When people think of branding, they might think of a singular image—like the Nike swoosh or the classic lettering on a Coke can. But creating a consistent brand is about much more than just the logo.
Creating a successful brand means cultivating consistent branding over time, even as messaging platforms change. Coca-Cola’s branding, for example, extends to its vending machines, seasonal advertisements, and thoughtful placement in pop culture. All these touchpoints create positive associations with the company.
Companies big and small can create a consistent brand, helping communicate their company’s mission to their customer base in a way that cultivates loyalty and recognition.
What is brand consistency?
Brand consistency is the public-facing manifestation of a company’s identity across all platforms and marketing channels over an extended period of time.Consistent branding is essential for building trust with existing and potential customers. Plus, exposing the public to consistent branding over time can help instill the company’s core values.
Benefits of brand consistency
Maintaining brand consistency offers several potential benefits:
Clarity
Through a consistent brand identity, companies shape a coherent narrative that reduces confusion or conflation with other brands. When executed, this makes for a more uniform brand reputation that validates existing customers’ experiences and brings in future customers. Internally, having a consistent brand strategy can streamline decision making and marketing strategies.
Recognition
In a world where many brands pivot to meet fleeting trends, staying consistent can help make your brand recognizable. When brands maintain consistency, they foster more customer trust than brands with disjointedmarketing campaigns. By using the same core elements across multiple marketing assets, your company has a better chance of being easily recognizable and building trust.
Loyalty
Customers who form a strong association with a brand are more likely to consider purchasing a product. A consistent brand can become part of the consumer’s identity as something they are proud to publicize when they purchase or use a product. For example, consumers who prefer Coca-Cola may go beyond just buying the company’s drinks by wearing merchandise featuring its branding.
Brand consistency example
One of the most interesting success stories of the past few years is the direct-to-consumer (DTC) sneaker company Allbirds. Allbirds, which grew quickly after launching in 2016, dedicated a fifth of its initial budget to marketing and PR. It used the money to create consistent branding that clearly communicated its brand values to its target audience—in this case, consumers who wanted simple, comfortable, and eco-friendly shoes.
It was able to carve out a niche in the global shoe market by using a variety of marketing strategies—including social media posts, videos, and earned media—that positioned its shoes as eco-friendly and comfortable. Posts on social media platforms featured simple photos that showcased the shoes and gave information about the shoe’s unique wool weave. A conversational and humorous YouTube video created a space where the company could explain its mission statement and process.
All of the branding worked together to create consistent messaging that communicated the mission statement of the brand while still getting the customers interested in the product.
How to achieve brand consistency
- Develop a brand voice
- Develop a distinct brand image
- Create a brand style guide
- Organize and schedule your assets
Developing a brand consistency strategy takes commitment over a long period of time. There are several best practices that your business can focus on:
Develop a brand voice
Branding is a way for companies to have conversations with customers. When thinking about what you want your brand to sound like, consider your target audience. What are the characteristics of the people most likely to buy your product?
Consider how you want to position your brand’s voice and tone. Would your target audience appreciate something casual and familiar? Or is your company targeted toward other business owners and possibly able to benefit from something more authoritative and professional? Focusing on your audience will help narrow down the ways your brand message comes across.
Develop a distinct brand image
Your brand image is the visual language that dictates yourbrand’s materials. The design of all your brand identity elements—including the symbols, typography, and color palette—should support and reflect the substance of your product while still being easily recognizable. Designing a logo is an important step, with tools like Shopify’s free logo maker available to use.
Create a brand style guide
Brand guidelines are overarching rules that include your brand style guide. These guidelines are useful for marketing and social media teams because it can help them easily establish brand consistency in their marketing assets. The approved brand materials should generally have the same tone, color palette, and visual elements to build recognizability. By using the same visual elements consistently in your marketing collateral, you can help customers recognize your company and products.
Organize and schedule your assets
Create consistent schedules for posting on social media or sending out email marketing messages. Building brand consistency is not just about having a consistent look or voice, but it also encompasses becoming a consistent presence in the lives of new and returning customers.
Brand consistency FAQ
Why is brand consistency important?
Brand consistency allows companies to communicate their core brand values with consumers throughout their buyer journey, all while creating a consistent customer experience and building consumer trust.
How do you build brand consistency?
To create brand consistency, spend time ensuring your logo and asset design reflects your brand’s promise with its symbols, color palettes, and fonts. Establish clear guidelines for the brand elements across all marketing activities and get a commitment from team members to maintain them.
What is the impact of brand consistency?
Consistent branding can give a business brand recognition, increase the value of its products in the eyes of consumers, and differentiate the brand in a competitive field.
How can you keep your branding consistent across social media?
To maintain consistency across social media posts, keep the visual language and imagery similar, repurpose posts for different platforms, and develop a clear and regular schedule for posting and interacting with consumers. Brand guidelines and a brand style guide can help keep your brand consistent on all platforms.
