The brand of any business is one of its most valuable assets. It refers to the impression people have whenever they hear about your business. It’s the recognizable feelings your product or service evokes. Even though brands aren’t tangible, they drive great commercial value.
Most times, your brand is reflected in your logo mark and supported by your message. It lives in the minds of those who have experienced it - customers, investors, employees, media, etc.
Branding is so important that it influences the opinions and acceptability of your business. So, it won’t be wrong to say; brands are perception.
But let me tell you a secret, a great brand isn’t built overnight. It takes patience, well-thought-out strategies, and consistent implementation to build a great brand like coca-cola.
When your brand is consistent, it gives exceptional experience to your customers, and inspires them to take action. It also encourages customer loyalty.
Consistency doesn’t only make your brand recognizable; it also makes it memorable and become part of your audience’s lifestyle.
The big question now is “How do you build and maintain a consistent brand”? Don’t worry, that’s what we will be discussing in the next section.
How to Build and Maintain a Consistent Brand
Like I mentioned earlier, consistency is what differentiates a good brand from a great brand. And here’s how to build and maintain a consistent brand;
- Understand Your Mission
- Setting up a brand style guide
- Creating easy-to-use processes
Understand Your Mission
There’s no way you can achieve consistency in your brand if you aren’t giving excellent experience to your customers.
So, ensure that every member of your internal team shares an understanding of your mission and values. With this, your brand can consistently give exceptional experience to your customers.
To have a better understanding of your mission, you should ask yourself the following questions;
- Why was your brand created?
- What problem does it want to solve?
- Is everyone in the organization working inline with the mission?
The answers to the above questions will give you a better understanding of your mission.
Again, ensure that there’s always an alignment between your mission statement and how you present your brand to the world.
Let me give you a good example using Walt Disney and Lyft’s mission statements. If you take a closer look at these two brands’ mission statement, you will notice that there’s a relationship between their mission statement and how they present their brands to the world.
Walt Disney’s Mission Statement:
“To entertain, inform, and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds, and innovative technologies that make us the world’s premier entertainment company”.
Lyft’s Mission:
“We envisioned a world where cities feel small again. Where transportation and tech bring people together, instead of apart. We see the future as community-driven-and it starts with you.”
Look at the mission statements of these two great brands. What did you see? The activities of the brands align with their mission statements. And that’s a perfect example of brand consistency.
Have a Style Guide for Your Brand
In the words of Marty Neumeier (the author of The Designful Company), “branding is the process of connecting good strategy with creativity”.
It’s impossible to achieve brand consistency if your visual design elements aren’t consistently presented across your newsletter, advertisements, and other communications.
So, the easiest way to increase the perceived value of your brand is to make its visual design elements consistent across channels and devices.
One thing you should know is that the impression your prospects have about your brand could make or break a potential transaction before they even contact.
However, with a style guide, you can achieve a level of consistency in your brand at all times. It’s a standard that guides how your internal team uses your brand. It also outlines the “dos” and “don’t” of how best to present your brand.
Most great brands out there have a well-thought-out style guide that helps them to achieve consistency over the years.
If you want your brand style guide to achieve maximum results, consider including the following elements;
- Typography
- Logo variations
- Imagery
- Color Palettes
- Taglines
Businesses with these guidelines know how to guide their internal team to communicate in a way that truly defines their brands.
Create Easy-to-Use Processes
Another easy way to build and maintain a great brand is to have an easy-to-use process. Like I mentioned earlier, a brand style guide helps you to get everyone working with you on the same page in presenting your brand consistently.
But it doesn’t have to end there. Ensure that the processes within your organization are easy to use. Every member of your team should have access to resources like branded presentation decks and business letters templates.
Again, you must meet with your marketing and design team at least twice in a month. During such meetings, you could discuss visual needs, upcoming projects, and tasks that require team collaboration. With this, you there will be a level of consistency in the experience your customers are getting.
You tend to achieve the following if there’s a regular meeting between your marketing and design team;
- All project stakeholders will be on the same page.
- Group related projects together, this will help to achieve consistency.
- Monitor your deliveries to meet your organization’s standards.
The Importance of Brand Consistency
Here are some of the benefits of maintaining brand consistency;
Recognition
Let me ask you a quick question. Have you heard an advertisement on TV or walked past a billboard and immediately knew the company the ad was for? Well, that’s brand recognition. And you were able to recognize it due to consistent marketing.
When you are consistent with your messaging and campaigns, people tend to recognize your brand easily. This will help you build trust with your customers and nurture your brand better.
Builds Brand Awareness
When you are consistent with your branding, more people will be aware of your business. Undoubtedly, customers are more likely to buy from you if they recognize your brand for its consistent image and content schedule.
So, try to make your digital and visual contents uniform. Align your visual content with the same color theme, photo quality, and logo placements.
If you can achieve brand and marketing consistency, you can build an awareness that allows customers to recognize your brand easily.
Again, if your brand awareness level is a bit low, you can hire some of the best influencer marketing companies to promote your brand across social media platforms.
Creates Trust
According to Global banking and finance, 71% of customers tend to buy from a brand or company that they trust. You see, having a reputable image is essential to the success of your business.
Trustworthiness is one of the essential elements that help most great brands successful. Therefore, it’s advisable to post your content regularly, utilize the same platform for specific purposes, and be consistent with your message. This will help you build trust in the long run.
However, if you think your customers don’t trust your brand due to past experience, you can hire some of the best reputation management companies online. These companies will come up with strategic plans of actions to change the impression the general public has about your brand.
It Makes Your Brand Memorable
When people see the same information on TV or billboard, again and again, they are more likely to remember it. If you want people to always remember your brand, make your messaging consistent and frequent.
It’s normal, the more often your customers and prospects see your advertisements and branding, the more memorable your brand will appear to them.
If you currently don’t have a digital marketing expert on your team, you can hire some of the best digital marketing agencies online.
Increased Revenue
Brand consistency is a great strategy that could increase your business revenue. According to LucidPress, businesses that are consistent with their brands tend to increase their revenue by 23%. Similarly, choosing consistent brand colors could increase the recognition of your brand by about 80%.
Since customers prefer brands that are consistent with their messaging, logos, and marketing efforts, ensure you don’t lose track.
Again, ensure you develop brand guidelines to ensure accurate consistency in your brand assets, and generate more revenue for your business.
Conclusion
Branding plays an important role in the growth of any business. When you interact with your customers in a consistent brand voice and aesthetic, they tend to know you better. That’s the essence of brand consistency.
Once your audience recognizes your brand, they will definitely identify with you and your purpose. This will inspire trust, convince them to buy from you, and possibly recommend your product/service to their peers. In a nutshell, brand consistency helps to position your business in the mind of your audience.
