A product, business, or person’s brand is how it is viewed by those who interact with it. Your brand is the instantly recognizable feeling that your company’s name and logo conjure. Employees, investors, the media, and, perhaps most crucially, your customers all have a mental memory of your brand.
Essentially, brands are people’s mental perceptions of your company. They are commercial tools that produce quantifiable ROI. Customers are more likely to choose your goods or services over those of your rivals if your brand is strong and consistent.
The Importance of Branding and Consistency
Branding goes beyond slapping a logo on your products and calling it a day. In order to have brand consistency, your interactions with customers and messaging that is conveyed to them need to be in alignment with your brand and your company’s values.
Brand consistency, first and foremost, ensures your brand is easily recognizable. When you go to the shops looking to buy some soda, do you turn to the unknown brand on the bottom shelf or the Coke and Pepsi? When people see your brand on billboards throughout the city or in their social media feeds, they are more likely to recall it when they are ready to make a purchase. Because of this, your brand needs to be consistent across both traditional and digital marketing platforms.
In the end, you want your clients to view one of your advertisements and instantly recognize it as coming from your company, even if your logo or business name is not present. This shows that they truly recognize your company brand.
Additionally, brand consistency builds trust with your customers, makes them feel connected to your business, and can help shape customers’ perceptions of your brand, among other things.
How to Stay Consistent and Recognizable
Although developing a consistent brand may seem simple, it can be challenging to practice and maintain. Every customer will view your brand differently if there is a lack of consistency which could make your business come across as inauthentic and untrustworthy. Needless to say, those aren’t two words used to describe companies that have loads of customers.
Predictability, for one, is a good thing when it comes to maintaining brand consistency. What else?
Visual Branding is the Smallest Slice of the Pie
We frequently concentrate on a brand’s aesthetic components, such as its logo. They are readily attainable and simple to create and expose your audience to. However, the emotional aspects of your brand, such as its voice and personality, can be far more revealing and beneficial when it comes to brand consistency.
How does your company treat its customers? What do you want customers to picture when they think about your company? Prior to getting distracted by the aesthetic assets, nail down your answers to these questions. Your inner branding identity should not change – even when you revamp your visual branding.
Have Values and Stick to Them
Understanding what your company values are and sticking to them from top to button will be instrumental in building a consistent and authentic brand for your company. Many consumers in today’s market look for companies that support their own values. Some consumers want plant-based items, recyclable items, and environmentally friendly items.
Maybe they want to support companies that support different minority communities or give back somehow.
Consider your company’s strengths and attributes and capitalize on them. Seriously look at what type of company you want to promote yourself as. Concentrate on your brand’s main message and the commitments you are making to customers. They will serve as your brand’s compass.
Company-Wide Brand Guidelines
To clarify your identity and the values your company upholds, use a brand style guide or branding deck. List your company’s objective, vision, and values at this point, along with your target market and brand voice. Visual components like your brand’s logo, colors, and fonts should also be included.
Making a shared folder for these visual elements is one smart move. Every employee will have access to the resources in this way. There should also be instructions on how to use – or not use – the visual components as well as how to uphold your company’s values.
Create Consistent Content
In digital marketing, make use of social media channels to build brand consistency. Your brand voice should be consistent throughout every video, image, and word you upload or share. You can engage with your audience and share your own tale through social media. Think carefully about how you present yourself across all social media channels.
The same approach applies to all of your responses to reviews and comments on your page as well as to comments you make on other people’s postings. Thinking of your brand as a person will help you stay consistent. Clearly state their traits and characteristics before expressing yourself as you would want them to.
In traditional marketing and digital marketing, ensure that your messaging remains consistent and in alignment with one another.
It might be intimidating to develop your brand, particularly in today’s “cancel culture” environment. But keep in mind that your brand is allowed to develop with you. As you refine your messaging, some aspects of your brand may change. As long as you stay true to your basic ideals and maintain your authenticity, a few changes in your brand over time won’t cause you to irreversibly lose customers.
If you ever need some help with digital marketing, logo design, website design, messaging, and other aspects of brand maintenance and consistency, don’t hesitate to contact Wyred Insights. We understand how intimidating it all can be, and we would be more than happy to help you with any aspect of your branding and digital marketing journey in Reno.