Coca-Cola®, Starbucks®, McDonald’s®, Nike® – what do these four big-name brands have in common (besides billions of dollars in annual revenue)? They all excel at brand consistency.
Brand consistency is the precursor to a topic we’ve discussed many times: brand awareness. Without consistency, there is no awareness.
But what exactly does brand consistency look like, and how do the biggest brands in the world maintain a consistent identity and do it so well?
To understand consistency, we first need to establish what brand identity is. Let’s explore what a brand’s identity should look like and how to keep your brand top of mind for curious customers.
Establishing a Brand Identity
Your brand identity is everything – visual and verbal – that highlights your brand to customers. That can include your name, logo, colors, typography, imagery, tagline, voice, and tone.
Brand identity is how clients and potential customers know that you are who you say you are.
If McDonald’s suddenly removed their iconic red and yellow colors and golden arches, consumers would have difficulty identifying where to get their next Big Mac.
Your brand identity is also essential if you’re trying to set yourself apart from the competition.
Take Starbucks, for example. There are many places where you can get a cup of coffee and many where you can get it much cheaper than Starbucks. But Starbucks has established itself as the place to get a premium cup of coffee, far better than the regular cup of joe at the gas station or diner down the road.
Starbucks’ brand identity as the premiere fast casual coffee shop sets it apart from the competition. It has turned into a multi-billion-dollar company whose brand is recognized worldwide.
Businesses need a strong brand identity to build customer loyalty and brand awareness, and consistency is crucial in that branding journey.
Maintaining Brand Consistency
Once you’ve established your brand identity, it’s time to create uniformity and consistency.
One of the first steps businesses take to establish brand consistency is creating a style guide – or branding guidelines – for their branding.
A style guide contains every rule necessary to market your brand to the world. It includes every branding piece we mentioned, including your logo, colors, fonts, imagery, tone, and voice. It also routinely has your business’s story, company culture, and the dos and don’ts associated with your branding.
Creating a style guide is a central resource for departments across your company to access if they have questions about how to market your company, speak to your audience on social media, or talk to your clients about your brand. It also prevents employees or media outlets who use your logo from “going rogue” and misrepresenting your branding to others.
When every employee is on board with the correct way to market your brand, consistency follows suit.
Branded Communication = Brand Consistency
You’re probably already considering all the many ways you can get your branding in order and create a consistent identity across all your channels. But are you considering EVERY channel? Here’s one you might be leaving out – the phone call.
A branded phone call – or as we call it, Branded Communication – is how you create branding consistency for the voice channel.
Consistent branding builds credibility with your customers and establishes brand recognition in your market, two areas where branded calling excels.
INFORM® is our in-network solution for branding your calls. INFORM gives your business up to 32 characters of customizable text where you can showcase your brand’s name and the reason for your call.
INFORM works on every major carrier in the U.S. and both iPhone and Android devices, meaning you don’t have to guess whether customers will see your branding – they will.
Is your brand consistent across all channels, even the phone call? Branded calling is the key to voice channel brand consistency.
A branded phone call fits in perfectly with your brand identity. Think of it like a digital billboard in your pocket. Every time you place a call, your business name is the first thing customers see.
And we’ve found that by branding calls, customers are far more likely to answer the first time you call. Many of our clients have seen both answer rates and, more importantly, conversion rates rise by double digits!
It’s Time to Take Control of Your Brand
Brand consistency is all about establishing a clear identity and sticking to it.
If you want to see how a branded phone call can boost your brand identity, hit us up! We’d love to discuss our suite of Branded Communication solutions.
