Pixels to Print: Brand Consistency

When speaking of a company’s “branding” or “brand”, we are essentially talking about how your company exists in the mind of consumers, whether it’s thoughts, opinions, or associated feelings. When people see your logo or hear your brand name, you want them to immediately think of what your brand is, what it represents, and what it offers (all in a positive light, of course). When you think of the brand Starbucks, what do you think of? Their green logo? Their great customer service? Their high-quality customized drinks? Their well-known seasonal cup designs? The reason that we think of these things when we see or hear the name of their brand is because of their successful branding tactics, a main one being their consistency – consistency in quality, but also consistency in design and marketing assets.

By being consistent in the use of same or similar design assets throughout all marketing efforts, your brand will grow to become recognizable in all forms and fronts. Establishing your brand visually, through things like color, type, and style are what lead to the ability to recognize who you are as a brand. Many companies make use of a brand guideline to lay out the visual assets of their brand and what can and can’t be used, all in the attempt to form this consistency in branding. For example, our very own brand guidelines feature things like our logo variations, 4 main colors, brand font, and icons used.

With the visual assets of your brand established, you now have a basic guide that will allow you to market your brand in a way that can still be creative and unique, but consistent and familiar to your brand at the same time, preventing any confusion on what or who is relaying the message. Apply these assets to any and all marketing efforts that you make in the future, allowing your “brand” to be “branded” in a consistent and familiar way to your consumers. Use these same colors, fonts, icons, etc. in your marketing collateral, social media presence, website, promotional products, and even internal things like meeting presentations, emails, and visuals around the office.

Through this familiarity of your brand, trust is formed with the consumer. Being one of the biggest benefits of good branding, trust is essential to building loyal relationships with your consumers. You want to be seen as having a solid and confident identity so that your audience will know that they can rely on you to provide the same amazing quality service that they received already once before. If your branding was inconsistent and scattered, consumers might form doubt into who you really are and if your company is what it says it is or used to be. If Starbucks woke up one day and decided to change the color of their brand to purple, how would you react? Perhaps we might be led to think that something about the company has changed, and we may be skeptical about continuing to go to the coffee shop that we loved and have always relied on before.

Lastly, a consistency in branding relays the message of professionalism. If your branding shows that you know what you’re doing and you’re put together, it is assumed that you must offer a product or service that is also professional and put together. On the other hand, going along with trust and loyalty, if your branding is inconsistent and sloppy, your brand will probably not be trusting of what it is that you are providing.

If your brand is currently lacking a brand guideline or consistency in branding, take these tips with you to your next marketing meeting, and think about what you could be doing to make your brand stand out and be memorable to your consumers!