The Power of a Consistent Brand Image

The Power of a Consistent Brand Image

It may sound simple enough, but there are countless ways to make your brand image stand out and be recognised. Doing so gives consumers a reason to choose you over your competitors and, in turn, gain an edge over your competition.

When most people think about branding, they think about logos and visual symbols—that's why we have Coca-Cola, Mcdonald's, and Apple as some of the best-known brands in the world. But when it comes to building a successful brand, there is much more to it than a logo. 

For example, consider the success of Harley Davidson. For years they were famous for having a distinctive logo, but people didn't realise that they also had a consistent and memorable look in everything they produced.

If you've been paying attention to all the big brands, you know they're all trying to use the same image now. But they're not all doing it the same way. And the best ones know why: they know what works.

Build a Stronger Brand Image

In today's fast-paced world, a brand's image has become more critical than ever. If you're a business owner, you understand that every customer has an opinion about your brand. Your brand's image is everything from how your employees behave to the quality of your products or services.

If your customers perceive your brand negatively, they will not return and may even spread negative feedback about your business online. This negative feedback will directly affect your business's reputation.

So, how do you ensure that your brand's image stays positive? How do you create a good impression of your brand? Let's look at some simple tips to help you build a stronger brand image.

Image is everything

First, let's look at what an image means. An image is a picture that represents something. For instance, if you want to show your customers a new product, you could choose a picture of the product that shows off its features.

Similarly, an image can be a picture of your staff. A picture of your team of salespeople or administrative staff will help customers better understand who is working with them.

Use visuals to improve your brand image

Let's use an example to explain the importance of an image. Imagine you're working with a company that offers professional design services. You would want to show your clients the professionalism of your team and how they work. So, in this case, you would want to show a picture of your team and a picture of their completed projects.

Using images can help people understand your brand better. Pictures can help your customers get a clear idea of your business and what your business does.

Use images to represent your brand

One of the simplest ways to build a brand image is to use pictures representing your business. For instance, if you're a bakery, you could use a picture of cakes or cookies that shows off your business's brand.

If you are offering a service, you could use a picture of your office to give people an idea of your company's image.

Use high-quality images to create a great impression

You don't want to post photos of your team members or your business on Facebook, do you?

If so, you should think again. Even if your business is well established, your customers may still judge you based on your employees' appearance. And if your employees aren't well dressed, your customers may also feel that your business doesn't care about their appearance.

It's essential to maintain a professional image. High-quality photos will help you create a good impression of your business and make your customers feel comfortable with your business.

Develop a Consistent Brand Voice

We live in a world of instant gratification where there is a growing expectation that products and services should speak to us on an emotional level. We expect companies to communicate directly with us using the same language, tone, and emotion they use in their advertising.

Consistent branding results from an organisation consistently communicating the same message across all media. When we speak about branding, we talk about a company's overall design and personality. A brand needs to have a consistent look and feel to create consistency. This includes both physical aspects like colours, fonts, logos, and brand images and the communication style that the company uses in all of its communications.

When companies are consistent, their brand has a voice. A consistent voice is easy to understand and relates to a brand. Consumers recognise brands as representing a company's identity and associate their feelings and emotions with a brand. 

Brands are much easier to identify and remember because they stand out from the crowd and make themselves known to consumers.

When brands speak to consumers consistently, they allow consumers to trust and relate to them. The more a brand communicates to consumers, the more they become familiar with the brand, and their relationship with it grows stronger.

Here are some ways in which brands use a consistent voice:

• Brand Identity
• Advertising
• Marketing
• Customer Service
• Sales
• Social Media

The key to creating a consistent brand voice is understanding who a brand is and how it wants to be perceived. Brands need to consider who they target, what problems they want to solve, and how they want to position themselves among competitors. They also need to decide whether they want to be a leader or a follower.

There are four major categories of brands:

1. Functional
2. Elegant
3. Emotional
4. Relational

A functional brand is defined as providing a product or service in a specific way. For example, a functional brand may sell the best pizza in the world.

An elegant brand conveys professionalism and refinement. Think of Louis Vuitton. It sells high-quality goods, but it does so in a way that is classy and refined.

An emotional brand speaks directly to people and connects them with the brand. Think about Disney. Characters and stories define the Disney brand. It has an emotional appeal because people can connect with these characters.

A relational brand is focused on building relationships with customers and employees. Think of Apple. Apple is the ultimate consumer product. They are more interested in selling their products than marketing, so they focus on building strong consumer relationships.

To effectively communicate a consistent brand voice, a company must clearly understand who it is and what it wants.

Create a Consistent Brand Image

The term “brand image” is vital in marketing and advertising. It defines the personality, image, and style of your company.

To create a consistent brand image for your company, you should first decide what your company's brand image is. Is it friendly and fun? Or is it serious and direct? In general, you want your company's brand image to reflect your company's goals and values.

To create a consistent brand image, you need to have a well-defined idea of what your brand stands for. This idea is usually referred to as your company's brand message.

Here is a simple but effective way to create a brand message for your company.

Step 1: Research your market

Your first step is to research your target audience. Who are they, what do they want, and what do they need?

For example, if you sell children's toys, you may want to focus on boys, girls, and adults. You may also want to focus on young children, older children, and teenagers. Each group of people will have different needs and desires. You should know these things before you start creating a brand message.

Step 2: Develop your brand message

When researching your market, you should clearly understand what your company does. This will allow you to focus on creating a brand message relevant to your business.

What should you say in your brand message? What does your company stand for? Think about the attributes that define your company's brand. These may include honesty, quality, reliability, convenience, friendliness, and many others.

Your brand message should communicate exactly what your company is all about. For example, a toy store could say, “We're a toy store that sells safe, fun toys for children.”

You need to ensure that your brand message includes the appropriate keywords. For example, if your brand message is about “safe toys,” you would include the keyword “safe.”

Remember, your brand message represents your company to potential customers. So, it's essential that your brand message accurately represents your company.

Step 3: Craft your brand message into a slogan

A slogan is a concise statement that describes your company's brand message. A good slogan should be easy to remember and convey a feeling.

You should write slogans in a short sentence or two. They should be written at a 6th-grade reading level or below and shouldn't include long, complicated sentences.

Make it Easier for Consumers to Find You

When you put yourself online, consumers have many options and can search you out. People will likely look elsewhere if your website isn't easy to find.

If you're thinking, “how am I supposed to make it easier for consumers to find my website?” then you're missing the point. The point isn't necessarily making it easier for consumers to find your website; it is to create a fantastic site that consumers will love to visit. A few tips to get you started include:

1. Create a memorable domain name – Consumers often say they “can't find” a business or website by name. Remember that a name is one of the most critical parts of a website, and you don't want to miss out on the opportunity to be remembered. If you have a lot of competing domains, you can choose a domain name that's unique and catchy.
2. Create a practical search function – If your consumers can't easily find you, they'll likely find other businesses that match their needs better. Consumers can search to find businesses by category (e.g. restaurants, plumbers) or by specific service (e.g. plumber in Toronto).
3. Choose an easy-to-use, SEO-optimised WordPress theme – Consumers will quickly dismiss poorly-designed sites regarding user experience. If you're wondering how to make it easier for consumers to find you, it's all about creating a fantastic website that is attractive and easy to navigate. The theme you choose must work well with SEO, meaning that your site is appropriately optimised for search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. You can find hundreds of great themes on the WordPress Theme Directory.
4. Include contact information on your site – Consumers need to know where to contact you. This includes physical addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. Including contact information is a great way to ensure consumers know how to find you.
5. Use social media – Consumers often prefer to connect with brands on social media. You're missing out on an incredible opportunity if you're not using social media to advertise and market your business.
6. Be consistent in your marketing – Consumers can get overwhelmed when they search for you and then see several different websites. To help consumers feel more confident about choosing you, you should always be consistent in your branding and marketing strategies.
7. Share news and updates – Consumers want to feel like they're part of your brand, and sharing content on social media is a great way to do this. It doesn't matter if you only post once a week; if you're providing value to your consumers, they'll keep returning to check your updates.
8. Provide a mobile-friendly website – Consumers spend more time on their phones than ever before. If your website isn't mobile-friendly, your consumers may quickly bounce off. Investing in a mobile-optimised website is a no-brainer.
9. Encourage customer reviews – Consumers often prefer to talk to other consumers before deciding. You can encourage consumer reviews by asking for them on your website, emails, and social media platforms. This helps you build trust and shows your consumers that you care.
10. Include testimonials – Consumers are more likely to trust a business if they know that others have been happy with their service. Ask your consumers to provide you with testimonials. These can be published on your site or shared on social media.
11. Add helpful, engaging content – In a world of information overload, consumers want to engage with helpful and relevant content. Consumers appreciate businesses that are willing to listen and respond to their needs. Add helpful, engaging content to your website and share it on social media.

Use Social Media to Increase Visibility

Social media is a great way to reach out to people to gain exposure for your business. The key is to use it correctly so that your target audience sees your posts. Here are some tips that will help you do just that.

Post regularly

The first step is to post regularly. You won't get much traction if you only post once now and then. Make sure you post at least once daily, so you don't lose followers.

Be authentic

When you post on social media, ensure you're authentic. Posting fake news or being sarcastic won't go over well. If you want to succeed with social media, you must show your followers that you care about what they have to say.

Make it useful

Don't just post things just for the sake of it. If you want people to engage with you, you must make it worthwhile. Share valuable articles or share helpful information. People will see that you're sharing things that they want to read.

Respond to comments

People expect that you will respond to comments on social media. You should be replying to comments within 24 hours. If you respond, you need to thank the person who posted the comment and provide them with a link to your website. This will help you build relationships and build trust.

Keep up with the trends

When it comes to social media, trends come and go. The latest trend might not work for your business. Make sure you're always keeping up with what's happening on social media so that you're prepared to be relevant in the future.

Follow these guidelines, and you will be successful with social media marketing.

Create a Sense of Loyalty

A sense of loyalty can be defined as a feeling of identification or allegiance between two entities. When it comes to brand loyalty, these two entities are usually a company and its customer base.

To create a sense of loyalty in your customers, you need to make them feel like their needs are a priority for you. A sense of loyalty can be created by making your customers feel like they're part of your business.

So, to create a sense of loyalty in your customer base, you need to show that you care about your customers and their needs.

You're building trust by showing your customers that you're considering their needs. And when you build trust, you create loyalty. Trust and loyalty go hand-in-hand. When you build trust with your customers, you're creating loyalty.

How to build trust with your customers

Building trust isn't as simple as putting a smile on your face and saying the right things. Building trust means genuinely caring about your customers and their needs.

To build trust in your customers, you need to communicate with them. Communicating effectively is a great way to build trust. Your customers want to know that they're part of your business. To give them that sense of inclusion, you need to treat them like they're an essential part of your business. They shouldn't be treated as a commodity.

Conclusion

Branding is an integral part of any business. Maintaining a consistent brand image is essential when building your business and promoting it to others. This means you must maintain a high-quality standard every time you promote your business and share it on social media. People can tell if you're trying to pull something over on them. Don't try to hide who you are or what your business is all about. Make your brand as transparent as possible.

Your brand is a reflection of who you are as a business and a reflection of your company culture. You want to ensure your brand is one that your employees will love.