Helping Organizations Thrive: Part Two – Consistency

What makes an organization and its brand thrive? A brand image that appears consistently across all communication channels and content that is relative to target audience groups at every stage of their decision-making process.

I can see how the need for a more consistent and credible brand image could arise. Owners and managers of young businesses or those who choose the “running before walking” method often focus the majority of their efforts and funds inward on building the infrastructure of their organization, selling the best products and services, and delivering them with superior service.

Well that’s great when they have something new to offer or there isn’t any competition for miles around or they have a list of a thousand plus ready to buy. As a result, many organizations with a strong infrastructure excel during the first two to three years in business, but then sales plateau. Why? They are so fixated on closing deals, that they don’t look outward to generate interest from potential customers to build a pipeline of qualified leads. Brand recognition and brand awareness can be very difficult to achieve without a consistent brand image that reflects the quality that an organization provides as well as brand messaging that resonates.

When businesses are formed, they typically require three brand essentials: a logo, a website and a printed leave-behind. It’s best to establish brand standards and usage guidelines early on in order to ensure a consistent brand image that will foster brand integrity. These guidelines at minimum should address five areas: proper orientation of the logo, application of color palettes, usage of fonts, [desired] voice & tone, and image styling. We would apply this same kind of approach for those organizations that recognize a lack of brand consistency, even though they have been successfully operating for several years or more. Brand standards provide a solid foundation as we begin developing content and designing additional brand essentials such as packaging, signage, marketing & sales collateral, advertising, social media, and environments.

Establishing consistency of your brand image is crucial, but creating branded materials and messaging that are relevant to potential customers is also key. Whether they’re starting to research, getting educated about a topic, or deciding that your organization is the best match for their needs, we aim to develop brand messaging that will attract, inform, and engage prospects so you can nurture and guide them through the communications funnel and ultimately motivate them to buy your products and services.

In addition to consistency and relevance, frequency plays an important role. Many companies operate at full throttle, but only decide to promote themselves when the gas runs out. We believe keeping your brand in front of your customers and prospects is critical to thriving. When we understand our clients’ operations and the needs of their target audience groups, we can help them determine the best balance of effort and funds to maintain constant exposure. Whether you are standing in the front row this month or sitting a few rows back next month, your organization needs to be visible at all times.

Is your organization’s brand image consistent across all communication channels and your brand message relevant to your prospects’ needs?

View featured work. Learn more about our approach. Or get in touch with us to activate your brand.

Read related article: Helping Businesses Thrive: Part One – Personality

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