Consistency

Consistency may be one of the least inspirational topics for most of us. It sounds boring and tedious, but it’s all-powerful—especially at a time when the number of channels is increasing, along with consumer choice and empowerment.

Customers are more likely to purchase from a brand they recognize. This was demonstrated in a 2015 study by Nielsen, and that is the reason Fortune 500 companies make a serious effort to maintain brand consistency in their marketing campaigns. In fact, 87% of customers prefer brands that provide a consistent customer experience across all channels.

Competition for customers is tough within most industries these days. Branding is the key to differentiating from competitors, but if you don’t build your brand around reality or consistently live up to it, your branding efforts are pointless. It is the consistent experience that builds trust around your brand, and trust is the foundation for loyalty. A brand name is proven to be one of the most valuable assets a company holds. It can lend credibility to product efficacy and assure quality. Ultimately, it lets consumers know what they can expect when they buy a product.

Nike continues to be one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign has been so successful over the past few decades. They killed the competition—not only because of their simple yet strong slogan but because of their extraordinary consistency. Every ad, poster, and piece of marketing collateral scream, “Just Do It.”

Successful brands are built on authenticity, draw upon actual accomplishments, and maintain culture and values that are consistent all levels in the organization. We think that too often, leaders hope that branding can cover up or distract from a flawed system—that they can convince the world of something that’s not true if they throw enough money at it. Consumers are more intelligent than that.

It may not seem sexy, but consistency is the secret component to making customers happy and making your brand successful. Brands are built through the consistent delivery of the products and services promised through all stakeholder touchpoints. However, it may be challenging to get this right and requires focused attention and confident leadership.

It is understandable when a brand deviates from its look and feel from time to time. But maintaining a consistent customer experience will pay off. Since the customer journey can span all elements of a company and includes everything from buying a product to using it, having issues with it, and even writing and reviewing it, everything must be related.

Keeping that consistency requires a solution. In-housing your marketing activities might be the answer. Instead of spreading your activities over several agencies, freelancers, and digital providers, your creative team sitting next to you will have control of what goes out. It is easy to lose sight of the brand’s values as we focus on the day-to-day activities of our team. It happens more often than you might think, and it happens because of a false belief that branding is simply about creating a great tagline and a logo that millions of people will recognize and remember. We do a brand campaign, and then we go back to normal. But branding is in everything we do—intentionally or not. So, you might as well build the brand by making sales.

A brand is driven by more than the combination of promises made and promises kept; it is driven by ensuring customers recognize the delivery of those promises, which requires consistently high-quality delivery. Shopping around between various brand agencies, designers, advertising consultants, and freelancers will blur your brand. Everybody has their own way of interpreting your brand guidelines. So, if you don’t have a firm grip on guidance and approval, the overall look and feel of your brand will become clouded and disjointed.

In-house teams are experts at brand alignment. Your graphic designers know the brand inside out—they know which logos, colors, and fonts to use when and where. Your copywriters have your brand’s tone of voice running through their veins. That is probably why big brands like Airbnb, Nike, and Coca-Cola—brands that have become consistently big over time—all have strong in-house teams.