Brand consistency refers to building uniformity of brand promise delivery across all stakeholder touchpoints. People often prefer particular brands because of the predictability they associate with service delivery, quality, and speed, among other factors. Encountering sudden changes among the brand attributes the user was familiar with can lead to switching loyalty.
Organizations must ensure consistency and standardization of experience in all their service delivery points. Today’s customers, no matter how loyal, effortlessly shift loyalty because of exposure to many brands enticing them with a superior experience. Multiple big brands flood NYC, trying to outdo one another to appeal to their target audiences.
As a brand manager, you must ensure clarity in your brand promise, especially in aspects that customers value the most. The next step is to communicate and deliver assurance all the time. The four fundamental traits of building a consistent brand are as follows:
- Understand Your Core Values
The starting point of creating a powerful brand is understanding your core values and the organizational purpose. Define the brand goal before publicizing it. The goal relates to the aspiration of the organization in its industry. Core values reflect the fundamental beliefs of an organization, and they dictate behavior.
When people see or interact with your brand, they need to feel the effect of your core values. Therefore, when defining the values, know what is critical for the organization and the customer. Also, consider what it will take for the customer to discern that you are embracing the defined values. Avoid the trap of saying but not doing.
Many organizations spell out admirable core values but do not live by their principles. Such a situation projects non-authenticity that repels customers. For example, if one of your principles is honesty, ensure zero tolerance for short-changing customers in all your service outlets. Repeated honest experiences will create a consistent brand message to customers.
- Define Guidelines
Having specific guidelines of how your brand should look and feel is critical in achieving brand consistency. In addition to what you do, the brand is also a reflection of what it communicates. Ensure consistency in message themes and content across all communication channels. Ideally, audiences should identify you through your symbols before they see your name.
Aspects like colors, palette, font, logo, people, etc., should be similar in your campaigns and communication to the public. If you need help achieving the feat, you can hire experts to walk you through the process. A practiced website design firm in NYC can advise on creating appropriate guidelines and designing messages for the highest impact.
Ensure that everyone in the organization charged with communicating to the public has the guidelines and strict adherence. In addition, the rules should embrace appeal. Use attributes like appealing imagery, impactful text, robust music, etc., which the public easily relates to when they see or hear them. Seek different appeal strategies like personal, social, fear, humor, etc., depending on your business context.
- Create a Positive Image
Creating a positive image makes your brand appealing to audiences. Ensure your brand focuses on creating good experiences or negating the bad ones that people go through. With time and consistent publicity, people start to have a feel-good experience with your brand. The feeling evokes positive emotions that everyone wants to be associated with everywhere.
For a positive image, use specific languages, tones, slogans, etc., to achieve consistency. Select a positive and unique approach to topics that inspire vibrant conversations on issues affecting the public. A correct strategy can inspire a movement that grows beyond the brand.
There will be a ripple effect when the public becomes your brand ambassadors by joining and starting their campaigns. The campaigns carry your brand name, and you will require little effort to publicize the brand.
- Meet the Expectations
Branding is about creating and meeting expectations among the public. You define the expectation related to the purpose of the organization. Next, create a road map for projecting the brand publicly. The most critical aspect is to live it. Ensure you do not suffer the pitfall of communicating particular messages and that your actions are to the contrary.
When the public detects that you are not meeting their expectations, they lose trust in the brand, and it is challenging to win them back. The most powerful brands in the world today have built themselves by meeting public expectations over the years. Keep abreast of what people expect by undertaking continuous surveys to get feedback.
The aspirations and circumstances of people are frequently changing, and you must be up-to-date to make your brand relevant to them. A brand that relates well with people every time has succeeded in achieving consistency.
Build a Consistent Brand and Prosper
Building a consistent brand is an achievement you must keep working at to get it right. With time, you figure out what works best for your business because not all approaches will work the same across all sectors. Apply the fundamental traits of building a powerful brand and test what works with your audiences. Soon enough, you will have a prospering brand.
