In order to grow your business, it's important to create a strong, unique, and memorable brand. As you build this identity over time, a number of factors come into play. Along with market relevance and integrity of vision, consistency is a core attribute of every successful brand. When your style, story, and culture are unified over space and time, people are much more likely to pay attention.
Regardless of your business size or industry sector, brand consistency offers a number of advantages. First and foremost, cohesive branding helps to reinforce your identity by delivering a strong message to your market. It cuts through confusion and sets you apart from the competition. Secondly, stable and steadfast branding helps to build trust and promote dependability. When you have a clear vision and promote your business with regularity, you will be given the benefit of the doubt.
Crafting a unique brand identity is about finding and communicating the ‘heart and soul’ of your business. When you have a strong brand story, you have a stable foundation to build on for years to come. Every customer touchpoint should embody this brand, from your marketing and social media content to your sales funnel and physical assets. When your branding is clear and consistent, your customers know who you are and what you stand for.
Businesses often underestimate the appeal and importance of their brand. This is a mistake – the value of your brand is much bigger than its visual appeal. From the voice that answers the phone to your emails, invoices, vehicles and office fit-out, creating a clear and consistent brand identity across your entire business is crucial.
To help you on your journey, let's look at three key steps to brand consistency:
Your brand identity is dependent on both the content of your messages and your presentation style. The following two documents are critical:
Your brand is about more than media representation. It's also dependent on the team that delivers your message. Employees should understand your brand identity, including the messages, values, and vision that you want to highlight. As the face of your business, your staff are the first point of contact between your business and the rest of the world.
Talk to your people about the meaning behind your company logo. Tell them your history and story, and inspire them to communicate your value to the market. You can involve your company values into day-to-day operations and follow your brand vision every single day.
When it comes to consistent branding, the details make all the difference. In order to deliver a cohesive brand identity to your customers and employees, every design element and customer interaction is significant. Much like telling a story, the intricate details make the bigger picture clearer and more believable.
Developing a clear and consistent brand identity is a core element of business success. When you communicate your story with confidence, your business will make sense to the market and you'll benefit from greater levels of recognition, trust, engagement, and loyalty. For branding that cuts through the noise of modern life, reach out to Living Lines today.
For more information and branding advice, contact article author and branding expert, Susan Jones, director of Living Lines branding agency on 0410 590 737.
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