Creating a consistent brand
You’ve invested all of this time creating the perfect brand identity through logos, submarks, color palettes, and more. It is time for you (or your branding client) to keep things consistent and cohesive long after those brand files are turned over.
Develop a brand style guide
One of the main components of creating and keeping a consistent brand is through a brand style guide. This guide will provide you with brand identity standards for everything - logo, colors, fonts, icons, and more. Develop a plan for what rules you will have for how to use your brand. From how colors could be combined to the fonts you will use on printed materials - you name it. Your guide will help your brand look and feel the same no matter where you have it displayed or featured.
Create your brand messaging
Anything word related to your business, such as your tagline, mission statement, your “why,” etc. needs to be refined and fine-tuned through brand messaging. Developing your brand message can really help with wording that email, writing your about page or ways you interact in a professional setting about your business. Having this “voice” developed will help you along the way.
Identify where you will “show up”
There are plenty of possibilities of places your brand could exist and show up. I recommend taking some time to consider precisely where you plan on being a presence. This can help you determine a plan of action for those spaces, but also create a sense of how far your brand reach can extend.
Areas to consider:
Digital: where will your brand show up online or on social media?
Print: will you have printed collateral of your brand such as business cards or direct mailers?
In-person: You may have a storefront or attend conferences representing your business. You may even yourself be your brand (your business = your personal brand).
How to carry out the consistent brand
While you may think you have the capability to do all of this yourself and do it well, it can be challenging to keep up with it all. Hiring a designer or a copywriter (or both) to help you with the elements of your brand identity can be a sure way to keep your brand consistency in check. Above all else, having those resources (the brand style guide and messaging standards) can help keep things the same. No matter what platform a potential client, customer, etc. interacts with your brand - it is all the same!
