Consistency is the key to success in life and in business. Just as an athlete has to consistently train and eat healthy to break new records, a business has to maintain a certain amount of consistency in order to reach increasingly higher levels of success.
“Trust is built with consistency.” ~ Lincoln Chafee
Apart from becoming a recognized business through building a consistent visual brand, consistency is also synonymous with trust. When your target audience is met with a consistent stream of imagery and verbiage from your company, they will start seeing you as a trustworthy brand.
But how do you build a consistent brand?
1. Get to know your brand inside-out
Fasten your seat-belts, as you may not like what you’re about to read. In order to really get to know your brand, you’re going to have to get down and dirty. Most of us have pre-conceived ideas about how the market perceives our brands, and we’re almost always wrong.
The quickest way to find out what people think about your brand, is to ask your employees (and yourself!) the following questions:
- How do you view our brand?
- When you hear [company name], what do you think?
- What would you say if someone asked you whether they should use our product / service?
It’s important to let your staff know that you’re not trying to poke holes to find problems with the company, but that you are trying to fine tune your brand image to bring better consistency and results.
2. Research your clients
Most companies that do market research tend to focus on some image they have created of their ideal client. However, without proper market research, you could be missing out on other potential markets. Increase your horizons and find some commonality between 2-3 potential target markets.
While it may be awkward, it is important to also include past and present clients in your research to find out what did and did not work for them. You will have to be consistent in researching your market and your brand to ensure you have a finger on the pulse of industry trends.
3. Create a stable image
Once you know who your target audience is, you need to get hold of a designer to create your visual branding. It is important that your visual brand extend across your website, marketing materials, correspondence, and social media. Most professional designers will ensure that your audience is considered in your design and that you appeal to their preferences in terms of:
- image hues
- design styles
- fonts
- colors
- and typography
4. Be consistent with website updates
I cannot stress this enough – your website needs regular updates in order to be noticed by the search engines, and to remain current in your visitors eyes. If you don’t have time to do that, outsource this task. How can you update your site?
- Blog posts
- Company news
- Photo gallery
- and much more
How do you practice consistency in your brand? I’d love to read about it in comments below.