The moment your affiliate program works, you lose control of how your product is described. Partners will write their own copy, stretch your claims, invent screenshots, and occasionally promise features you don’t have. A brand guide is how you keep that from becoming a problem — and, more usefully, how you stop being the bottleneck on every piece of partner content.
A good one does two jobs: it makes it easy to promote you correctly, and it makes clear what’s not allowed.
Start with the assets, because that’s what partners actually want
Most partners aren’t looking for your brand philosophy. They want files they can use in the next twenty minutes. Put these at the top:
- Logos — full lockup and icon-only, in SVG and PNG, on light and dark backgrounds. Include the clear-space rule and a minimum size.
- Colors — hex values for primary, secondary, and background. Three lines, not a page.
- Typography — the font names and where to get them, or a fallback stack if the licensing doesn’t allow redistribution.
- Product screenshots — current, clean, at usable resolution. Partners will otherwise take their own, in a half-configured account, with test data visible.
- A short demo video and a few clips they can cut into their own content.
Host all of it in one place, downloadable in one click. A partner who has to email you for a logo will just screenshot one.
Then the messaging, which is where the real value is
This is the section that decides whether your partners’ content converts.
The one-sentence description. Write the sentence you want repeated, and ask partners to use it or something close. Consistency across partner content is what makes a product feel established — and it’s what makes AI assistants summarize you correctly, since they synthesize from what everyone says about you (more on that here).
Who it’s for, and who it isn’t. Partners promoting you to the wrong audience produce signups that churn, which costs you both. Telling them plainly who not to pitch is a favor.
The two or three differentiators, in the words you want used. Don’t make partners invent your positioning.
Approved claims, and the evidence behind them. If you say “set up in under ten minutes,” give them that line and the basis for it. Partners who make up their own numbers create liability for you.
What not to say. No income guarantees, no invented statistics, no comparative claims about named competitors that you can’t substantiate, no implying an official partnership beyond what exists.
The rules section
Short, specific, and stated once. The rules that matter most:
- Disclosure. Affiliates must disclose the relationship — it’s required in many jurisdictions (the FTC’s endorsement guidance in the US, for example) and it’s your reputation on the line, not just theirs. Give them the exact wording to use.
- Paid search restrictions. Whether partners may bid on your brand name. Most programs prohibit this, because you end up paying commission for traffic you’d have gotten free.
- How they may describe the relationship. “Affiliate” or “partner,” not “official reseller” unless that’s true.
- Prohibited placements — coupon-stuffing, spam, misleading pop-ups, cookie-stuffing, unsolicited email.
- Trademark use. They may use your logo to link to you; they may not use it in their own logo, domain, or app name.
- What happens on a breach — a warning, then removal. Say it plainly so enforcement isn’t a surprise.
Fair rules attract serious partners. Vague rules attract people who’ll test them.
Make the good path the easy path
The single most effective section in most brand guides is the one nobody thinks to write: pre-approved copy.
Give partners material they can use verbatim — a short and a long product description, two or three email templates, a handful of social posts, and the two or three angles you already know convert. The partners who promote most consistently are usually the ones with the least time to make their own creative, and this removes the last excuse.
Pair it with a dedicated destination page rather than sending their traffic to your homepage — how to build an affiliate landing page that converts covers why that matters and what belongs on it.
Keep it short enough to read
A 30-page brand book will not be read by someone with a newsletter and forty minutes. Aim for a single page or a short document with downloadable assets — the rule of thumb is that a new partner should be able to skim it and start promoting in under ten minutes.
Version it, date it, and tell partners when something changes. Silently updating the rules and then enforcing them is how programs lose good people.
Where this sits in the program
The brand guide comes after the mechanics are live — tracking, commissions, and payouts first (adding an affiliate program to a Stripe SaaS), then recruitment, then the guide that keeps partner content accurate as the program grows. If you’re working with creators specifically, the guide matters more, because their audiences hold them to a higher standard than a coupon site’s does (combining influencer and affiliate marketing).
One practical note: the earlier you write this, the less retrofitting you’ll do. It costs an afternoon, and it’s the difference between partners who represent you well and partners you have to police.
FAQ
What should an affiliate brand guide include?
Downloadable logos and colors, current product screenshots, a one-sentence product description, approved claims and differentiators, pre-written promotional copy, and clear rules on disclosure, trademark use, and paid search.
Should affiliates be required to disclose the relationship?
Yes. Disclosure is legally required in many jurisdictions and protects your brand as well as theirs — give partners the exact wording so there’s no ambiguity.
Can affiliates bid on my brand name in ads?
Most programs prohibit it, because you end up paying commission on traffic that would have converted anyway. Whatever you decide, state it explicitly in the guide.
More setup guidance is in the affiliate & referral guides hub.