Creating a brand, creating brand recognition and creating brand consistency all sound pretty similar. However, they all have their place and need. With any business, or even for an individual in some instances, creating your brand sets the tone. Your brand personifies your business. It acts as the voice and the face of your company. Creating brand recognition is getting that face and voice in front of your market and assuring that they know who you are from simply seeing your logo, tagline, etc. Just as having a brand is necessary for every business, creating brand consistency is necessary to create brand recognition. Consistency is a simple form of higher marketing that strengthens your overall brand. It’s been proven that consistency makes your brand feel more dependable. A dependable brand means return clients, referrals and makes it easier to reach new potential clients and markets. Here are a few simple ways to achieve brand consistency to achieve all of the above:
  1. Create A Brand Style Guide This should include everything from your logo to tag line and how each should be allowed to be used. Discuss everything from colors and fonts to different renditions of the logo. This will guarantee the visual aspect of your brand is always consistent making recognition easy for your market.
  2. Determine Your Market(s), Associations + Sources Every business marketing and business plans should start with determining their target market, but did you know knowing this aids in brand consistency as well? Only allowing, or promoting, your brand to chosen markets, associations and sources will keep your brand consistent by showing a clear goal for your company. For example, it’s a waste of time and resources to be marketing a car dealership to a market or sources based around people who do not have drivers licenses.
  3. Consistently Update Your Existing Brand Updating your brand, goals and markets can be just as important as staying the same. We live in an ever changing society that makes it really important to keep up with times. Always be on the lookout for ways to reach new potential markets, update your look (without changing it too much), keep your website updated as well as social media profiles. Being on top of your game will go a long way in creating a strong brand and consistency throughout.
  4. Make Sure Your “Voice” Is Consistent Your brand acts as the face and voice of your company. Making sure you are expressing consistency across all spectrums is key to creating a consistent brand. How you (and your staff) communicate to your market on everything from your website to social media will accomplish this. No matter if its the verbiage on your website or content being shared, the overall tone should have clear guidelines that are stuck to.
  5. Track Progress Just like tracking marketing efforts, branding efforts should be tracked too to make sure you are providing a brand that appeals to your audience. There are a few questions to ask yourself to do so such as “is my audience responding/interacting how we want?” and “are we being recognized in the light/ways we want to be recognized?” Paying attention to these two things and requesting/listening to feedback will help you better create a strong brand that works for you and your audience.
Creating a brand, consistency and recognition is something you do not have to do alone. There are a lot of aspects to consider, and Simpatico is here to help you through it and create a brand you can be proud of. Contact us today to get started on a brand, re-brand or for to evaluate and move your brand in the right direction.