Great brands get to be great brands because they’re true to their essence or what they represent. That means that every time a brand touchpoint is employed it reflects the brand in the way people expect. That is, from the very first purchase right through to the after sales care and everything in between.
What happens when a brand we know and love no longer lives up to its promise? We might give them another chance or simply switch if there are a lot of alternatives. If the brand is lucky and we care about their non performance, we’ll tell them. The opportunity to hear a customer’s grievance is priceless. It’s your opportunity to correct an issue, make good. Although you can build a stronger connection with your customer after a mishap that’s still no reason to have them in the first place.
Being consistent in the eyes of the customer is essential to positive brand health. It validates why your customers continue to use your brand over again. It’s the repeat purchase that you want to encourage. This is especially true in service industries that build relationships in order to build their business. It’s necessary for business survival.
WHY DO BRANDS BEHAVE INCONSISTENTLY?
These reasons are likely tied to a lack of brand strategy or internal understanding of this strategy, a lack of process to support ‘how we do things around here’ and possibly a maverick component that simply gets bored with the same old, same old.
Boredom really isn’t a reason to make unauthorised changes to your company’s brand. Similarly maintaining brand consistency shouldn’t have to be inflexible or lacking in scope. For a start up, consistency is crucial as customers are still getting to know what your business is about. Don’t hinder their ability to connect with you by being erratic. You’ll just make your job so much harder than it needs to be.
5 WAYS YOU CAN ACHIEVE BRAND CONSISTENCY
- Define your company's language, and use this tone of voice everywhere across all touch points
- Make sure your marketing communications are integrated and have the same look and feel across all material
- Be clear on what your key messages are and share the same ones internally and externally
- Deliver a consistent service, of the same quality during all stages of customer interaction
- If you have a product, make sure it delivers on the promise you make, all the time
