Your brand identity will form the core of everything you do as a business. Yet with so many different online platforms, it can be difficult to keep that identity consistent. Failing to do so can have a negative impact on the way your business operates, and is likely to confuse customers, clients, and employees.
On the other hand, having a strong identity will ensure that your brand is instantly recognizable, and provide you with a more professional image. In turn, this can increase the level of trust potential customers have in your business, and lead to increased conversion rates.
In this post, we’ll discuss why a strong brand identity is so important. We’ll also explain how you can keep it consistent across all of your channels. Let’s get started!
Why It Matters That Your Brand Identity Is Consistent
When you think of a popular brand, it’s likely you’ll have a clear-cut idea of what it represents. Consider Coca-Cola, for example. Hearing this name will likely prompt you to picture the color red, and the soft drink company's logo:
The reason this image comes to mind so swiftly is because Coca-Cola has a consistent brand identity.
Your branding encompasses everything about your business. This includes its core values, visual elements such as logos, colors, and fonts, as well as the tone of voice you use in your marketing. Your branding will also reflect (and influence) your company's goals.
However, for your branding to be truly effective, it needs to be consistent. Each piece of content you produce has to speak with your brand’s voice, and reinforce its identity. This approach helps to build trust with your audience, since it lets them to get to know your business more intimately.
This is valuable, as customers tend to spend more money with companies they trust. Studies have also shown that uniform brand presentation can increase revenue by up to 23 percent. What's more, a strong and consistent brand helps to make your company more memorable (as in our earlier Coca-Cola example).
3 Ways to Keep Your Brand Identity Consistent
If you want to reap the benefits we mentioned above, it’s important to find ways to keep your branding highly consistent, both online and off. Here are three key methods of doing that.
1. Establish Your Business' Core Mission
From the very start, your brand's image should be tied to your business' core values. Your mission is likely to shift slightly as your company grows over time – but it’s important not to lose sight of what makes your brand unique.
Consider cosmetic giant LUSH, for example:
This company has made a name through its production of cruelty-free, natural beauty products. This mission is a common reason LUSH customers choose to spend their money with this business over its competitors.
Imagine that LUSH suddenly changed gears and started promoting synthetic skincare. Such a drastic change doesn’t make sense for the brand, and would likely create a lot of distrust among its existing audience.
The same applies to your company, even if the potential changes aren't quite so dramatic. Your audience is likely to have developed a relationship with your business because they hold the same beliefs, values, or goals. In fact, 64 percent of consumers say that shared values help them create a trusting relationship with a brand. Therefore, one of the best ways to remain consistent is to keep your key values in mind when making any major decisions.
2. Develop Stylistic Guidelines (And Stick to Them)
One of the most effective ways to keep your brand image consistent is through visual design. Think back to our earlier example regarding Coca-Cola. This company is instantly defined by its iconic logo, as well as its use of the color red.
Crafting well-defined stylistic guidelines will help you adopt a similar approach. Start by deciding on a logo, and then choose the colors and typography you intend to use for your branded material. Everything you produce as a company should incorporate those same elements – from your email newsletters to the content you post on social media.
This process is also important when it comes to your brand's 'voice'. All written content and communication will need to be created with a set style in mind. So it's smart to give some thought upfront to what that voice should be like, whether that's intelligent and professional or fun and humorous.
To ensure that everyone involved with your company is on the same page, it's also a good idea to create a style guide containing all of the above guidelines. This will help you avoid any confusion, and make each piece of branded content consistent.
3. Prioritize Teamwork and Communication
Teamwork is essential to a consistent brand identity, since your employees are an extension of your business. The way people perceive your company is a culmination of every interaction they have with it, whether that happens directly or indirectly.
If someone on your team is unclear about what your brand's identity is, they can easily do something that doesn’t reflect its image. As a result, communication is of the utmost importance. Ensure that your chosen identity is understood throughout your team, and take time to train each member on what it means to be a part of your company.
Strong communication and teamwork can also help to strengthen your brand in a more general sense. Including employees when making important decisions is an excellent way to maximize productivity, and increase company loyalty. If possible, therefore, you may want to make determining your brand identity a collaborative process.
Conclusion
An inconsistent approach to branding could leave consumers unsure whether to trust you. To avoid that, you'll want to make sure that everything you produce as a company is instantly recognizable. Audience members can then get to know your brand, and will be more likely to become loyal customers.
In this post, we've explored three of the ways you can ensure that your brand identity is always consistent:
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Establish the core values of your business, and stick to them.
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Develop stylistic guidelines for your company.
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Ensure that all members of your team are on the same page.
Image credit: Public Domain Pictures.
