Why your business needs consistent branding

Imagine opening your favorite social media mobile application and everything seems off. From the app’s logo to the buttons and typography – it all just feels awkward. You wouldn’t think much of it – you may even consider it to be just an update. But what if you have the same experience several days of the week? That’s when some doubts start creeping in. After all, a social media platform should connect you to the world. And when they become hard to use, they fail on their promise, their reputation likely takes a hit – and it won't be long before you delete the app from your mobile device. Well, that’s what branding is all about.

When it comes to branding, think beyond just the business name, colors, and logos. These are elements every good brand gets right most of the time, but there’s much more to this surprisingly deep topic.

Why is branding important?

When you’re creating a branding for a business, your primary focus should be on what you communicate, and whether this communication will make a lasting impression in your customer's memory. The customer's perception of your brand is of utmost importance – it’s the make-or-break of making a positive first impression and establishing a functional business cycle. This is what branding is responsible for.

Achieving branding consistency is not an easy feat — and that's why it’s best to focus on it from the get-go. When you want to change the way your company looks on the Internet, you should take the customer's perception into consideration, which is simply put, a user-friendly approach. With an accessible website created with consistent, easy-to-read typography, pleasant colors, solid backgrounds and useful elements, you'll surely be able to create consistent branding, even if some changes to your logo or colors will be necessary down the road.

When it comes to brand consistency, and branding in general, you may also want to think about your business’ core values, and the way they should be communicated. Business values are basically a set of guidelines that helps establish what the company wants to be known for. New, consistent branding can help communicate those values across, drawing positive attention to your brand, both among potential employees and clients alike.

It all boils down to the impression you make in the minds of your customers. If you get it right, all other things fall in place. But why does your business need its branding to be consistent? Here are reasons why consistency in product branding is important.

1. Brand consistency makes your product memorable

What name comes to mind when you think of a social media platform where you can create short video content? Also, when you hear of a search engine platform with a multi-colored logo, a clear picture of a certain brand comes to mind, right?

Why are these brands easily remembered by the customers? Because they've got good, memorable products, and their product branding is unique and consistent, plain and simple.

Now, coming up with and creating a good product is a topic deserving an article of its own, but with branding – whatever it looks like visually – you need to put in the effort to position it in front of your target audience, as it is where branding will work most effectively, creating association and lasting memories. Eventually, the audience will easily recall your brand when it's time to make a buying decision. If you pay close attention, you'll probably see sponsored content across various websites and social media channels, all pointing to top brands, repeating their signals over and over. It’s the best indication that this approach simply works.

For your product to find a spot in a customer's memory, your product needs a memorable branding. For this mechanism to work, not only you’ve got to come up with an appealing brand identity, but you've also got to master the art of repetition. It’s where the “Rule of Seven” comes to play. A popular concept among marketers and salespeople around the world, is that customers have to hear, see, or read something about your brand at least seven times before they will memorize it (and make a buying decision). A good enough product with a memorable branding can become a great product eventually. So if your sales pick up after implementing new branding to your products, it’s because this mechanism has worked.

Cavai's branding is a delightful example of consistency through inconsistency. The abundance of colors, gradients, and the uniqueness of typography used throughout the project is a conscious design decision, aimed at making the project stand out from the cookie-cutter designs typical to the rest of the company's industry.

2. Brand consistency leads to brand recognition

Brands tend to position themselves using online ads and TV commercials. But for such a strategy to be effective, every element of the brand has to be in place – the logo, colors, and other visual designs have to be consistent with other branding elements – and that will, in turn, make the brand recognizable by the target audience.

When it’s time to make a buying decision, customers will almost always choose a product they recognize. Why? Because customers desire a positive, comfortable, and satisfactory experience – and they get to fulfill their needs in major part by choosing brands that not only make a good product, but deliver a positive experience.

Brand consistency helps customers immediately recognize your brand, and tell it apart from the competition. That’s why you will often see market rivals coming up with the exact opposite of what their direct competitor is doing – all in order for the audience to recognize the difference.

As a general rule of thumb, you need consistent product branding across all marketing channels — and your brand should be tied to your product or service experience.

If your branding is done right, and it's consistent, you'll most likely evoke a positive emotional response from your customers. For instance, if you have a sports brand, your customers should be inspired to play their favorite sport upon seeing your advertisement. If you run a food business, then your company’s consistent branding will result in memories of their favorite delicacy flooding their minds.

3. Brand consistency breeds trust

Customers stick to businesses that are predictable and trustworthy. To evoke trust, you need your product’s branding to promise and deliver the right expectations. Simply put, when your company has an exciting, outdoorsy name, your product looks modern and your branding is flashy and flamboyant — all of this won’t sell if you try to market it to the elderly!

Customers should know what to expect. If your branding is always changing, then it’s unlikely your audience will make the connection between the newest iteration of your branding and your company’s products, resulting in failure to meet your customer’s expectations. This will, in turn, evoke negative emotions and damage trust and loyalty among your customers. It’s alright if you want to re-invent your company’s branding, but make sure a sufficient amount of time has passed between your last branding change, and that your audience has caught up with your plans.

4. Brand consistency boost revenue

Consistency in branding, coupled with good quality products and thought-through advertising, leads to more recognition and an overall increase in brand revenue. If something doesn’t click in your marketing department, investing time, effort and some money into brand consistency could be massive for your company's growth in the long run. Create an easy-to-understand brand book, synchronize your product line’s packaging, create templates for social media, re-desing your website around your company colors — there are numerous ways you can improve the general reception of your brand and boost its recognizability.

If you're consistent in your logos, marketing efforts, messaging, and product delivery, you're likely to attract more customers. This will, in turn, lead to a huge difference when it comes to business growth and revenue increase. A reliable experience with a consistent tone and voice is a sure way of attracting new and returning customers to your brand.

When we were designing Lingocruit's website, we wanted to connect the interface with other website elements. We went for one of the brand's colors – bright orange – and gave it to omnipresent icons and buttons as well as decorative scribbles.

5. Consistent branding shapes customer perception

Customer perception is how your customers feel when they see, hear or feel your brand, and one way of molding your audience’s perception is to be consistent with your branding. Make sure your colors reflect the mood of the company and the product. Utilize carefully selected slogans and captions. Address your audience in a language (or slang) that is understood by them. Finally, keep in mind that actions speak louder than words, so if your branding signals standing for something, then stay loyal to those principles. If done properly, you are sure to create a positive image in the minds of your customers.

Branding cuts across all industries. Whether you're managing an e-commerce business, a web design and development agency, or any type of business, it's your responsibility to create the right reputation and perception of your business on the market — and that starts with consistent product branding.

Increase your brand’s impact by the power of consistency

Building a valuable digital product is good, but it's not enough. To dominate in the market, you will need branding that stands out, is engaging, and above all else, consistent. And that goes beyond using the same color palette everywhere. Everything ranging from your social media communication to your website should be designed to help you generate more traffic and conversions.

Branding involves setting the right expectations and delivering on your promise — and that applies to sleek, physical products or digital services and experiences. This way, you'd evoke positive emotions in the minds of your customers.