should a winery email brand guide include?
Six elements: your logo choice, 3 to 5 brand colors with hex codes and usage rules, typography with fallback fonts, button specs, standardized header and footer links, and optional design flourishes like icons or textures.
How long does it take to create an email brand guide?
Under an hour, if your brand assets already exist. Gather your logo files, hex codes, and fonts, document the six elements in a simple doc, and share it with whoever builds your emails.
