3 Mindset Shifts To Conquer Brand Consistency FOR GOOD!
Brand consistency is the cream to your ☕️coffee.
The hot fudge to your 🍨sundae.
The whipped cream to your 🍓strawberries.
It’s one of those things you need to have – to learn, to work on, and to implement within your business and brand.
Why?🧐
Brand consistency gives you a bar for what you will and won’t do, both visually and as a whole (think brand voice, values, culture, products, services, etc.).
It makes your brand recognizable, no matter what you put out there.
It makes it cohesive.
It builds trust.
Repeated contact with a consistent brand (read: you know what to expect) means it is reliable and the experience is memorable.
>>>Wanna start getting consistent today? Get your Brand Habits Stack! It’s everything you need to learn the foundational steps in growing a brand that sticks in the minds of your audience. Grab your free checklist and digital template here!
Mindset Shift #1: I don’t understand the need or importance of brand consistency.
= I’m going to learn why everyone says it’s important, even if I don’t see why quite yet.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT:
In a nutshell, “brand consistency” means to always be on-brand, A.K.A., always follow your style guide.
It means your logo will always look as it should, you’re always using your brand color palette, and you’re always using your brand fonts.
It means your visuals, your physical/digital products and services, and your messaging is always on-brand.
It means everything that walks out the door represents your brand in a cohesive way.
Brand consistency makes you quickly and easily recognizable, and over time could contribute to making your brand a household name.
A BRAND DESIGNER’S TAKE:
With brand consistency, you don’t ‘let things slide’, but rather, you learn and constantly talk about the importance of getting and keeping your brand consistent.
You might shake your head like it’s no big deal, until you think about it:
When has Chick-fil-A ever not served their nuggets in one of their branded, red-and-white boxes?
When has Target ever included a skewed or janky logo on their storefront or in their ads?
When has YETI ever produced a product without their logo?
None times. Zero. Nada.
Start viewing your brand in the same light, even if you do not have a crazy dream of being as “big” as Nike.
Details are queen, no matter the size of your brand.
Of course it won’t be perfect – ever. And you’re going to mess it up sometimes.
The point is that you start to value consistency for your brand, and make this mindset shift: Brand consistency is so important!
TAKE ACTION:
Take 7-14 minutes to look up the meaning of brand consistency (seriously, set a timer!). Do a good ‘ol fashioned search. Watch a video, listen to a podcast, read an article. For my take on it, click here.
Mindset Shift #2: “I don’t know how to implement brand consistency.”
= “Challenge accepted. It might be hard at first, but education and habit will make it easier – not to mention, I’m setting my brand up for proper growth.”
It’s easy to think it doesn’t matter (see Mindset Shift #1). “Pssshhh, brand consistency, I don’t need that, I’m just a small business.”
What about when you need to have a sign made? Or when you need a website refresh? How about that product packaging? Your email sequences? Social media, anyone?
It’s not enough to have those things. They need to be branded.
Just like your sense of style, how will anyone know your business is yours, if you don’t have a sense of branding?
A BRAND DESIGNER’S TAKE:
I’ve created guidelines, cheat sheets and tutorials for others on how to be better at brand consistency.
I’ve talked about it, taught it, and helped others implement it.
And you know what is always the hangup? The things that hold everyone back and keep them from moving forward?
Buy-in. Education. And Habit.
BUY-IN:
If you don’t believe you need it, you’re really not going to care.
That’s just it. You need buy-in from yourself and your team to really make this happen. To get there, it starts with awareness – so I’d recommend asking yourself: Do you know what brand consistency is? Do you realize why it matters?
EDUCATION:
Luckily for us we live in a time where information is literally a voice-search away, all we have to do is ask. I also have a post on brand consistency to help, too. Grab your favorite beverage, get off of instagram 😉 and get searching.
HABIT:
Just like those freebies we all download and never go through, if we only read up on brand consistency, it’s not going to help us. We have to start doing the thing, in order to learn how to do it, and do it well.
This will only get easier and like second-nature the more you do it.
Create a system for implementation of what you learn: Share a few articles on the subject to discuss during your next team chat.
Set a 30 minute meeting with yourself and/or your team to go over ideas and brainstorm how you could make this concept possible.
Then, start with the small things: If you have a popular opt-in that doesn’t use your brand fonts, go in and update that.
If you have an email template with your old logo you’ve been meaning to update, do that now.
If your website isn’t using your brand fonts (or on-brand alternatives), go ahead and update them.
These are all simple, quick steps you can take today to make brand consistency a part of your routine.
Build it into your weekly or monthly habit tracker or goals. Add it to your planner (raise your hand if you use physical and digital like me), and make it a “date” with yourself to get it done.
TAKE ACTION:
- Educate yourself on brand consistency best practices.
- Make a date with yourself to brainstorm everything that needs updated or touched to increase brand consistency. Make this fun! Bring your favorite drink or snack, and use your favorite way to take notes. Think about what needs a little brand consistency love in your business, and write it all down.
- Next, set a 15 minute recurring meeting to mark things off the list. I say recurring so that you can make all of the changes without being overwhelmed. (If you’re like me, unless something is on my calendar, 78% of the time I forget about it.) Do put it on your calendar, and keep it on there until you get everything marked off your list from step 2.
- Now, you can make templates and store your files in an organized way so everyone is on the same page (even if it’s just you). I’ve made a really great Brand Consistency Checklist for you to grab up and take the next step.
- Keep that recurring meeting for every month or quarter, so you can double check that everything you’re putting out there is on-brand.
Mindset Shift #3: Brand consistency is too hard to control, even if I do have a style guide.
= I am the leader of my business and my team (whether that’s just me, a few people, or more).
Brand consistency isn’t hard, it just takes practice.
A bit of education is the best place to start. A style guide and file organization also comes in handy.
But mostly?
You leading the way will get you there.
A BRAND DESIGNER’S TAKE:
I can definitely see why you might think that brand consistency is too hard to control. If you can’t do it all yourself, and do it all well, then what’s the point, right?
Been there.
But the thing is, whether it’s just you or you have a team, you’re all human. Not everyone is going to do it perfectly or as you would, every single time. So there’s grace in that.
And secondly, doing something that doesn’t come naturally to somebody is going to take practice. A mindset shift or a new way of thinking doesn’t just happen.
As the leader, it starts with you.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT:
If you want yourself or your team to take ownership of your brand, it starts with you. If brand consistency is important for the brand, it should be important to everyone.
Anything less is a disservice to your brand and its growth.
Lead in brand consistency: Maybe just to start, call a short 15-minute meeting to talk it out. Then you can all take a class together, or you can send out some articles you found helpful on the subject.
If you’re a team of one (raising my hand here as well!), have a quick meeting with yourself and write down ONE thing you can do TODAY to get started.
TAKE ACTION:
- Lead yourself and/or your team in brand consistency (a great place to start is the Action Steps from the other two mindset shifts mentioned here!)
- Don’t sleep on the free checklist, all of the work is done for you, and it will walk you through those first steps.
What are you doing today to create a consistent brand: visually, with your team, in your culture, and with your systems and processes?
If you want a ‘lil more to take it a step further, I talk all about how to be your own Creative Director in this post. You got this!
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