the value of consistency in your brand
Value of Brand Consistency \ Dotted Design
When building a business, one of the most important things is that your customers connect with you and want to buy from you. Chances are, they will interact with you multiple times before buying your service or product. So, how do you connect with these people to keep them coming back to you?
The first step of course is to build a solid visual identity. Beyond just your strong logo, you want a system of colors, typefaces, icons, and layouts. The visual experience is a person's first impression of your brand, and you want to build something that looks professional and attracts the type of clients or customers you want.
But...then what? You have a logo, you have your swatch colors. What should you do with them?
Short answer: put them everywhere. Everything that you produce and put out there for your business should be in some way connected with your brand identity. No matter what a person stumbles upon from you, they should get the feeling of, "I bet this is from *insert your brand here*." Your style is what makes you unique and not just another designer/photographer/blogger/coach/podcaster/etc. You likely know that this is true of your website, but what about your other platforms?
A few places you may not have thought of to apply your branding:
Social Media: Create profile images that match your branding.
Newsletters: Create headers and graphics that fit your style.
Free downloads: Have a PDF for your opt-in freebie? Make sure it follows your color and type palette.
Blog posts: Create a template for your posts so that they are easily recognizable as yours if someone spots them on Pinterest.
Stationery: Do you have business cards, thank you notes, or letterhead? Apply your branding!
Quotes/Invoices/Contracts: You'll likely want something simple and readable for these documents, but they are another place to create a cohesive feel for your brand and a memorable design.
While this concept may seem easy enough to apply, I often have clients who worry that this cohesion will seem boring or repetitive to an audience. I always assure them that while it may seem redundant to you to have the same concept for every blog post graphic for example, your audience will be seeing countless images throughout their day. Creating that consistent, cohesive style instead makes you more familiar and more likely for them to return and check you out!
When you change fonts, colors, and styles with every item you create, it gives the impression that you are still figuring things out, and maybe you aren't ready for clients yet. Or, it could even indicate that you are indecisive and can't land on a visual and stick with it. A solid visual identity shows you are ready to go, understand your business, and care about your user's experience. {Side note: this doesn't mean you can't rebrand. Making an intentional change is fine, as long as you stick with it once it's launched!}
Bonus: it makes creating the graphics for your newsletter, blog, or social media SO much easier when you don't have to reinvent the wheel each time you create something! I love efficiency.
You do want to keep things fresh, of course, and here are a few examples of some brands that excel at cohesion without making every single graphic exactly the same:
Lauren of Elle & Company: she has a definite template for her blog posts, but mixes up which colors from her palette she uses and mixes photo with non-photo versions:
Elle & Co
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Lisa of Elembee: her eye-catching color palette is so recognizable, and she uses the same concept for every blog post image:
Elembee
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Lindsay of White Oak Creative: she uses a monochrome color palette and mixes in some black and white photography. Each is different, yet oh-so related in style!
White Oak Creative
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If I see a graphic from any of these ladies floating around, I can instantly identify who it belongs to without even clicking or reading the fine print. Because they always produce quality content, I know I want to click when I see their work. This is the same feeling you want to create with your audience.
Consistency makes you recognizable, professional, and put together. It shows you've thought through your branding and want to create a meaningful experience with your audience. Once you take the time to put together a plan (or enlist the help of a graphic designer!), it only gets easier to implement!
Bonus! Want to create consistency in your brand? Download my Guide to Building Brand Consistency!
Free Download Brand Guide | Dotted Design
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