Consistent branding is integral to success. It’s a must if you want to build customer trust, elevate your positioning, and ultimately, increase profitability.
But, as we’re sure you’ll know, achieving and sustaining brand consistency isn’t easy.
With so many stepping stones scattered across the customer journey—from social media platforms to retail stores to websites (just to name a few)—marketing leads often struggle to unify all of their fragmented brand channels into one well-oiled machine.
Thankfully, it is possible. You just need a solid branding strategy. Let’s talk about what you need to know.
Note: Brands and examples discussed below were found during our online research for this article.
What is brand consistency?
Brand consistency refers to your company’s ability to show up authentically and coherently across platforms. It’s the confluence of your brand’s identity, values, and mission, captured in the content and visuals you share with the world.
Benefits of maintaining a consistent brand identity
A consistent brand identity is big business. Just think of all the consumer brands you love the most, like Starbucks, Nike, and McDonald’s.
While they’re all in very different industries, these companies have one thing in common: they prioritize brand consistency, and here’s why:
Enhanced brand recognition
When we say ‘streaming platform’, what comes to mind? Chances are, it’s Spotify or Netflix. That’s the power of brand recall: cementing yourself so firmly in consumers’ heads that your brand is the first thing on their minds when they think of your product category.
Not only is brand recall great for awareness but it has a powerful impact on customer loyalty. And the best way to build it? Having a consistent, memorable, strong brand identity across platforms.
Trust among consumers
Research highlights that consumer trust is the backbone of commercial success. Nine in ten consumers will buy again from a brand they trust. More than that, trusted companies outperform their peers by almost 400%.
Building trust takes time, but consistency is the foundation. You need to show your customers that your brand is reliable and credible—that when they buy from you, they can expect the same, amazing experience every time. To do that, you need to be congruent from the word go, and put careful thought into how you tell your brand story across platforms.
More efficient marketing efforts
Coordinating marketing campaigns between different regions and agencies can be a headache—but it doesn’t have to be. When you define your brand image with a compelling set of guidelines, you’ll unleash a new wave of marketing productivity.
Instead of spending countless hours redesigning localized content, your marketing teams will feel empowered to convey your brand’s messaging, confident that they’re encapsulating the essence of what you stand for.
Competitive advantage
Gone are the days when a great advert would drive up sales. Data shows that 65% of consumers find positive brand experiences across channels more influential than an advertising campaign.
Today’s consumers are informed and digitally savvy. They’re happy to read reviews and do their own research to decide whether your brand reputation is credible—and that’s where consistency becomes a competitive differentiator. Essentially, by cementing and unifying your brand’s identity with consistent messaging and visual elements, you can boost your long-term profitability.
Challenges associated with inconsistency in brand messaging
Brand consistency takes, well, consistency. And as we all know, consistency takes work.
But it’s well worth it, especially when we consider the disadvantages of failing to prioritize this crucial aspect of branding.
Confusion among consumers
If your brand’s messaging, visuals, and tone are all over the place, it’s going to confuse your customers—and confused customers don’t spend their money.
Here’s a cautionary tale that exemplifies the issue. Back in the 80s, Pepsi started to draw market share away from Coca-Cola with an advertisement showing a blind taste test between the two drinks, in which Pepsi unanimously won the vote.
In retaliation, Coca-Cola slightly changed their formula, rebranding their beloved flagship product as “New Coke”…to widespread outrage. Although Coke was trying to be innovative, they ended up bewildering their customers. The lesson is clear: Consistency is crucial to winning long-term loyalty.
Negative customer experience
Customers view brands a lot like they do people. They get to know them, see what they’re about, and then decide if they want to associate with them. But if your brand is inconsistent, your customers won’t be able to rely on you. They’ll see you as haphazard and frustrating—and maybe even spread the word to their friends (potential customers) that your brand doesn’t know what it stands for.
Miscommunication about the brand
Without a strategy for brand consistency, you run the danger of misrepresenting your brand to consumers. In the best case, this could leave them confused. In the worst case, it could tarnish your reputation and undermine all the work you’ve put into building a purposeful brand voice and image.
Strategies for achieving brand consistency
There’s no doubt about it. Brand consistency is the fuel that powers long-term customer loyalty.
Here’s how to achieve it.
Establish a brand style guide
Your brand style guide is your internal team’s go-to resource on all the content and visuals they’ll create for your business. It acts as a source of inspiration and a boundary, clearly establishing the do’s and don’ts of representing your brand across channels.
All great style guides share a few common features. Here are the musts to include:
- Color palette
- Typography and iconography
- Logo variations and any other relevant brand assets
- Tone of voice
- Messaging guidelines
Leverage technology and tools
As the saying goes, it’s all in the detail. When it comes to brand consistency, crossing the i’s and dotting the t’s will make all the difference. That’s why it’s crucial to think of brand consistency as a journey from one touchpoint to the next.
For your customers, links and QR Codes are the thread that weave throughout their entire experience. Just like your emails, website, and social media posts, you can make these consistent by branding them.
Bitly branded links work exactly the same as standard links, with a few added benefits. For one, they’re shorter, making them much easier to share and post across channels. Secondly, they put your brand front and center by weaving your brand’s name directly into the link title. Lastly, branded short domains like Bitly’s are data-driven, allowing you to dig deeper into user interactions.
On top of that, customers love branded QR Codes and links. They’re a show of credibility and thoughtfulness, and help consumers to build trust in the content you share.
Train your team members
For your customers to understand your brand, the people in your organization have to as well. That’s why it’s vital to take the time to educate your team on your brand values and voice.
Using your brand style guide as a reference point, hold a meeting with your PR, sales, customer service, and marketing teams on how to present your brand consistently and why it’s important.
Think of this first meeting as a kick-off rather than a one-off. When big projects are coming up or you’re trying something new, getting together to revisit your brand guidelines can be invaluable.
And don’t forget the importance of internal consistency either. Your company newsletter, communications channels, and monthly meet-ups are all excellent opportunities to reinforce your unique brand personality.
Align all platforms
Having your links in order is a great way to delight your customers, but you also want to make sure each of your branded platforms is consistent, too. This is all about putting your style guide into action.
To begin with, conduct an audit of all your marketing channels and customer touchpoints: your websites, social media accounts, email marketing, packaging, events, and so forth.
Next, craft marketing strategies for each of these touchpoints that align with your brand guidelines. The secret sauce here is to play into the uniqueness of each platform, while still maintaining the core of what your brand stands for.
For example, Instagram is a much more visual platform than X, and the way you communicate on X will be entirely different than in marketing emails. The same goes for packaging and editorial opportunities. You’ll need to tailor your approach to meet your audience’s expectations. The trick is to do so while remaining authentic and instantly recognizable.
Monitor and adjust across the board
Congratulations on unifying your brand! Now, it’s time to unleash the insights. We advise looking at your data from two viewpoints.
First, you’ll want to regularly review brand representation across platforms, to ensure that your teams are following your brand guidelines. If you notice any discrepancies, address them as quickly as you can, and give a refresher to the team members running the platform so everyone’s on the same page.
Next, your data can ignite opportunities for improvement. With Bitly Analytics, you can easily see which of your branded links and platforms are performing best, helping you to uncover insights about how well your brand resonates with your target audience. Armed with these observations, you can revisit and refine your brand guidelines, building an even stronger, more trustworthy, and successful brand identity over time.
An example of brand consistency: Starbucks
This coffee company is undoubtedly one of the most known brands in the world. And while its global expansion is impressive, to say the least, Starbucks didn’t become known across the world overnight.
The company’s first global brand campaign launched in 2014. This was long after the brand established itself as the world’s largest roaster and retailer of specialty coffee.
Consistency through expansion
Before expanding onto the international scene, Starbucks established a strong, consistent brand back home in the United States.
No matter which of its thousands of locations customers visit, they know what to expect. There will be a warm, neighborhood feel. There will be indoor seating. Their go-to Starbucks drink will be on the menu. And the baristas will write their name on a paper cup to add a personal touch.
Connecting brand and core values
Starbucks has built its brand around the company’s core values, which includes “creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome.”
So, whether customers grab their Starbucks Americano in Seattle or Shanghai, their experience will give them a sense of familiarity—a comfort in knowing what they can expect when they walk through the cafe doors.
In other words, Starbucks offers people a consistent customer experience and removes the uncertainty around their coffee purchasing experience. As a result, people are willing to pay more for a cup of coffee—or other beverage—than they may be compelled to pay at another coffee house they’ve never been to.
Thriving in new markets and territories
Today, Starbucks continues to push its brand forward, taking advantage of digital customer engagement platforms and leaping into new markets. On social media, It has developed a strong presence while maintaining its branding guidelines—not to mention found new ways to boost brand loyalty through its mobile-app rewards program.
Even as the company embraces new markets, Starbucks has cleverly kept its look and feel the same while being thoughtful of local customs. That’s why the Starbucks menu varies slightly in every country you visit, but the core elements of the brand remain consistent.
Achieve and maintain brand consistency with Bitly’s robust toolkit
Consistency is a great way to build customer trust and grow your bottom line over time through brand awareness. While harmonizing your brand is an ongoing journey, tools like Bitly make it easier to solidify a consistent customer experience. With Bitly, you can create custom short URLs, QR Codes, and Link-in-bio pages that can all be customized with your unique branding elements, like logos and colors.
So, are you ready to take your branding efforts to new heights? Start by unifying your links across platforms with Bitly branded links. Get started today for free!
