Edward Boatman • Apr 7th, 2022
Have you ever bought something simply because you loved the packaging? Or maybe the company’s style sold you more than the actual product did? Consumers purchase goods for a number of reasons, but the number one reason isn’t always because they absolutely need the product advertised.
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Brand consistency is being able to maintain your business’s identity, or brand — including values, tone of voice and visual elements — across different marketing channels and materials.
As brands work to build greater consistency in every aspect of their communication, the stronger the business will become.
As your business grows, maintaining consistent branding can prove difficult if a system isn’t set in place early on.
Use the tips below to create a brand your customers will instantly recognize.
What are brand guidelines?
What’s the best way to create them?
These are common questions many new entrepreneurs and seasoned business leaders alike ask themselves. Such guidelines outline appropriate colors, fonts and verbiage that align with how you want your brand to feel or appear to your target audience. Without them, your brand may seem inconsistent and untrustworthy.
Your brand guidelines should include:
Creating clear brand guidelines is the first step to maintaining consistency within your business. The easiest way to create these guidelines is by using a digital asset management system (otherwise known as a DAM system).
Having brand guidelines in one easy-to-access location can help eliminate confusion within a company and encourage consistency. Having different sets of guidelines for each department can be detrimental to these efforts. As one guideline is updated, another could be forgotten, which could lead to inconsistent branding across departments and weaken trust with your audience.
Keeping your brand guidelines in a digital format, such as a DAM system, can help eliminate this possibility. Some of the greatest digital asset management benefits available are the ability to build, share, use and update brand guidelines across an entire company.
If you currently have different sets of brand guidelines, consolidating the most recent update into a brand management system can help you improve your brand consistency in the short term. Consider eliminating the duplicate static files over time to improve long-term brand consistency.
The way your brand expresses itself is something your target audience will remember. This expression is often portrayed through brand messaging in advertisements, customer service and public statements about the company.
In your brand guidelines, consider adding a section specifically for messaging. In this section, include words or phrases to avoid, do’s and don’ts when it comes to handling client or customer problems and feedback, and the tone of voice to maintain in all types of messaging.
Examples of brand tones of voice include:
If you have the resources, designating one person or a team of individuals to handle all brand-related tasks can help your business maintain consistency. A brand manager’s job is to evaluate and review all marketing materials and public statements to ensure they align with brand values, colors and styles.
In some ways, using a DAM system can take the place of a brand manager, particularly for smaller businesses. However, as your company grows, it may be necessary to hire specific people to oversee brand continuity.
Rebranding can be especially beneficial for smaller businesses that have only recently found their footing in the industry. With a better understanding of where your business fits in the market and what said market is looking for, you can better shape your brand.
However, when going through any type of rebrand, it’s important to keep core elements of your previous brand. In doing so, your current customers and those who have been previously exposed to your brand will still recognize it.
Airbnb is one example of maintaining brand consistency even after rebranding. Although the colors and tagline changed, Airbnb maintained their simple, lowercase logo style.
Choosing to keep two or three aspects of your old brand that are working will help you maintain better brand consistency.
Building a consistent brand takes effort and hard work. Amidst this work, you may ask yourself why branding matters at all. There are several benefits to building a strong, consistent brand, including recognition, dependability and awareness and differentiation from competitors.
Maintaining a consistent brand can help consumers more easily recognize your business in a variety of different marketing mediums. One study by a Harvard Business School professor shows that 95% of our decisions to purchase products happen subconsciously. This means that the more recognizable your brand is to the subconscious mind, the more likely you are to sell your goods or services.
Consistency promotes dependability within an organization, which can increase product or service conversions. In fact, the Lucidpress State of Brand Consistency report indicates that 68 percent of brands claim brand consistency has contributed 10 to 20 percent of revenue growth. The more consistent your brand is, the more aware consumers become of your business.
Your business’s brand should be unique and help set you apart from the competition. Likewise, the stronger your brand identity is, the harder it is to replicate and the easier it is for consumers to recognize what sets your brand apart from the rest.
This differentiation can come in many different forms, including the specific visual elements of your brand, your tone of voice, or your values and how you treat your customers.
Old Spice is one example of maintaining brand consistency, even when they shake things up from time to time. Their quirky tone of voice and messaging translates across every form of communication, including their website, social channels and TV ads.
Airbnb is another example of consistent branding, particularly when it comes to the use of colors and imagery. Despite different formatting across their website, they consistently maintain clean lines and the same color palette, as seen in the examples below.
Maintaining consistent messaging and style throughout your website and social channels will help build customer loyalty and trust as the aforementioned brands have been able to do.
Building a consistent brand can take time and long hours of work, but in the end it can help build your target audience's trust. In building this trust, you slowly build loyalty, which can help your brand thrive in almost any market.
Not sure where to start building brand consistency? Give Lingo’s DAM a try with our fully featured 30-day trial, where you can start outlining or consolidating your brand guidelines.