Regardless of whether your business is large or small, or if you deal with B2B or consumer sales, ensuring brand consistency is paramount to your success.
Branding, or your brand, is a collection of linked attributes and demonstrates your unique selling point, the goods and services you provide and the values of your business. Conveying this successfully can be done in numerous ways, from the initial experience your customer has all the way how you advertise. It is what gives your organization identity.
Developing an advertising campaign is one way of building identity, but if your branding isn’t consistent across all your channels, your potential customers will get mixed messages. This is why it is crucial that all branding, across all channels, interlinks.
The importance of consistency and how to create it
Taking the time to make sure that your copy and imagery is clear and consistent will do your brand the world of good. This drives a strong sense of branding and reinforces the identity of your organization.
For example, this can be done by the consistent use of your logo. You may use various social media feeds to provide your current and potential customers updates on new products, or any important updatesto existing lines. Many social media sites allow you to add various imagery to your page. For example, Twitter will allow you to have a cover photo and a main image, and Facebook has something similar.
Here you have the potential to reinforce your brand by using identical, or very similar, imagery across the different platforms, as there is a good chance your customers will follow you on more than one media site. Use an online banner maker to allow you to ensure that your organization’s logo, color and anything else pertinent to your brand is prevalent in your social media imagery.
Ensure this happens with brand guidelines
Designers are human beings. They all have individual outlooks on how a brand should be represented. One way to ensure they remain on track is to develop a set of brand guidelines. Some are more complex than others, but a good start is to ensure that font, colors, basic layout and sizes are consistent across all channels.
Remember to brief your designers before they get to work to ensure that you get value for money. By bringing in an experienced graphic designer who has worked on business brands previously, they will be able to include and/or update any existing branding you already have.
Some designers could try to add their own style to existing branding – if this is okay, tell them. Otherwise, if not, brief the team to ensure you don’t end up with something radically different. Many customers get used to the way a certain logo looks, so be wary if you do allow an element of creative freedom, as it may – in the very worst of circumstances – result in a decrease of sales. Brand consistency is key to retaining your customers.
