How to Keep Your Branding Consistent Online
How to Keep Your Branding Consistent Online
Written by Robyn Strafford on August 26, 2016.
We all know that having a clear brand is important. Whether you are a small business or a market giant, perfecting that brand and pushing it out across everything you do is key to controlling how your brand is viewed. This will ensure that your customers recognize who you are, what you are about, and what you have to offer. With the increasing number of social platforms and the forever changing digital industry, brand consistency is often overlooked.
Brand consistency and brand recognition come hand in hand and can allow smaller businesses to gain the edge over their larger competitors. For example, you are a local independent coffee shop with a specialist coffee selection and a quirky brand voice. Someone who lives in your area stumbles across your Facebook page and sees a post that is of interest to them, later on, they are searching for things to do in their local area and your Google ad pops up.
If your brand is applied consistently to your Facebook page and the banner ad, they are likely to recognize your brand and continue to use your services. If your brand is consistent across the whole of your digital presence, then the user will make a subconscious association between your sites/ads and will be more likely to provide you with their custom.
Brand recognition is also key to retaining customers. If they are already a fan of your brand and what you are about they are likely to want to follow you on your social platforms and continue to use your product/services. This is if you are carrying the brand consistently. If your brand has a split personality across your site and your social media it will confuse your potential customers and could potentially put them off following whatever your brand has to say.
Without ensuring your brand is consistent across your digital marketing, website and social profiles, you risk customers not recognizing your brand, losing followers (and a potential free audience) and overall you weaken your brand.
So how can you ensure your brand is consistently applied across the web?
- Make sure your logo is applied to everything
I’m not saying make it massive and that it should be the center of attention. Exactly the opposite. Simply make sure the logo is applied consistently and adhering to the brand’s guidelines across all platforms on everything.
- Carry your brand colors
From background to button colors, your brand colors should be carried across all of your online presences down to the exact hex code.
- Images associated with your brand
Images play a big part in carrying your brand’s image consistently across all web platforms. If you are a luxury real estate agent and a lot of the pictures on your website are of quaint villages in black and white, the images you post on social media or use in banner adverts should follow the same theme or color scheme.
- Use the same name
Your brand name is your brand name, so it should be used consistently throughout your online presence. This will not only help with brand recognition but will also help your search results and avoid confusing your customer.
- Your tone of voice
Your brand voice is what gives your brand personality, and if you have one voice on one platform you want it to be consistent across them all to successfully project your brand’s message across.
If you ensure your brand is consistent across your whole digital presence you are likely to see an increase in the number of people traveling around your sites and clicking on your ads. I hope you found this post useful.
For more information or help on how to improve your brand’s social media profiles feel free to get in touch.