What is brand consistency?
A brand is the combination of elements that a company uses to present itself to the world – specifically to its’ target markets. It’s your company name, logo, slogan, graphic elements and key messaging that support your customer experience – it’s like a bridge between your product and your customer.
Because modern marketing communications plans and campaigns include so many elements, brand consistency has become increasingly important. It’s the way a company manages a consistent face to their marketplace – It’s the practice of ensuring that all your company outputs have a common visual appearance and presentation.
Consistent branding builds a strong brand identity, which in turn supports customer trust and loyalty in a brand. If customers consistently have a positive experience with your product/service they will want to continue to support your brand.
Today customers interact with a brand through many channels – your digital presence: website and social media, print collateral, broadcast media – TVCs and radio advertising, video, industry events, customer service experiences, and more so brand consistency is actually most obvious when it’s not there – If you’ve ever clicked on an advert and been directed to a page that looks and says something different about the product, or seen two advertisements for an advertising campaign that look like they come from two different companies, then you know the effect of a lack of consistency.
How do you achieve brand consistency?
When it comes to online and offline marketing communications campaigns, brand consistency is achieved by developing and following a set of clear guidelines that provide instructions on subjects including:
1. Logo application: How to apply logos and other design elements that make up the visual form of your brand identity. Are there alternate versions for different applications, backgrounds, and sizes?
2. Fonts and their usage: What typefaces to use and when.
3. Colour palette: The range of colours available, what they represent, and how they should be utilised.
4. Key messaging: A messaging strategy – key messages developed to educate customers on your product/ service and company. Guidance on language, the tone of voice, and the style of your copy.
5. Brand style and elements: A particular style developed with a graphic designer that provides a uniform ‘look’ for all digital and print material developed.
6. Social media and digital advertising guidelines: Keywords, messaging, landing pages, and other elements
7. Develop some templates: You can create templates for different marketing activities or channels – For example: e-newsletter template, blog post template, social media post template. Each one of these should share the same design features, including colours, fonts, and layouts. Always remember to include your company logo. The uniform look of the messages helps customers and leads recognize a piece of content as belonging to your company.