Have you given any thought to your brand consistency and how this affects the impression other people get of you and your company? Brand consistency is about more than using the same colors and logo on anything relating to your company, although this is helpful and an integral part.
It is about how you are perceived overall and the message you are putting out in the world about your company. Consistent branding can install confidence in consumers and vendors alike and want them to engage or conduct business with you.
So what exactly does your company branding project to others? And how can you maintain consistency?
Set Guidelines
In a nutshell, your branding guidelines should align with your vision and company ethos. Creating standards for your written and visual content will help you ensure you are putting out a consistent message. Pay attention to the small details that can be implemented for new campaigns.
Use the following suggestions to help you create your guidelines.
- Tone – Consider how your brand would behave and talk if it were a person. A kid’s activity center, for example, should be friendly and inviting, whereas a law firm should be serious and reliable.
- Colors – Choose a dominating hue and 3 or 4 complementary tones for a balanced visual palette. Color consistency will aid in brand awareness.
- Images – Provide suggestions for stock or proprietary photographs and drawings. Consider whether photos of products should be fresh and modern or if a retro-style is ideal for your company. If you use people’s pictures, make sure they represent your target demographic so potential buyers can relate.
- Language – Consider what is and isn’t the appropriate language to use for your company; if you are targeting younger generations, then the use of slang and pop culture references can work in your favor. But if you are branding for a residential community, you need to use language appropriate for this age and generation.
Focus on Internal Branding
Brand consistency isn’t simply reserved for customers. After developing a brand voice that resonates with customers, the brand experience must match, involving employees. Placing your logo and company values on posters around the office isn’t enough. Attempt to apply a marketing executive in existing company culture efforts. If there isn’t a formal company culture program, work with HR to secure senior buy-in for a brand-centric project.
Marketing teams can become so focused on generating leads that they overlook internal customers. Employees must believe in the brand. Foster a healthy working environment where your employees want to go above and beyond in their work and share how much they love the company with those in their lives outside of work. There is no better person to vouch for you and support your branding than a happy employee.
Plan Ahead
Use marketing calendars to plan ahead as much as possible. This gives you time to assess the proposed content that is being suggested and make sure it adheres to your branding guidelines. Mistakes are made when you are under pressure, so planning as much as possible can eliminate this.
Make sure your website is suitable for the type of posting schedule you are planning and the potential traffic this can bring you. Choose a No-Code Website Builder to help you create an easy-to-navigate website that is informative and accessible.
If you are publishing time-sensitive content or jumping on viral trends, have a template that allows for a copy and paste type format that still sticks closely to your guidelines, allowing for slight variations to help you capitalize on the visibility jumping on top topics enable.
When planning ahead, make sure you are planning for all your marketing materials and multichannel options such as PPC ads, email content, blog content, social media posting, in-house marketing materials, print adverts, and so on.
Repurpose Content
Repurposing content can assist you in reaching a new audience and reinforcing your message while requiring little effort on your part. A new design or layout can readily refresh timeless content and may be of great value to an audience that hasn’t seen it. Also, it can also quickly restore content that is currently in use. Recycling current materials also provides you with an opportunity to fine-tune your brand’s communication.
Creating good, evergreen content from scratch can be expensive, and time-consuming Repurposing content is a cost-effective strategy that also has the added benefit of introducing repetition into your marketing strategy. People frequently require repeated exposure to messages to internalize them; thus, repurposing allows you to maintain marketing continuity while also keeping it fresh.
You can repurpose phrases and quotes from a repurposed post, facts and figures used in conjunction with current campaigns, or simply refresh people’s memories.
