To Be Successful, You Must Be Consistent: How To Stay On Brand

As a business owner, it’s only natural that you will want to make a success of your business. Every business owner feels this way, but have you thought about consistency? A lax approach to this could hamper your brand and hold it back when it comes to finding success. These days, there are so many brands and businesses taking up space and vying for everyone’s attention. Therefore, your business has to really stand out and be noticeable in order to win people over. That’s why having a consistent image and message can help a lot.

It might sound like a big task, but don’t switch off just yet. Making these kinds of changes to your business is actually pretty simple and straightforward for the most part. It’s all about using your common sense and taking on the mindset of the consumer. Once you know how they see your brand, you can make sure they see it the way you want them to. Yes, it will take some hard work and clever thinking, but that’s what running a business is all about, right? Without further ado, here are some of the things you should do to make your company consistent and stay on brand.

Train Your Employees Properly

The way in which you train your employees is very important. When they are trained properly, they will know how to represent your brand properly and not make big mistakes. The training they receive should, of course, be designed by you. Some aspects of their training can be handled by external courses or companies. For example, attending a media training online can teach your employees how to deal with media in a proper way. But when it comes to training them on how to stay on brand, you will need to do this yourself. Only you, as the head of the business, will be able to give them the level of this kind of training they need.

Once You Have A Name, Logo And Colors, Stick With Them

Branding is key. You can’t possibly stay on brand until you have a brand in the first place. So, this is always the first thing to get right. When you’ve done that, you should have a brand name and logo. On top of that, most companies will have a set of colors that they attach to the brand. Once all of those things are in place, you’ll have to focus on sticking with them. If you change the name or logo or even the colors, it will set your brand back in terms of how easy to recognize it is. In short, it confuses customers, and confusion is never a good thing in business.

Do What You Say You’ll Do

If you make a promise to your customers, you need to make sure that you follow through. If your customers start to notice that you’re not really doing what your brand says it will, they’ll disappear fast. This is a big part of your approach to consistency, or, at least, it should be. When you don’t do what you say you will, this shows inconsistency. It represents a fault line between your company’s words and its actions. That’s a big problem when it comes to finding and holding onto customers. So, never allow your business to break a promise made to the public.

Format Your Documents Consistently

The way you use documents can be very important too. It’s one of those small things that can add a bit more uniformity to your company. People will see the brand name, logo and colors whenever they get a letter from you. And this helps to reinforce those things in their minds. It’s something that is simple and easy to do, but it can have a big overall impact in the long-term.

Don’t Betray The Brand During Times Of Stress

When times are tough, it’s easy to feel like you can’t handle the stress. This is when people often slip and become less consistent. For example, if you run a company with a friendly brand image, you need to maintain that friendliness at all times. If you get stressed and snap at a customer, that image will be ruined instantly for anyone who witnesses or experiences it. So, no matter how difficult or stressful things get, you need to embody the brand’s ethos and image completely. If you betray it, customers will be disappointed.

Repeat The Same Messages Over And Over

Being consistent and staying on brand is not just about image or your employees. It’s all about what you say and the slogans you use. When you want to get an idea across, you also want it to stay in people’s minds. You want what you to say to stick with them for as long as possible. And that’s always more likely if they are exposed to it consistently. If you were to change your brand message all the time, no one would remember what you say. Whereas, if you repeat the same message over and over, people will become very familiar with it.

Never Be Afraid Of Sounding Repetitive Or Boring

You might think that your business will start to sound boring and repetitive if it repeats the same messages constantly. But in the world of business, being consistent and on brand should never be seen as a bad thing. Think about it; we’ve all see the Apple logo a million times. And we are all familiar with its overall aesthetic. That’s because it’s consistent. But have you ever got bored with it? Have you ever thought to yourself that Apple has become too repetitive? Probably not. We tend to remember these kinds of consistent brands rather than get bored of them.

If you do all of the things above, your business should find it much easier to stay on brand and be successful. This is vital because there is nothing more important that consistency when it comes to growing your market share. People need to recognize the business and know what it’s all about quickly and easily.