There are a lot of branding buzzwords out there and “brand consistency” might be one you've seen, shrugged at, and pushed past in favour of less flowery-sounding ideas.
Today, we want to highlight that actually, brand consistency is anything but a buzzword – it’s the secret key to converting customers and your business needs it.
Big words, we know, but brand consistency is the difference between a customer having you front of mind next time they need an accounting firm like yours when planning for their next tax return… or totally forgetting they follow you at all and looking elsewhere.
What is brand consistency?
Brandy consistency is how well you replicate your brand’s chosen visuals and tone of voice at every touchpoint a customer encounters you!
That means your:
🎨 brand colours
✍🏻 brand fonts
🗣 brand copy
…should all look and feel the same, regardless of whether it’s the homepage of your website or a graphic on your social media.
Why does consistent branding matter?
Let’s talk about the Know Like Trust factor
So many folks want to sell their businesses without thinking about the psychology of their customers.
It’s not woo-woo: you will really hamper your ability to sell yourself if you don't understand how your customers arrive at a decision to buy from you.
Nobody sees one social media post and thinks, “Yep, I’m ready to buy now!”
Instead, you need to take your customers on a journey called Know, Like, Trust.
KNOW 🧠
First, your customer has to be aware of who you are. They need to be able to recognise you as a business and understand what you do.
LIKE 💙
Second, your customer needs to have a fond opinion of you. They should enjoy seeing your content appear online or think favourably of your ad in their favourite magazine.
TRUST 🤝
Last of all, and hardest to achieve, is trust: your customer should believe you are reputable and reliable. Any sale requires faith that you will deliver on what you've promised; no customer will spend with a company that don't trust.
Why the Know, Like, Trust factor needs consistent branding
Every step of this three-step process requires brand consistency, with you delivering the same visuals and tone of voice wherever they see you!
Brand consistency helps clients get to know you because using totally different colours or wording everywhere you appear will stop them from being able to recognise you. Close your eyes and picture Tiffany’s brand colour – did their signature turquoise shade fill your mind? Now think about McDonald’s… are you picturing their red and yellow? Great brand consistency means customers will associate your brand colours, fonts, and tone with you wherever they go (even if they see your signature colour on an errand run or your font on another brand.)
Brand consistency helps clients come to like you because by being the same everywhere they encounter your brand, they can start to recognise and appreciate the traits that make up your brand. Consistently using humour in your website copy and in your newsletters? Good news, your customers will notice and start to see you in a positive light.
Brand consistency helps clients trust you because it’s so much harder to trust a brand that is never the same twice! By always having high-quality visuals and a familiar tone of voice, they can see you as a brand that takes pride in what they do. Your ability to show up regularly and with confident, consistent branding will count towards how much they feel they can trust you – so that when it’s time for them to invest, you are the first people they turn to.
Consistent branding is so key in helping your clients understand your business, appreciate your qualities, and see you as responsible enough to be trusted with their hard-earned money. If you take every social media post as a chance to experiment, they’ll have a hard time even recognising you. Get your branding right to make landing sales easier.
We’ve shared so many more branding insights here on the blog – have a read and bookmark your favourite posts! We’d love to uplevel your brand this year 💙
