How Consistent is your Branding in the Digital Space?

Branding is important for businesses of all sizes, as every business needs an identity. It’s all about perception, the way in which a company projects itself reflects everything it stands for and includes not only the company name and logo but also brand messaging. Familiarity with a brand through consistent messaging creates loyalty, expectation and company credibility.

Consistency across all touchpoints makes a brand instantly recognisable and therefore creates more impact and the ability to stand out in the crowd’.

According to Econsultancy CEO, Ashley Friedlein,

“Brand is the sum total of how someone perceives a particular organization. Branding is about shaping that perception.”

Brand Messaging

Brand messaging is a way of communicating your brand’s personality, it is a means of communication between you and your customers. It tells your unique story and proposition which in turn can inspire, motivate and create relationships. Its what the public can relate to, your message encourages familiarity and confidence in your brand, its a powerful tool for drawing people in.

What is a Proposition?

A business’s brand identity is often built around a company’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP), which distinguishes it from its competitors.

Emotions play a large part in the decisions we make, therefore a good proposition will reflect the emotions of your target market.  It highlights the benefits of doing business with you and taps into the beliefs, needs and values of your customers. It’s also an important element of not only your overall branding and where you sit in the market place but emphasises what your company stands for.

An effective brand message should be based on the following:

Customer-Centric – a good message is based on knowing your market, knowing your customers, what they want, how they feel and the language they use.

Benefits – what’s the reward? What can your brand provide that is of use to the customer.

Tone of Voice – this should depend on the character and nature of your business and the intended audience.  Speaking in the wrong tone will certainly not help your marketing efforts. Here are four common examples used by marketers:

• Empowering & Uplifting – based on improvement, inspiration, motivation.
• Friendly & Informative – helpful tone & explanatory.
• Professional & Ambitious – thought-leader, academic.
• Wacky & Non-Traditional – excitement, suspense, thought evoking.

Check for Consistency

Think about the online platforms you use to promote your business, where do you place your ads, what forums and groups do you use, is the brand consistent across them all? A quick Google search of your company name or branded product should bring up a list of all the places where your business sits on the web. 

McDonald’s is a great example, their logo, colours, tone of voice and imagery is consistent wherever the brand can be found. The familiarity is now so ingrained in the minds of the public, that the M sign on its own is enough to identify the company and is synonymous with the brand and what it stands for. This consistency in branding is one of the reasons for its success.

Other elements to consider when establishing consistency guidelines for your branding are:

• Company and product logos
• Brand colours
• Slogans and straplines
• Content type and style
• Imagery
• Fonts

Need some help with your branding? Why not get in touch.