Branding is often associated with a business’s name, colors, and logo. However, branding consists of many other things, including a business’s typography, word choice, and even tone of voice.
As a result, since it’s what consumers see first, branding can significantly influence customers’ perceptions about a business and entice them to become repeat customers. That’s why businesses can’t afford to neglect branding as part of their marketing strategy.
Here, we’ll explore what brand consistency is, why it matters, and how businesses can maintain it to fuel their growth and success.
Table of Contents
What is brand consistency?
Why is brand consistency important?
How to maintain brand consistency
Maintain brand consistency to create a strong brand
What is brand consistency?
Brand consistency is the practice of delivering messages aligned with the core brand values, identity, and strategy across all marketing channels and customer touchpoints. It involves maintaining a uniform appearance, tone, and messaging that stays true to a brand’s essence, allowing customers to instantly recognize and feel connected to a brand.
Imagine visiting an e-commerce store that uses a different color and logo on its website than those used at its brick-and-mortar stores. That’s inconsistent branding, and it can harm the brand’s image. Brand consistency ensures businesses avoid such pitfalls by remaining quickly recognizable across various marketing platforms and touchpoints.
Why is brand consistency important?
Brand consistency is the foundation for building a strong, trusted, and instantly recognizable brand. It significantly influences customer perceptions and interactions with a brand, affecting everything from customer loyalty to brand value.
That said, here are six compelling reasons why maintaining brand consistency is essential for businesses seeking long-term success:
Enhanced trust
Consumers buy products from brands they trust. In fact, over 4 out of 5 consumers consider trust a significant factor in their purchase decisions. Customers who encounter the same tone, visuals, and messaging across all marketing platforms and touchpoints are more likely to trust a brand and become loyal customers.
Enhanced brand recognition
Consumers are more inclined to purchase products from brands they’re familiar with. In fact, about 3 out of 5 consumers are more likely to buy products from brands they recognize. When branding elements, such as logos, slogans, and colors, are consistent, they become ingrained in the minds of potential customers.
Instantly recognizable brands can stand out in a crowded marketplace and influence purchase decisions when customers are choosing between multiple products.
Increased brand awareness
There’s a close link between brand consistency and enhanced brand awareness, the first stage in the buyer’s journey. Customers are 3.5 times more likely to notice brands that present themselves consistently, as opposed to those with inconsistent branding.
Therefore, brands that maintain consistent branding across multiple marketing platforms are more likely to set themselves apart from competitors and easily acquire customers.
Improved brand recall
The most memorable brands repeat messages frequently because repetition is essential to recall. On average, buyers must be exposed to a brand at least seven times before becoming customers.
When a brand consistently appears with cohesive branding across multiple marketing channels, it enhances the likelihood that prospects will remember it when they’re ready to make a purchase.
Increased revenue
Consistent branding can grow a company’s bottom line. According to a study, strong brands outperform weak brands by 20%, generating higher earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margins. This means brands that want to drive sales and boost profitability can’t afford to ignore brand consistency.
Effective marketing campaigns
Brand consistency can boost the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Consistent branding eliminates inconsistencies, ensuring all marketing materials speak with one voice. This uniformity can make marketing efforts more cost-effective and amplify the impact of marketing campaigns.
How to maintain brand consistency
Maintaining brand consistency isn’t a one-time effort. It’s a continuous process that requires strategic planning and implementation. Here are some effective ways to maintain brand consistency across multiple marketing channels and customer touchpoints:
Establish a brand style guide
Brand consistency starts with creating a comprehensive brand style guide. A brand style guide is a document that explains how a company presents itself to its target audience. A brand style guide can help a company maintain brand consistency and stay true to its values.
Brand style guides typically include:
- A brand’s mission, vision, and core values
- A brand’s color palette
- Brand logos: most brands have four variants, including a primary logo, a secondary logo, a submark, and a favicon
- Brand typography
- Brand tone and voice to guide messaging
- Letterhead designs
A well-structured brand style guide can be a compass for all marketing efforts, ensuring a brand presents itself consistently across all marketing platforms.
Train team members
Once a brand style guide is in place, it’s essential to ensure every team member can access and apply the guidelines appropriately. When onboarding new hires, brands should ensure they are conversant with their brand style guide. Brands should also offer refresher courses for existing employees to reinforce the knowledge acquired and address knowledge gaps.
By doing these things, businesses can ensure that everyone, from finance and marketing to customer service and sales, presents the brand consistently in various forms of external communications.
Maintain consistency across all platforms
Brand consistency doesn’t solely apply to online platforms. From online marketing channels like social media and a business website to physical marketing materials like banners and storefront signs, brands should ensure all channels are aligned in terms of visual identity and messaging.
Recycle content and use templates
Streamlining the content creation process can significantly enhance brand consistency, especially for small businesses with lean marketing teams. Businesses can achieve this by creating branded templates for common communications such as emails, social media posts, and presentations.
Brands can also simplify the content creation process by recycling high-quality, evergreen content that has resonated with audiences in the past to maintain brand consistency while efficiently managing resources. A content calendar can facilitate this.
Leverage software
Businesses can easily store and retrieve brand assets through digital asset management (DAM) software. DAM software consolidates brand assets in a central area, ensuring all team members use the latest, approved versions of logos, typefaces, and other digital assets.
Perform a brand guide audit
Keeping brand visuals and messaging consistent can prove challenging over a long period of time. As a result, brands need to conduct frequent brand guide audits to ensure things like blog posts, social posts, and paid ads stay on brand.
As a rule of thumb, brand guide audits should involve stakeholders from various departments to ensure the guide remains comprehensive and all team members stay on the same page.
By performing regular brand audits, businesses can ensure their team members have the latest information to present the brand consistently across all touchpoints and platforms.
Maintain brand consistency to create a strong brand
Brand consistency isn’t a trivial marketing strategy. It’s an effective marketing tactic for businesses looking to build strong, recognizable, and trusted brands. Any business, regardless of its size or sector, can achieve brand consistency by implementing the tips outlined.
Want to learn more about branding and other marketing-related topics? Check out Alibaba.com Reads for more detailed sales and marketing guides.
