Statistics have shown that if you have a consistent brand your company is likely to last 3 times as likely to last 10 years in business than one that hasn’t. Whenever someone wants to patronize your industry the first brand you want them to think about is your brand, for this to happen you need to be consistent with your branding.

Being consistent with your brand is your opportunity to turn strangers into customers, it builds trust and trust is everything in branding. Your target market and partners(if any) need to trust you and trust that you have the solution to their pain points. They need to trust their guts to invest or buy into your brand. Likewise, competitors in the industry take your brand seriously when they can perceive consistency and perseverance.

Establishing a consistent brand builds trust and loyalty to your brand, it also builds brand recognition. This being said it is paramount to run through the dos and don’ts that can keep you abreast with success.

It is paramount to understand that your brand or the success of every brand goes beyond having a logo that transitions smoothly into every element put on the ground to keep a brand growing and revolving. Brand consistency shows professionalism, here are the dos and don’ts of building brand consistency

The Concept of Brand Consistency

Brand consistency Is the act of presenting a unified image of a brand across different touchpoints and platforms. An element of inconsistency will cause a disconnection between the brand and its audience.

A harmonious alignment in the brand elements starting from the typography, color palette, imagery, Messaging, and overall visual elements should remain unified and consistent offline and online.

Every brand wishes to project an identity that builds trust and aligns to reach the target audience and that can only be achieved through consistency. This consistency is vital for building trust, loyalty, and brand recognition among customers and transforming prospects into one-time buyers and subsequently returning customers.

Consistency should cut across the messaging, visual element, and customer experience starting from the logo design elements down to the content strategy and social media marketing.

Brand consistency is important in building a healthy brand and maintaining a relationship between the brand and the customer. Brand consistency helps brands stand out in a crowded market, it also helps in projecting brands to be perceived precisely how the brand intended it. Brand consistency also increases profitability by 10 to 20%.

A brand can drive consistency by explicitly defining the brand guidelines, Communicating and educating internal staff and external partners, creating templates for different departments based on frequently used assets peculiar to the department and the team generally, and consistently conducting content audits.

The Dos of Brand Consistency

1. Create Brand Guidelines

This includes all of your brand strategies, mission, and values upon which the brand is centred, it gives clarity to your brand voice, tone, photography treatment and, graphic styles and brand typography, social media graphics prototype.

2. Involve the Entire Team

Endeavor to incorporate the brand guidelines across the organization and it should be used to train all the team members in their respective departments. Even when a responsibility is outsourced to an external body or freelancers they must know the brands’ guidelines for a comprehensive delivery of projects. They should be schooled on your brand guidelines and rules, and promote your brand internally as well as externally.

3. Create a Strategy

Have a marketing plan, there should be some sort of uniformity in your message, style, tone, and elements on different platforms

4. Define Your Brand’s Core Value

Core values are used to build brand-customer relationships, they are the pillars of every brand. Core values personify the brand and plan to evolve with the times while staying true to your values.

5. Consistency on All of the Platforms

There should be consistency on all your platforms. Have guidance and uniformity even through the dynamics that each platform possesses. You need to keep your brand voice and visual identity consistent. According to Inc., 71% of their study participants said inconsistent branding causes confusion in the market.

The Don’ts of Brand Consistency

1. Don’t Delay Your Branding Longer Than Necessary

Rebrand your business as at when due to avoid losing touch with reality and your customers to avoid losing relevance in the marketplace.

2. Inconsistency in Quality of Products

If there’s anything that can’t promote stunted growth and question customer’s trust in a brand then inconsistency in the quality of the product is that free ticket.

3. Do not Capitalise on Your Logo

A brand logo doesn’t make a brand so avoid capitalising on it while allowing other elements of your brand to suffer. In the same vein, big logos are unstylish and totally unnecessary. Why make them big when small can do the magic without making it look obnoxious?

4. Ignoring Customer Feedback

This is very unhealthy for any business. Statistically, 51% of customers will stop any business transactions just after one bad customer experience. It is necessary to recognize the role customers play and they go further to run free ads for your brand.

The marketplace in which their complaints are handled can make your brand lose not just one but more customers and prospects. According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, “A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people.”

5. The Crowd Shouldn’t Define Your Brand

Own your brand voice, style, and tone. Own your identity and avoid drowning your brand in other brands’ voices and trends because other brands in the industry are subscribing to it.

6. Overcomplicated Designs

Leave your designs nice and simple, and avoid doing too much with your colours, fonts, and other elements. Make your designs simple, unique, and memorable.

Conclusion

In conclusion, brand consistency is about striking an equilibrium, between your brand’s identity and letting your brand loose to accept healthy changes without altering the core value of the brand. are stay relevant and ensure a seamless ride through your industry ladder try adhering to the dos and don’ts listed in this article.