(This is a contributed post)
If you are looking to build up loyalty and trust in your company and those that work for you, having a strong brand identity is vital. Of course, the critical thing that will allow you to create a strong brand identity is consistency. That is not muddying the waters by sending out different or mixed messages. A topic you can find out more about in the post below.
Visual consistency
When most people think of branding, their mind goes straight to logos. In fact, they can be a great representation of the visual side of branding your business. The reason being that if your logo is produced and used well, it should sum up the essence of your business in a candid manner.
However, there are two key points to remember here. The first is that the logo is not the only element of visual branding your company will need to be effective. In fact, you will also need to choose a pallet of company colors and even an official font. Then all of these elements can be used together to create a cohesiveness that is easily associated with your business.
Additionally, how you allow your logos and other assets to be used will impact the visual consistency of your brand. That is, if you choose to use poor quality resources, things like your visual assets can look stretched and unprofessional. Therefore, letting your business’s image as a whole down. To that end, choosing higher-quality assets like this menu template that takes into account the formatting of the assets you are using is vital. If you want to have a consistently professional visual image, that is.
Consider channels and platforms.
The channels and platforms that you choose to use for your branding are just as important as the visual assets you have. In fact, before using a social media platform or a particular type of content, you need to question whether it fits both your target audience and your brand.
A straightforward way to do this is to outline the values that are most important to your business. Then you can compare these to the channels, platforms, and even individuals that you may use to disseminate your message. Something that should help it stay consistent with the identity you are looking to create and reinforce.
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Use in all departments, not just marketing.
While your ‘brand’ may be something that the marketing department considers in their domain, do remember that to be effective, it needs to be everywhere in your company. This means both visually and in terms of values on the internal and the external side of things.
With that in mind, internal communications need to be branded with consistent colors, images, and tone, just as much as your sales materials and marketing content do.
After all, the critical purpose of branding is to create a clear, relatable image for your business. Therefore the more departments that use the branding you have worked so hard on, the stronger and more effective your image will be.