The overall reputation of a business is determined by how consistently their brand is portrayed. A study by LucidPress, a provider of brand management software, revealed that brands which are maintained with consistency are up to four times more likely to be seen. And generally, better visibility translates to more conversions.
Maintaining a constant image for your brand gives it visibility and bolsters its power. Alternatively, when your logo is miss-represented in its colors or when the first letter of your brand name is shown in lowercase instead of uppercase, your brand endures detriment. Certain large corporations keep track of what is said about them on the internet and if misleading or outdated branding materials show up, they will even demand that it be wiped out or replaced.
What would occur if I mistakenly used an outdated logo? What if I occasionally utilize the incorrect typeface in a sales demonstration? Does it really matter?
Uneven branding can have a variety of undesirable consequences. The inclusion of an incorrect logo in an email could lead to a customer having doubts about its legitimacy. Consumers may be hesitant to follow a social media account that is not associated with a recognized brand. A typical shortened link with no hint of where it goes may make people wary of clicking it. Reliability is what matters even when someone is just planning to buy something just once.
So who gets it right?
My most adored business in the UK is Wagamama, which is an eatery network that specializes in East Asian dishes. You can tell from their website just how committed they are to making food that both tastes amazing and looks great, which is the same commitment you experience when eating at one of their establishments. The eateries they own are known for the large servings and visible kitchen, which gives patrons an eye-catching view of the delectable noodle creations and fresh, quality produce.
But how do they maintain this immersive atmosphere online? Imagery plays a huge part in their online UX. Currently, the business’s website contains in excess of 10 photographs of meals from Wagamama. No matter if you come across Wagamama on the web or in a physical store, you will quickly be engulfed in their cuisine.
BrewDog, a craft beer brand from Scotland, is gaining immense popularity around Europe and the United States. Two things get their attention – exceptional craft brew and canines. A unique, but endearing combination.
It is crystal clear that the company has a profound admiration for canines which is seen through their corporate culture, deeds, and advertising campaigns. It is seen in their bars. For instance, a pub containing a pet playground was just established, so individuals can savor a brewski and also have fun with their fur babies at the same time. The way they handle their personnel is clearly demonstrated by their generosity to allow new dog owners to take “Paw-maternity leave”. The logo of the company showcases a canine, which is an obvious nod to their business.
When brand consistency goes wrong
Maintaining consistent branding can be challenging, particularly for large companies with lots of content being generated and shared every day that is associated with their brand.
In the last few years, there have been some prominent examples of long-established firms that have not kept true to their brand. One of the most significant cases was when Volkswagen was discovered to have been deceiving their clients and government entities in regard to their product’s emissions. The disclosure indicated that the company had taken the complete reverse approach to the green reputation it had accomplished. This is an especially dramatic case, but the lack of consistency has inflicted permanent harm on the reputation of the brand.
It can be difficult to ensure that your brand is consistently represented across different languages.
For example, KFC’s famous slogan “finger licking good” caused a bit of a misunderstanding when it was inexplicably translated to “eat your fingers off” in Chinese, inadvertently contradicting their branding message.
Tools to help enforce brand consistency
Making sure all of your brandings is in sync may be a difficult task, but when done economically, such as how BrewDog did it, it produces a strong and favorable image that helps to reinforce your customers’ trust, recognition, and visibility. It is essential to maintain the same visual representation of your company after you have established it.
One of the toughest jobs is ensuring that your whole entity is savvy in generating content that follows your brand’s messaging. The best way to attain this is to provide all personnel of your company with a definite group of brand rules that they have access to at all times.
Here is a selection of practical branding instruments which ensure your brand is persistently presented in all areas of your enterprise, anywhere and anytime it is being seen.
It is insufficient to simply distribute your brand rules and pray that everyone peruses them. Your team members must be educated on how to use the regulations in their day-to-day operations. Using Lessonly, setting up an online lesson to be shared among everyone in the firm can be achieved quickly and with ease. Every person on the team is able to finish their brand training without having to adhere to a specific timeline. Since the training is online, existing team members can easily access it for a refresher when needed, and it can be included in the onboarding process for new members of the team.
A quiz can be integrated at the termination of the Lessonly instruction so employees can assess their recent understanding. You can check the exam outcomes, so if anyone fails to answer several queries correctly, they are encouraged to go through the instruction again.
A unique feature of the OnBrand Grader is its ability to evaluate your website and measure how effective your branding is throughout it. A short assessment of potential steps to raise your organization’s brand uniformity on your site is also generated. And it’s all for free!
Using social media to spread the word about your latest content is vital. Rebrandly enables you to generate brief, organized URLs that contain your business’s name. By doing this, people who click on the links you have provided will recognize that the link’s origin is from you. Branded URLs can help build a company’s image and strength, with the capability to raise click-through rates by as high as 39% as opposed to common short links.
What is the amount of time required for you to locate the appropriate corporate logo? Bynder Orbit is a no-cost asset organization utility that permits you to rapidly locate the documents you require. Orbit doesn’t utilize a folder system, but instead uses a filter file structure. This enables you to easily find what you are searching for without having to browse through a bulky assortment of folders. As an alternative, Bynder Orbit permits you to weed out outcomes until you have discovered the file you are looking for.
Having regularity is essential in making sure your brand achieves its maximum potential. Implementing it will enhance your marketing strategy and create a sense of trust and familiarity with customers. By utilizing these branding instruments adequately, you can guarantee that everybody will accurately present your brand in a cohesive manner.
Whether you’re developing a brand style guide from the ground up or looking to make an existing brand more consistent, you’ll find success by focusing on the three pillars of brand consistency:
1. Identifying and owning your vision and values 2. Building a visual identity 3. Establishing clear messaging
1. Identifying and owning your vision and values
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Who are you as a brand? What are your aspirations for your brand in the years to come? What actions are you planning to take in order to embody your brand and reach your objectives? What should you consider when defining your vision and beliefs? Ideally, it is hoped that everyone associated with your brand can comprehend these values, back them up, and adhere to them.
If you are well aware of your brand identity, your customers will be too. You should make sure that your intended market grasps your vision and principles, so don’t hesitate to express your identity and what you uphold – this is how you will relate to them and be regarded.
Depending on the sector you are in and who your target demographic are, your brand personality and principles will be distinct. The way you present your brand to outsiders will also be impacted by these discrepancies. A company in the fitness industry, for example, could demonstrate their enthusiasm by displaying images related to physical fitness on their social media accounts. They could construct motivational projects that concentrate on genuine participants of their clubs, which can be propagated from signs in and out of the gym to promotional emails to Youtube recordings.
Reinterpret your missions… again and again
Be sure to express your brand values to your audience both in an overt and subtle way, making sure to utilize your brand guidelines. Keep reiterating them whenever possible. Adhere to the colors, typefaces, and style when making marketing materials that cover different platforms.
A great example of this is The Farmer’s Dog website. This particular brand of healthy dog food expresses their purpose clearly in its messaging about their ingredients, and they manage to keep this point clear by repeating it throughout the website without creating a sense of boredom for the viewer. An example of the technology used on their website is a parallax scrolling feature that displays all the components in a section of their pet food as the user scrolls down the page. The slogan for their company is #longlivedogs, and their mission statement is “Smarter, healthier pet food.” Their branding is straightforward and truthful, even for the minimalistic labeling.
2. Building a visual identity
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Creating a consistent and unified visual system is the simplest means of preserving a consistent brand image. This is where your brand’s design specifications are useful. Putting together an exact and comprehensive manual to be employed by everyone on your staff represents the overall identity of your brand. This is an ongoing process that requires regular checking and revisions to make certain the words and visuals are up to date.
Having a logo, color scheme, and font that are recognizable when used together consistently can foster feelings of dependability in customers. These characteristics can be employed in multiple ways, including packaging, digital designs, signage, and promotional materials.
Find a logo that fits your brand in all settings
A successful logo should be able to represent a brand without having to rely heavily on words. For big companies like Target, Apple, and Nike, as well as smaller startups like Study Now, their identities can be seen through their logos. For example, Study Now has an inventive pencil graphic and uses modern colors.
You can observe above how logos can be implemented consistently throughout various settings. Different color combinations, dimensions, or settings, as well as versions that either have more or fewer particulars or words, can all be used to go with a company’s logo. This helps your designs become lively and engaging in different formats while making sure that your brand’s individuality is reinstated to the viewers. In other terms, this maintains your distinguishability no matter the situation. Ensure that the logo you use is able to be scaled up or down by utilizing a vector file format so that the proportion and resolution remain intact when you resize it.
3. Establishing clear messaging
Once you know what your standards are and have come up with a recognizable image, your communication becomes an important part of maintaining brand uniformity. The benefit of consistent communication is that it will assist clients in becoming more familiar with you and establishing a connection to your complete image. Communicating can take numerous forms, such as the language used on your website, a slogan on the packaging of your product, or the words accompanying your most recent Instagram post. It is important to maintain consistency with all of your communication outlets so that your brand identity is reinforced; your messaging should be uniform in tone.
Disseminating your information is wonderful, however, don’t become too verbose. People should keep in mind that their capability to focus is currently less than that of a goldfish. You must be concise and grab the customer’s attention immediately by having your message be concise and clear.
Keep it short but sweet
An ideal illustration of always communicating plainly and to the point is Spindrift, a brand of fizzy water. Whenever they can, Spindrift makes sure people are aware that their drink includes real fruit juice and doesn’t have any preservatives.
In their communication, Spindrift makes it clear and subtly conveys to the consumer who they are as an organization and what principles they uphold. They take pride in being open and honest when communicating with their listeners and prioritizing natural components and real fruit. The landing page for Spindrift features titles such as “real fruit. really”, “the best ingredients.” and “made by real people.” to emphasize that there are no secret additives or surprises – just genuine products of top quality. The use of a full stop in each title further reinforces that idea.
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