Brand Consistency: Why It’s Critical For Your Business

Brand consistency is vital for businesses and organizations to thrive. Before discussing why it is vital, let's first discuss what exactly a brand is. Often, a brand is thought of as simply a logo or tagline. While logos and taglines are indeed part of a brand, they are not the brand; they are more of a symbolic reminder of the company itself.

Branding goes far beyond the visual aspect, and while a brand may consist of a logo, tagline, or certain colors and images, the emotional and psychological connections and impact it has on consumers is probably the largest aspect. Every interaction with consumers – from the way an employee is dressed to the communication and treatment of the consumers, are all aspects of branding.

Even sounds and smells are part of branding. For example, a store may consistently spray a certain type of perfume or cologne to distinguish its scent from another store, or a restaurant may play a certain genre of music so that the customers look forward to coming back. As a consumer continues to come back, they begin to build expectations, memories, and connections, which all influence a consumer to choose a certain product or service over another. Keeping these aspects of branding consistent is vital to build and maintain these consumer relationships built on trust, familiarity, and dependability.

Think about your close friends. You know they will consistently be there when you need help or support. Isn't it good to know that there is someone you can trust and rely on? The same concept applies to businesses and their customers.

For example, let's say a customer service representative at a certain business is always dressed in sharp business attire and is always attentive, professional and helpful. What if this same representative came in one day wearing super casual clothes.And, instead of being attentive, they kept their attention on their phone. Would that be confusing?

This type of confusion often happens with inappropriate variation of company visuals.For example, if your advertisements look colorful and fun, but your product packaging on the shelves looks sterile and boring, you're sending mixed messages to the consumer. Mixed messages promote unpredictability and detract from trust, leaving customers questioning the dependability of the brand. Therefore, it is essential to be careful that all aspects of a brand are presented in line with one another.

Everyone likes familiarity – familiar people, food, music, surroundings. Why? Because these are things we know and understand that make us feel comfortable. In branding, familiarity is important because consumers trust brands they recognize and are accustomed to. Consistency helps to reinforce familiarity, especially on the visual aspect of branding. Consistent use of the logo, fonts, photos/images, and colors all aid in familiarity.

For example, when we think of two connected golden arches, we immediately think of McDonald's because that symbol has been consistently presented to us in the same way for years. It is always a certain shape – the arches are always the same height, and it is always a gold/yellow color. Another example is the color, light robin egg blue. Many people will associate this color with Tiffany & Co. because that company consistently uses that color in their online and in-store advertising.

After trust and familiarity have been established, old and new customers tend to come back. Some brands become so consistent and well-known that a slogan, sale price, or brand name is no longer needed to be presented in order to sell their services – just the logo mark is needed to remind people of what the brand is. Ideally, this is what consistency can accomplish.

For example, Apple can present its logo without having to spell out their brand name because people already know exactly what that symbol means, as they have seen it so many times. In this case, leaving the logo by itself without any text is completely acceptable.

As you can see, consistency leads to success. We can't guarantee your business will become a Fortune 500 company, but we can guarantee that we will bring your brand to the next level with consistency and excellence to attract the consumers you want that will help you accomplish your goals. Call Business Builders Marketing today for a free brand consultation to see how you can get started. 309-827-7977