But how can you achieve a consistent brand? In this article, we’ll delve into brand consistency, why it matters, how it’s accomplished, and a few examples.

What is brand consistency?

Brand consistency occurs when a company maintains constant, dependable audience perception by sustaining the same visuals, values, and messaging throughout its products and platforms.

This means that anyone who knows your brand can identify your offices, logo, television commercials, and product packaging.

Consistency is a pleasant kind of predictability—and this applies to brand consistency. It means customers (and non-customers alike) know what to expect from your organization’s visuals, products, services, and communication, whether via email or social media.

Why is brand consistency important?

Beyond the comfort of familiarity, brand consistency is crucial for the following reasons:

• It builds trust: Consistent people are trustworthy and reliable. Similarly, when people are confident in the consistency of a brand’s standards, messaging, and quality, they trust the brand more. Brand trust also evokes positive emotions and builds strong connections with customers, which facilitates brand loyalty and advocacy.
• It drives revenue: Consistently positive customer experiences mean happy, returning customers and referrals, which result in conversions and revenue growth. Building and maintaining a consistent brand identity is a form of marketing. That trust is why many people prefer consumer brand name items.
• It improves brand reputation: At its core, branding is a way for companies to build brand recognition and distinguish themselves from competitors. A consistent brand engenders positive customer perception. Users feel safe in the assurance that your brand adheres to its core values and provides products and services of a certain standard. This, in turn, builds a good brand reputation.

Best practices for brand consistency

You know the importance of brand consistency, but now it’s time to do the work of creating and maintaining a consistent brand. These are our top recommendations.

Know your brand

Before you shape public perception, you’ll need to know two things well: your audience and your brand.

Whether you’re a new brand or currently rebranding, think about your company’s mission, vision, core values, brand voice, and business goals.

Next, consider your main audience and how your products and services will enrich or improve their lives.

Write this information down. No one has to see it but you and your team.

This knowledge makes it easier to develop a brand identity that aligns with your values and audience’s needs. Beyond a brand name and visual branding elements, you’ll know the best way to present your brand messaging. You’ll be more likely to create a lasting brand.

Create brand guidelines and enforce them

Once you know your brand and audience, draw up guidelines for presenting your brand. Create a brand style guide that encompasses at least the following elements:

• Brand logo
• Mission and vision
• Target audience
• Color palette
• Fonts
• Tone of voice
• Brand core values

You know what’s more important than creating a brand style guide? Enforcing it—at all customer touchpoints and marketing channels. Your website, social media accounts, email marketing, office building decor, and even ad copy should harmonize with your brand style guide.

Another often-forgotten element of brand consistency is consistent customer experience. Whether customers deal with service agents on the phone, over email, on social media platforms, or on your site, the experience should feel uniform and unmistakably identifiable with your brand.

Of course, platforms vary, and what’s acceptable may differ. The key is to have defined brand guidelines for your messaging and identity on each platform. To increase enforcement levels, make your brand assets and guidelines accessible to teammates and freelancers.

Try brand journalism

Some of the most consistent brands share a unique marketing strategy: brand journalism. This style of storytelling builds awareness about a brand’s products and services without directly marketing them. Good examples of brand journalism include Dove’s Real Beauty campaign.

Brand journalism is a great way to exemplify your values and support causes aligned with them. It expands your brand’s reach and solidifies positive audience perception. It’s also a memorable way to market your brand and build a consistent reputation among audiences.

To succeed with brand journalism, select a cause aligned with your brand values, partner with an influencer or renowned content creator, and use your platform to promote the journalistic content around your chosen issue.

Rebrand with care

Sometimes branding goes awry, and teams realize they’ve missed the mark. Other times, your company may pivot or expand to provide more services outside the scope of the current brand identity. In such cases, a rebrand is essential.

Although it can be intimidating, rebranding is fairly common. Several major brands, including Slack, Dropbox, and Zendesk, have successfully rebranded. Here are some tips for a rebrand that won’t tank your brand image:

• Rebrand with a purpose: Not liking your logo or messaging anymore isn’t a strong enough reason to rebrand. Your rebrand should improve your offering or align with a new brand direction. For example, Zendesk rebranded because its logo was outdated and it planned to present new, expanded offerings to its audience.
• Don’t change everything at once: The best rebrands never make the brand unrecognizable to its audience. So if you decide to change visual elements, consider retaining your core values or other parts of your brand identity that foster customer affinity to your brand.

For example, when Slack rebranded, its new logo retained the same color palette as the old one. Although it was a fresh design, customers would still recognize it anywhere.

• Carry customers along: Unless you’re totally changing your brand and offering in such a way that means you no longer need your old customers (highly unlikely), keep your customers updated with new changes. Create content publicizing the rebrand and the motivations behind it. This informs users—and it also makes them feel valued. It motivates them to climb aboard your new brand train. Both Slack and Zendesk created content to keep their customers informed on changes.

3 brilliant examples of brand consistency to learn from

Before we wrap things up, let’s take a closer look at three successful brands winning at brand consistency. We’ll examine what they’re doing right, so you can find tips to apply for your company.

Apple

If there’s any brand with a signature style, it’s Apple. Everything screams brand consistency, from its sleek products with enticing demos to its minimalist website design and web copy videos.

Apple’s cool and confident tone is obvious in its web copy, and in the fact that the brand follows zero people on Twitter and has zero tweets but 8.2 million followers. Could anything be more “on brand?”

Starbucks

Starbucks’ light, bright tone, and website design come through on all the brand’s platforms, from its mobile app to its email marketing. Its brand identity serves its diverse customer base (from tweens to adults) well.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp’s visual branding is a masterclass in brand consistency. The company uses custom fonts and bright colors that match the brand’s artsy vibe.

Whether on its website or social media, Mailchimp uses custom media assets and branded content to ensure its audience recognizes them in a sea of tweets.

Build a consistent brand with GatherContent

Branding consistency sets you apart from your audience and builds confidence in the quality of your products and services. But it’s not easy to achieve. It requires creativity, planning, and dedication.

Developing a brand identity you’re proud of is a long-term project that demands collaboration, writing, revising, and reiteration. If you’re looking for more brand and content strategy tips to aid your branding efforts, you’ll love our weekly newsletter.

Sign up here.