7 Reasons Why Brand Consistency Matters

There's a lot more to a business than the products it sells or the services it offers. Branding gives a business a voice and personality, and it's important for that personality to be consistent.

You want to hold onto the people who support your business, so you need to continue to meet their expectations. By maintaining brand consistency, you can make sure your customers always walk away satisfied after every interaction with your company.

Below, we’ve outlined seven reasons why brand consistency is important and included tips on creating and maintaining brand consistency for your business.

The Basics of Brand Consistency

People are attracted to brands that they can rely on for the long term. Adhering to the same values, culture, and imagery over time makes it easy for your followers to stick with your business.

Company Values and Culture

Every company fosters its own culture, from its workplace policies to its overall tone. This culture determines how you appear to your following, what can be expected of you, and the experience the customer has. In this case, breaking the mold probably won't work in your favor.

Visual Themes

Use the same visual themes across all of your promotional and marketing materials. The color scheme, fonts, logos, and imagery should be the same across the board. Presenting your audience with the same visual themes makes it easier for them to keep your brand in mind, which in turn makes them more likely to shop with you again.

Making an impression is one thing but following up on that impression is another. Deception is one of the biggest red flags in marketing, so lying to customers is one of the biggest sins a company can commit. Be honest with your following, and live up to the reputation you've created for yourself.

How to Achieve Brand Consistency: 3 Key Moves

1. Craft a Mission Statement

The importance of creating brand consistency cannot be overstated, but how exactly do you show the people what your company is all about? As long as you have a solid mission statement, you always have something to look back at. A mission statement gives you something to strive across campaigns and products and allows you to more easily align your messaging with your values.

2. Adhere to a Brand Style Guide

Following a brand style guide ensures that you always come off the way you mean to. Employees at every level should understand what makes the business unique and how to express it to potential followers. From the color scheme you work with to the attitude you display, every aspect of your brand should be geared towards your target audience.

3. Rebrand Smart

Rebranding can be a good thing for your business, but only if you do it right. You don't have to (and probably shouldn't) change your values when you rebrand, but fresh visual themes might be what your company needs to take the next step. Just be sure it's the right move at the right time—rebranding just for the sake of it can end up backfiring. Only rebrand if there's a real reason to make the change, and once you do, be sure to stay consistent with the new theme.

Why Brand Consistency Is Necessary

Consumers look for reliability. If they have different experiences every time they interact with your brand, they're less likely to refer other people to your business. By maintaining a consistent brand identity and living up to your word, you encourage customers to keep coming back.

Brand consistency makes it possible for your business to:

1. Shape How the Public Sees You

Branding means deciding how you want to present your business and its values to the public. Consistent branding keeps that impression the same across different experiences—people should feel the same when they see your posters or commercials as they do when they walk into your building. By keeping your message consistent, you let consumers know that you're a company that keeps its promises and sticks to its convictions.

2. Elicit Positive Emotions

You want your following to associate your business with positive emotions, and branding is your opportunity to create those associations. Keep in mind, however, that you have to continue to back up the promises you make if you want to retain the trust of your followers.

3. Separate Yourself from Competition

Successful brands are unique—they give the customer something that other businesses don't. Whatever it is that makes you special, be sure to keep it in the forefront of people's minds with your branding. Whatever it is that your brand stands for, back it up with actions and not just words.

4. Build Trust in Your Customer Base

Today's consumers know they have a whole spectrum of options to choose from, so they'll quickly move on if you don't give them what they need. Customers expect a similar experience every time they go to you, so make sure it continues to be a good one. If they enjoy their experiences, they'll keep coming back; this builds recognition and helps your brand gain clout.

5. Market Effectively

Even if it doesn't necessarily turn into sales, proper marketing at least generates interest in your brand. If you want people to spread the word and keep coming back, those people need to know that they can rely on you to deliver. If people see your branded color scheme in their daily lives, it should remind them of your business.

6. Grow Your Audience

By keeping your branding consistent, you can grow your customer base while staying true to the people who believed in you from the beginning. No matter how quickly your business grows, don't lose track of your values. It's important to adapt along the way, but you should understand your audience and grow along with the people who support your endeavor.

7. Become One of the Big Names

Running a steady, profitable operation is great, but if you want to truly excel, you need a committed following behind you. Consistent and effective branding keeps your name in people's minds. If you keep up with your mission statement in the long run, you'll build up more authority in addition to becoming a better-known entity in your industry.

All of these points are imperative for a successful business. If you want to reach more people and effectively reel them in, consistent branding will be the cornerstone of the operation.

The Takeaway

No matter your industry or specialty, you want to do everything you can to build up brand credibility. You can maintain that credibility and continue to grow your following through consistent branding. The values you stand for and the imagery you use are both critical components of your branding, and consistency is the key to keeping your following hooked.

This article was written by Compose.ly writer Travis Ryan.