Has your strategic vision taken a holiday? Debunking the brand consistency myth by demonstrating it is not a myth.
Does your online presence look as mis-matched as the stockings your grandmother knitted, which now hang with droopy enthusiasm atop your mantle? Of course those sad socks are cute; however, it’s more in a pity party way than the sophisticated brand celebration we’re aiming for. We don’t mean to poke fun, but we do want to insist you create a New Years’ resolution that prioritizes re-establishing a consistent brand. This is not to fulfill a sick yet festive aim to be know-it-all elves who are eager to leverage Christmas metaphors to brand shame you. Rather, it’s because there are significant qualitative and quantitative benefits to a well-delivered brand experience.
There are few things more important than consistency when wrapping up a brand presence that feels like a present
People have short attention spans. They also have a ton of digital garbagio floating around in front of their faces on an almost constant basis. To achieve the lofty yet essential goal of busting through all the bull, you need to create – and carefully maintain – a brand that stands out and stands up in salute of what you stand for.
Inconsistent branding leads to consumer confusion. If your target audiences encounter your social media campaign and its tone is comedic, outgoing and awesome and then they click through to a drabby blabby website, you have already lost them. The reason for this is they were attracted to a brand promise you failed to deliver on and, as extra as it sounds, that feels like a bit of a betrayal to the buyer. Even if it’s on a subconscious level, when you set your audiences up for disappointment, it does not bode well for their brand loyalty.
What are the crappy consequences of an inconsistent brand convo?
When your potential customers feel confused by your meaning, these are some of the measurable and meaningful ways that may bite you in the brand:
- Increased likelihood you will experience an increased bounce rate: Landing pages are intended to be a seamless extension of your digital marketing assets. When they are not, people may wonder if they’ve landed on the wrong page. Think “Dude, this is not where I parked my car” yet with less comedy and more damage to your engagement metrics.
- Consistency and brand recognition go together: Describe the Nike brand for me. Just do it out loud, right now. See how easy that little exercise was? That’s because Nike delivers on a high energy, high potency brand wherever it lives. Online, offline, you know the slogan and you know the swoosh.
- Visual consistency is a key ingredient in the appeal of your business because it demonstrates the effort you’ve put into cultivating your brand. A logo that takes on a new form via every platform or is found to be unoptimized and distorted from one screen to another will signal to people you don’t really care about your brand. Naturally then, neither will they.
- Not to mention, the eye and mind are drawn to organization and thoughtful design. Using colours that complement one another consistently and designing with a focus on elevated aesthetic will make your content more likeable and shareable. That seems obvious because no one wants their Insta story sharing ugly stuff, unless it’s a Christmas sweater.
- Even if your messaging is great, if no one knows who created it, it’s basically crap. If you are not getting the credit, you might as well be doing your competitors’ marketing for them. Throwing a bone to our Liberal Arts majors for a second: Shakespeare created such a strong brand that centuries later, even if he did not attribute a work to himself, historians can tell it’s his writing just by analyzing his tone and subject matter. Make your brand like the Bard and curate an unmistakable voice, so even if you aren’t screaming your business name from the top of your lungs, people will still discover you within your strategic nuances.
Reap the ROI of a carefully crafted & consistent brand
We know every business owner’s nightmare is hearing they need to do more work. Many of you are just now struggling to climb aboard the social train. But, like the Little Engine that Could, you can – and need to – put in place the templates and brand guidelines necessary to ensure you stay on the right track. From your website through to your socials, like Rudolph and his reindeer, you need to reign in your images, copy and calls to action to ensure your audience members know and respect your key differentiating factors.
“But I don’t have time,” said every CEO ever. Our answer? That is fine by us because that is why you hire external people to protect and promote your brand loyalty and longevity. Deck the halls with a smarter, more cohesive branding strategy by working with CR Creative. Give us the go-ahead to apply our design and copy best practices toward unifying your online presence. The benefits will be the opposite of all the risks of NOT branding well, which we carefully outlined above. So, let us create a Christmas miracle and help you come out on top and top-of-mind in your competitive market.
