Whether you’re a two-month-old startup or a multi-generational company, a consistent brand is crucial in building relationships with your target audience. Research shows that 81% of consumers say their trust level in a company can be a deal-breaker for purchase. And how are those consumers supposed to trust a company that’s continuously changing its logo, voice or style? Establishing and maintaining a consistent brand voice is critical to developing a loyal audience base that will generate more sales and brand awareness.
If you still aren’t sold, here are the five reasons we think you should build consistency in your brand:
1. Brand recognition: When your brand repeats a color scheme, voice or even typography, those repeated aspects become embedded in a customer’s or prospective client’s head as they are repeatedly exposed to it. Because of this, you want to make sure you’re actually repeating those aspects!
Of course, we aren’t saying to say the same cliché tag line after every sentence. That might go poorly. But what we are saying is to develop consistent aspects like color, typography and logo so your brand can be recognized even with just a glance. The next time someone wants a product or service you offer, they have a greater likelihood of thinking of your company with repeated and branded messaging.
2. Builds trust and loyalty: Imagine you’re debating buying from two different companies. One has different packaging, colors, fonts and messaging all over its products. The other company has consistency across its products. Which one are you going with? Brand consistency leads to confidence among consumers that they’ll have a certain experience when they engage with your brand. This holds true for companies of all sizes. A consistent brand communicates a level of professionalism to your audience and makes people more likely to trust the messaging you’re sending out. It also helps communicate expectations: a variable brand can mean varying quality, while a congruent brand communicates consistently meeting or exceeding expectations.
3. Sets you apart from the competition: In highly competitive and saturated markets, consistent branding is the key to set your company apart from the rest. A recognizable and repeated brand, especially one with a markedly different tone or approach from similar brands, can help drive traffic and capture your desired audience’s attention. When developing your brand, look at what competitors are doing. Is there a way to do something differently? Are you able to approach your brand from an angle that makes it easy to differentiate yourself? Don’t be afraid to use what they’re doing to inspire you to take things to a different level!
4. Develops marketing at a higher level: Once you have an established brand, you no longer have to focus on selling your products or service to a potential customer. Your brand does it for you. Picture large companies like Target, Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks. Their brands have become synonymous with the products they offer, and we know what kind of product or service we’re getting without being told what we’re getting. Establish consistency in your brands, and let the brand do the selling for you.
5. Shapes brand perception: Maintaining a consistent brand allows you to target specific emotions you want to evoke in your audience. Are you trying to make your audience feel inspired? Happy? Maybe even scared? If you have inconsistency in your brand, you might be inadvertently pulling your audience in multiple directions rather than focusing and capitalizing on one or two specific emotions. Maintaining a specific and focused brand allows you to do just that. Emotional appeal is a powerful marketing tool that can really help generate sales and audience awareness, but it only works if the appeal is focused.
Strong branding isn’t just nice-to-have. In today’s digital market, it’s a necessary component that can significantly influence your company’s success as it is the foundation of your marketing success. And it can be challenging to navigate with all of the elements and organization involved in creating a cohesive and thoughtful brand. 325 experts build a strong, meaningful association between your core messages and value and synchronize visual elements of your brand to set you apart from the competition. Our passion to shape brand perception and maintain congruency ensures brand consistency and ultimately, brand recognition. We’re a digital branding agency dedicated to bringing out the best in our clients. With 325, you’ll be seen, be heard, be found.