Branding is often discussed everyday by individuals in the marketing, advertising and design industries, but rarely is it defined with a simple answer. In brief, branding is one of the most important tools a company can utilize to reach their target market, build recognition and develop customer relationships. It includes a wide range of factors such as logos, colors, patterns, typefaces, imagery, packaging, taglines, wording and more, all of which combine to create your company’s image.

Why Do Consumers Need Consistency?

In order to build a strong brand, you must stay consistent throughout all of your selected mediums. This strategy creates the opportunity to gain brand recognition among your target audience when done correctly. On top of that, consistency brings clarity and purpose that consumers then buy into. In turn, consumers become loyal to a brand. However, building this kind of trust takes time and effort.

Most consumers have to be exposed to a brand many times before they are loyal to it. So a consistent brand message has to be established so that consumers will immediately distinguish it from a competing brand. This means a business potentially loses customers, and may even help its competitors, if a consistent “look” and tone is not achieved.

What Does This Mean In Terms of the Web?

The goal of a website is to represent a company, sell the company’s products, attract more visitors, generate more business leads, promote more sales of company’s products and services and ultimately, increase the bottomline.

To do so, a company should have a consistent brand message that cuts through the clutter and builds loyalty and trust with the customer. A brand is the “look” and tone a company uses to establish a consistent message that builds familiarity and trust with consumers. It consists of the logo, typography, a color palette, design style, and the overall voice.

A strong brand should be consistent across all marketing outlets online. Building a strong brand takes time and requires a clear voice that consistently differentiates a company from its competitors.

 The Power of Social Media

The way to create and maintain a relationship with a consumer has changed dramatically over the years, largely due to social media’s induction into our lives. In the past, a business could create an advertisement or marketing campaign that took people to their website and as long as the tone between the ad and the website were consistent, brand loyalty could be achieved over time and repetition. Sadly, that’s not enough anymore. People are highly active on social media these days which means consumers are sharing with others their thoughts on a company.

Going beyond the website and utilizing social media to its fullest depends on a consistent brand message that can be shared. By having a consistent brand message that builds positive relationships with consumers, you are more likely to communicate a positive message within their social circles, and thus increase your brand awareness and loyalty.  The point of all of this is to help you understand that you need to establish a consistent brand that builds trust over the long haul while recognizing the immediacy of social media.