The Importance of Consistent Branding

When you’re launching a new product, or even reinventing an old one, you need to develop a marketing strategy that gives you the best shot at success. That’s why it’s important to think about branding from the very first stages of developing your product. Exploring your brand can be complex and challenging; after all, it’s not just about logos and slogans. Your brand is a set of values, attributes, and associations that are connected to your company or product. It’s what makes people trust and recognise you, and it's what keeps them coming back for more. As we delve further into the world of branding and its implications on marketing strategies, you will learn why branding is so important, what it means for your business and how you can implement effective branding techniques in your own organisation.

What is Branding?

It may seem basic for some, but for others, branding boils down to nothing more than a logo, when it's so much more than that. Branding is the process of creating a unique and recognisable name, symbol or design that identifies the source of a product or service. Branding is a marketing strategy that is used to create a positive image for a business. The logo, name, slogan, and visual design of a product or company are all part of branding. Branding can be visual, verbal or behavioural. Branding is used to create an image that is unique to your business so that people associate that unique image with your company. Branding is about creating a unique identity for your product or company. That includes the name, logo, and tagline, as well as the way you present yourself to the public. All of these things come together to create your brand’s identity. Your brand identity is what customers think of when they hear your company’s name or see your logo.

So, Why is Branding Important?

Branding is crucial when it comes to marketing strategies because it builds trust with your customers and helps create a consistent experience with your brand. Your brand, and the way people associate it with your product or service, can have a huge impact on your success.

For example, Nike is one of the most recognised brands in the world, and it has been able to charge premium prices for years because consumers know that whatever product they buy from Nike will be made with high quality. Branding also allows you to differentiate your company from your competitors. Your brand will become a key identifier in your customers’ minds, and that can give you a major advantage over the competition.

Defining Your Brand

Knowing how important branding is to marketing strategies, you must first understand what branding is. This can be done by defining the key characteristics of your brand.

Your brand identity - The core values, attributes, and the tone of voice that represents your business. All employees, who interact with clients or who represent your business, must have a clear understanding of your brand identity so that they can be consistent with it across all marketing channels.

Your brand promise - This is the promise that you make to your customers about the value they will receive from your product or service. Your brand promise should reflect the core values associated with your brand identity.

Your brand name - Your brand name is the name with which your company or product is identified. It may or may not have a trademark symbol, and it might be a word or a combination of words.

Your brand logo - The logo is a visual image (or icon) that represents your business. You will always have one company logo, however, that logo can be broken down into singular elements, but only if you choose to do so.

Your brand colour(s) - The colour of your brand can help distinguish your business from others. It can also evoke certain feelings or associations. Choosing a colour palette that is recognised by you will be a challenge as most colour palettes will already be used. It is also important to choose colours that complement each other and leave people with a positive feeling, not one of confusion or dislike.

Your brand font(s) - This could be the font that is used in your logo or just the main font you would like to use on your printed or digital materials. You can have multiple fonts each with its own rules; bold for headings, italics for subheadings, normal for body etc.

Why is Consistent Branding So Important?

By now, it should be clear that branding is an integral part of marketing strategies, but why is consistent branding so important, and how can you achieve it?

This is where many businesses fall short in their marketing strategies. They develop a brand and logo that is fresh and exciting but then fail to apply that consistency across all of their marketing channels. Here are a few ways to create consistent branding across your marketing channels.

Keep your logo consistent - This means that your logo should appear the same on your website, social media channels, packaging, brochures and other materials. If you utilise your logo in various formats, be sure that these remain consistent on the respective materials your business includes a logo upon.

Use your colour scheme consistently - Your colour scheme should also be applied across all marketing channels. Consistency in your colours makes your brand more recognisable, increases brand awareness and can help trigger emotional marketing when people see colour palettes that are similar to yours. Change in your colours can confuse your customers or cause them to question the change.

Use consistent language across marketing channels - This means that you should use the same terminology across all platforms so that your brand is linked in people’s minds. If you want your brand to appear as one that speaks in technical terms, ensure this is met on all platforms to appear on a uniform front.

Types of Branding in Marketing Strategies

The first step in creating a successful brand strategy is to come up with a name for your product or service. Not only does a name need to be memorable, but it also needs to evoke a specific emotion in the customer. It can be really difficult to come up with a good name for your product, especially if you’re doing it for the first time. You may want to try making a list of what your product is and what it does. Once you have a good understanding of the product, you can start thinking about words that will describe it.

Once you come up with a name for your product, you can focus on your logo. Your logo is the visual representation of your brand. It can be a symbol, a word, or even a combination of both. Your logo is what people will associate with your company and its product, so it needs to be memorable and can evoke an emotion.

From your logo, it's time to expand on your branding and start the process of creating a set of brand guidelines. If this is something you need help with, let me know via bit.ly/francismilligan and I can direct you to some advice on these or help create them with you.

Bottom line

Branding is an important part of any company and the foundation for a good marketing strategy. It allows you to create a recognisable image for your product or service that differentiates you from your competitors.

Branding is also essential for building trust with your customers. Your customers will want to interact with your company regularly, and branding is the best way to make people feel like they are dealing with the same company. Avoid harsh rebrands, colour changes or logo used on all aspects of your output - be it digital or print, your customers will recognise the change and may start to question it. Once you have a strong brand, be consistent with it and ensure people are prepared should you ever wish to change it.

If you want to maximise your product’s success, you need to make sure that it is consistent with the branding of your company.