The Role of Consistent Messaging in Transforming Your Brand from Ordinary to One-Of-A-Kind

With over 1 billion (and constantly increasing) websites on the World Wide Web, standing out and rising above your competition is more important than ever before.  Got a great business idea but feel overwhelmed by all the advertising and marketing jargon? Or, are you already running an established business, but you feel unimpressed or discouraged by your brand identity?  Regardless of your situation, all businesses need strong digital strategies. They need marketing plans that integrate consistent messaging.

We’re here to show you exactly how to make that happen. Let’s get into it!

What is Consistent Messaging?

Consistent messaging conveys a precise theme throughout your content and marketing. It remains consistent throughout all marketing channels.

It means that if you are really passionate about whales, your audience does not second guess your affinity for whales.

If your demographic is twenty-something mothers with gifted children, you’re using consistent messaging that attracts this exact demographic.

Think about some of the most well-known brands, like Apple, McDonald’s, or Google. Chances are, you know it’s an advertisement for their product long before you see the logo or the name of the company pop up. That’s because companies like these are masters of consistent messaging.

Consistent messaging does its very best to avoid unclear or confusing communication. When the message is unclear, the customers are unclear. That means you risk losing out on valuable traffic, customers, and, yes, revenue.

Why is Consistent Messaging So Important?

It Creates A Sense of Reliability

We all have biases, thoughts, and opinions about people we meet. We also experience these same opinions with companies.

For example, let’s say you specialize in selling healthy, vegan cookies. Your audience knows that this is your expertise. If one day, you started advertising selling bacon-wrapped brownies, it’s going to cause some problems, right?

As a business, your consumers learn to trust you based on your consistent messaging and reliable communication. They need to know your morals, values, and convictions, and you need to know them, too!

It’s Next-Level Marketing

Having consistency allows you to actually develop an appropriate brand. When your brand becomes consistent, it becomes ingrained in your consumer’s mind.

They know what they’re getting. They don’t have to ask around or double-check or cross-reference. That’s because you, the business owner, have outlined exactly what you stand for. You have identified exactly what they can expect in your services or products.

This makes your marketing plan strong and successful. It also makes your advertising incredibly efficient.

It Can Save You Money

This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s not. Investing your time, money, and energy in developing a consistent brand can actually save you money.

How? You streamline your process. When you’re ordering materials, you can order in bulk because you want them to look exactly the same. Rather than constantly cooking up the next best media campaign, you will likely have what you need in your existing brand identity.

This can actually save you hundreds of thousands in promotional content, digital marketing strategies, and advertising.

Getting Started

So, you know about consistent messaging and why it’s so important in your marketing strategy. Now, let’s get into how to actually transform your business into a memorable, one-of-a-kind brand!

Do an Inventory

When you develop an appropriate marketing strategy, it’s important to look at what you’re already working with. This requires honest analysis and reflection.

Get started by asking yourself these critical questions:

• How can I describe my business in one sentence?
• Who is my exact target audience?
• What feeling do I evoke in my consumers?
• When most people think of my business, they think ______?
• My business is different than others in the sense that it _________?

If these questions feel abstract and impossible to answer, you have your work cut out for you! You need to narrow down exactly what your business is about and what needs it fulfills for your consumers.

If it was easy for you to answer these questions, congratulations! You have a relatively solid understanding of your business, what it conveys, and what you’re aiming to achieve. In other words, you’re ready for the next step!

Determine Your Brand Voice

Consistent messaging means having a consistent voice and tone throughout your marketing.

In marketing, your voice refers to how you characterize the brand. Even if it changes over time, it carries the same core values.

Your tone, on the other hand, changes depending on the situation and person. For example, a person uses a different tone when speaking to a familiar, long-time customer than when providing a first-time sales pitch.

Developing these can take time and energy to master. Nobody can tell you the best tone or voice to use. However, you should consider the demographics of your audience and your overall business mission in order to solidify them.

Next, consider the top three adjectives you want your brand to represent. For example, a coffeehouse owner might desire the terms: quirky, unique, modern. A business specializing in organic baby food might like: compassionate, helpful, nourishing.

After selecting your three adjectives, define what each of them means to you and why they carry so much importance. Then, using a chart (yes, an actual chart!), draft out the best DO’s and DON’Ts for each word.

Let’s look at the top examples:

The coffeehouse owner desiring a quirky, modern approach will benefit from emphasizing difference, one-of-a-kind selections, and bold statements. She will likely lose customers if her marketing uses outdated slang or generic statements or images.

On the other hand, the organic baby food business will benefit from depicting healthy and happy families. She will benefit from using warm colors that evoke positive, connected feelings. Aggressive colors and bold, challenging verbs or statements might drive customers away.

Make the Perfect Logo

Psychological research continues to show how important logos are in shaping consumers’ thoughts, feelings, and purchases. Logos help us remember the brand and they automatically help us evoke feelings and memories associated with it.

If you don’t already have a logo, you needed one- yesterday! If you don’t have one, don’t worry. Logos are a relatively simple element in your overall marketing strategy.

If you don’t have the designer eye, you can definitely outsource this task to logo marketing professionals. The experts will collaborate with you to create the perfect design that conveys consistent messaging with your brand. They know about color coordination and certain feelings evoked by certain shapes.

If you want to do it yourself, you’ll need to focus on integrating the right colors, shapes, and text into your design. When in doubt, keep it classic and simple.

It should evoke emotions consistent with your brand marketing. It should also be flexible enough to have a timeless feel.

After developing your logo, ask for feedback! Sometimes, it takes a fresh pair of eyes to determine whether your designs do (or don’t) work!

Focus on the Nitty-Gritty Details

There’s a lot that can come into making the perfect branding style guide. Here are the top elements to consider as your solidify your web design and brand identity.

• Company name
• Company slogan
• Mission statement
• Logo design
• Typography
• Color schemes and palettes
• Main images
• Additional slogans

These are design elements that you can tackle and research on your own. With that said, professional website plans are able to do this quickly, efficiently, and effectively.

That means less time for you to focus on all the behind-the-scenes marketing and more time for you to focus on what matters- your business!

Create a Content Plan

In today’s day and age, blogging is a crucial part of business marketing. Blogging creates a personalized approach to your brand. It also improves online visibility and establishes expertise within your overall industry.

All of these are important components for improving your traffic and generating important leads.

You can do blogging yourself, but if your writing skills are rusty (no shame), SEO makes your head hurt, or you simply lack the time, this might be an area worth outsourcing.

Professionals will help draft out appropriate blog content, utilize professional editing, and integrate SEO best practices. These are all must-haves for developing a solid content plan.

Get Social

1.96 billion people use social media, and that number is expected to rise to 2.5 billion by 2018.

This means that social media represents a critical and valuable component in your branding and business identity.

After all, if companies aren’t on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, do they really even exist? May seem like a silly question, but in today’s society, more and more people are turning to these platforms for interacting with businesses.

As a business owner, this is an amazing way to actually connect with consumers! Use the virtues of social media to your advantage. Offer a promotional giveaway to your Facebook followers. Share exclusive items only available through Instagram.

And, remember: social media is a two-way street. More and more consumers are interested in learning the “people” behind the brand these days. They want authentic and honest communication. They also want brands acting with integrity and strong ethics.

Social media allows you to embrace your individual voice. You can do this by regularly interacting with your consumers. Post comments. Ask questions. Engage in private messaging. Show your consumers that you care about their well-being and their happiness, and they will show you their loyalty in return.

Get Everyone Involved

Consistent messaging isn’t a one man’s job! It’s crucial for the entire team. If you’re the business owner, you play a critical role in setting the standard for your company’s mission statement and values.

Share consistent messaging with your team members! Discuss your branding efforts at team meetings. Ask them to share what they love and appreciate most about your brand.

Create clear expectations for how each member needs to do his or her part in promoting this consistency. For example, do you want them to use specific email taglines in each newsletter? What are the consistent hashtags going to be if you’re using social media? How can you ensure everyone uses company merchandise when out in the field?

It’s your job to set the stage for brand consistency. It’s your employees’ jobs to make sure they follow your guidelines!

Out with The Old

One of the last steps to solidifying your consistent messaging is reviewing all your old content!

Once you’ve established a cohesive image, you need to review and update anything that no longer matches the new guidelines.

This includes looking at any websites and social media pages. It also means looking at all business cards, brochures, signs, pamphlets, store decor, uniforms, labels, and packages.

The entire customer experience needs to be seamless. If you have some elements that are consistent and others that are drastically different, the whole marketing will feel confusing. And, that’s exactly what you don’t want.

Stay Loyal and True

Once you’ve got the consistent messaging down, you’ve done half the battle! Congratulations.

Here’s the thing: consistent messaging doesn’t actually mean anything if you’re not delivering on your brand’s promise. Consistent messaging holds you to a high standard. Your consumers will naturally have expectations and requirements for you. They will want services and goods that deliver exactly what is promised.

If you fail to deliver quality service every time, you absolutely risk losing out big-time. You risk disappointing and betraying your consumers and compromising their loyalty.

Remember this: a business can only have as much integrity as its owner. If you are trying to take shortcuts with your consumers, your business numbers will absolutely reflect that.

Just as you need to stay consistent with your branding and marketing, you also need to stay consistent with how you treat your consumers.

Final Thoughts

At Snowberry, we are passionate about consistent messaging and creating a one-of-a-kind voice for your business. Our professional team has worked with over 265 satisfied clients, and we focus on utmost quality and creativity in designing top-notch website plans.

Reach out to us today and let’s transform your business plans into reality.