Starting a business is tricky business, so positioning yourself in a way that gets you recognized and trusted is essential to your success. Having a consistent brand is important to help you create a unique identity for your business and stand out from your competitors. While many small business owners understand this, it can take time to learn how to start.
In this blog post, we'll talk about the importance of brand consistency and common mistakes you should avoid that can send your brand down an inconsistent spiral.
Causes Behind Inconsistent Branding
1. Lack of Clear Brand Guidelines
A clear brand guide is a must-have because it provides consistency in how your brand looks, sounds, and feels. Without a brand guide, the team members involved in creating and promoting the brand may interpret your brand differently, leading to inconsistencies in your marketing materials, social media, and even your website.
Your brand guidelines help keep your messaging, visuals, and overall experience looking and feeling the same across the board.
2. Inconsistent Use of Brand Visuals
Consistency is key in branding; your logo, colors, fonts, and images all work together to build a consistent brand. We know it can be tempting to stray from your established brand colors, fonts, and layouts and use trendy alternatives, but doing so can make each marketing piece look and feel different from the other. So, if your branding is feeling chaotic, start by consistently using your brand visuals, like your logo, colors, and fonts.
3. Inconsistent Messaging and Tone
Inconsistent messaging and tone are common mistakes we see in branding. And we understand... it's easy to do. If your brand is known for being authentic, building relationships, and truly caring for people, your website and social media should reflect that. Mixing in unrelated content or using a tone that doesn't fit your brand can confuse your audience. It's best to have one main message for your brand and remember to carry it out through everything you create.
4. Not Training Your Employees on Brand Standards
Having everyone on your team understand your brand standards is crucial for building a successful brand. When your team isn't trained on brand standards or disregards their importance, it can lead to inconsistencies in communication, customer experience, and overall brand perception. Like a game of telephone, your message can get lost through personal preferences and misinterpretation. And this can result in a lack of consistency in branding across different channels and touchpoints, leading to customer confusion and weakening the brand.
To avoid inconsistent branding, ensure everyone on your team, from the CEO to the Marketing Team, to the person picking up the phone, understands your company's mission, visual identity, tone of voice, and messaging guidelines.
5. Lack of Accountability for Brand Consistency
We can't emphasize how important brand consistency is for the success of any small business. It helps establish trust and recognition with your current and potential clients. It only takes one person to decide they want to change things in your brand based on their personal preference to create inconsistencies in your branding. And if they aren't held accountable for maintaining brand consistency, it causes confusion and disrupts the cohesive brand you've worked hard to build.
Mistakes to Avoid when it comes to branding
1. Forgetting to Update Branding Materials
Oops! Did you forget to update your branding materials? There are many reasons why a company should update its branding: a new audience, new services, new messaging, or a new look. And as a company grows and evolves, so should its brand. To avoid confusing your clients, reviewing and updating branding materials regularly is important. If you're in the middle of a rebrand, we know it takes time to update everything, especially if you've been around for 30+ years, but the sooner you take those steps to update everything, the easier it will be later on...for you, your team, and your audience.
2. Not Reviewing Your Brand Standards
We know how easy it is to get stuck in the day-to-day of running a small business, and brand standards can fall off the priority list, but taking the time to audit your brand can help you see where things have strayed or where things may need to change. To make sure you stay true to your brand's identity, take some time to review your brand and see what areas need realigning, updating, or a complete refresh.
3. Ignoring Feedback About Brand Inconsistencies
Ignoring feedback about brand inconsistencies can have serious consequences for a business. Let's say that you express that communication is one of your brand's core values, but when a client signs on for a service and leaves feedback that it takes weeks to hear back from you, that negatively impacts your company's reputation. It's important to actively listen to feedback (surveys, comments, reviews) and take it seriously to avoid this. Having brand standards isn't strictly for your visuals. They encompass all touchpoints, and by prioritizing feedback, you're taking proactive steps to address any inconsistencies.
4. Not Involving Partners in the Branding Process
Not involving partners in the branding process can lead to inconsistencies in your brand. When you work on branding, it's important to make sure that everyone invested in the company has a voice in how it's presented to the world. This includes your team and sometimes your clients and contractors. It's good to involve people in the process to make sure they understand the messaging and help them feel connected to the brand. Involving others from the beginning can help you create a clear and consistent message and get everyone on the same page.
5. Trying to be Too Trendy or Edgy
It's great to be on top of the latest trends, but sometimes it can be a double-edged sword. Trends only last a short time, so if you're trying to be too trendy, you'll constantly have to change your branding, which can cause a lot of inconsistencies. If you constantly change your logo, messaging, or overall look to keep up with the hottest new thing, it can confuse your audience, who may need help recognizing your brand. So, think about how you can balance staying current while maintaining a consistent brand image.
Tips for Maintaining a Consistent Brand
Brand consistency builds trust with your clients and establishes a strong reputation in your industry. To start building a consistent brand, start defining your brand values, the key message you want to tell your audience, and how you want your brand to look and feel. Once you truly understand how you want to be presented to the world, consistently apply them across all your marketing materials, including your website, social media, and touchpoints. It is super helpful to create brand guidelines so that everyone on your team is on the same page when it comes to maintaining brand consistency.
To start building a consistent brand, consider implementing the following:
- Be diligent about updating your brand materials.
- Take the time to review and audit your brand standards.
- Be an active listener and take feedback into consideration.
- Involve people on your team in the process.
- Avoid chasing the latest trends to establish your branding.
Need help building a consistent brand?
Consistency is key in branding, especially for small business owners just starting out. We offer a brand guide template in our shop takes away the guesswork, allowing you to organize all your brand elements in one beautiful guide. It will help you understand your brand better and provide a clear understanding for contractors and collaborators on how to use your brand elements effectively.
