Why Consistent Branding is the Key to Success

A consistent brand is both reliable and familiar. Try thinking of branding as you would a friend that you see every day. Regularly coming into contact with somebody who behaves in a consistent manner ensures that their identity (a culmination of their beliefs, traits and visual appearance) is fairly easy to establish. Someone who constantly alters their behaviour is very difficult to second guess ­– how can we establish trust and depend on people when they are completely unpredictable?

The above analogy is rather effective at highlighting how a brand, through consistency, can become much more than the sum of its parts. It requires uniformity and an embodiment of core values, from the broadest elements right down to subtleties. A consistent brand is instantly identifiable via small visual cues. Even the tiniest details (such as use of a certain colour or shape outline) can trigger an emotional response in people.

If you think that consistent branding is solely about harnessing visuals in order to evoke emotions, you’re missing an equally important aspect – tone of voice. It’s vital to ensure that the messaging your brand sends out is consistent across all materials. There is an argument in favour of some leeway when it comes to tone of voice across social media (some brands choose to employ more conversational wordplay), however it’s necessary to keep in mind that your choice of wording reflects back on your brand in some way or another.

We’ve touched upon the importance brand guidelines in the past, but we simply couldn’t let things pass without mentioning them again here. A set of guidelines is THE most important tool in terms of ensuring consistency of branding. Consistency doesn’t have to mean boring or restrictive, either – rather than viewing brand guidelines as a rigorous, uncompromising set of rules and regulations, they should be seen as an overarching guide which allows for splashes of flexibility.

So, you’ve established a killer brand which is neatly summarised within a handy set of brand guidelines – but how do we ensure that everything is successfully enforced?

Rule number one is communication. Ensuring that employees are fully aware of each and every aspect of your brand is imperative – all it takes is one person (albeit with the best of intentions) to compromise your brand’s consistency. Brand guidelines can be made readily available as physical documents or via easily accessible online portals. The guidelines must also filter through to external sources, too – if you hire a company for a branding job, for example, ensure that they fully understand your how to consistently implement each and every aspect of your branding.

Finally, it’s important that you take a step back and review your progress. Finding the time to take five and assess how far your brand has come will really put things into perspective. Establishing consistency is a long-term process – with each new element, your branding grows. Maintain consistency successfully, and confidence in your brand will grow too.

Taking the above points into consideration, it's worth returning to the exercise analogy once more: in the same way that disciplined and consistent exercise leads to increased physical capability, it's hard to dispute that maintaining consistency is the key to establishing a stronger, more enduring brand. Put in the work and the results will follow, as they say. Now, if we could just stay away from that slice of cake...

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