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Over 80% of consumers need to know they can trust a brand before they buy from it. As such, it stands to reason a consistent identity is more likely to convert potential clients by presenting a single, clear message. Still, how do you do that in a way that ensures you do not stray from your core brand while also trying out new brand communication channels?
You will soon learn what your brand style is in the context of creating a consistent image that can help your customers understand who you are. By the end, you will learn more about using unique methods to present yourself and how they can still push a specific brand identity.
This is a specific process in the world of marketing that focuses on trying to convey the core tenets of a brand. As such, it can help you identify yourself to the wider world rather than allowing your customers to fill in the blanks.
Having a consistent identity helps you shape how customers connect with you and can allow you to welcome a specific target audience. You can then leverage this connection to affect their buying patterns and increase loyalty to you over your competition.
One of the most notable methods of creating a consistent brand is the use of the same visual styles across all communication methods. This might include elements such as:
Each of these means that if someone looks at an image, they can work out whether it relates to you at a glance. For example, you can likely remember the McDonald's logo, mascots, and at least one element of their uniform. If you were thinking of the golden arches, Ronald McDonald or Grimace, and the McDonald's cap, you can see how effective it is.
High-quality brand identity includes the ability to invoke an emotion in the person who sees it. This is what is the most likely to influence a person's mood, and can often encourage them to buy your products. Ensuring that this remains consistent across offerings avoids confusing the audience.
This does not need to be the same message with every audience, though. For example, Netflix uses a different brand identity when presenting its alternate offering of "Netflix Kids". While it still often uses the primary Netflix logo, how it presents itself to a younger audience pivots hard from the core experience.
For adults, they receive serious and modern brand imagery that promotes Netflix as a simple solution for watching movies and TV. For children, the same interface is more character-focused, showing off brands as their mascots instead of their logos.
Such decisions can cause strong emotions that can lead to a powerful sense of loyalty when it comes to your brand. Over time, this can cause people to be much more likely to seek out your products in the future.
Having a brand story that aligns with the overall brand identity helps you reflect your values and personality. As such, be aware that when crafting a brand story, it can be much harder to pivot away from that in the future.
By having a strong story that reaches into a hopeful future, you can turn the facts about your journey into customer aspirations. You can show them how you intend to improve their lives and how their loyalty will ensure their happiness.
With all the above in mind, it is easy to understand how having brand consistency empowers you to promote your products or services. Not only does it improve how recognizable they are across different contexts, but it also builds up trust from the customer. They know what to expect from your offering, no matter how and where they encounter it.
This is not only true of external communication, though. Even internally, you want to be expressing your values towards those who work for you. Everyone in your circle should understand what your brand identity is and embody it authentically.
Such a consistent identity is not only useful when things are going well, but also when you make a mistake. It allows you to center your message and response in a way that you would not be able to without a core brand. It also means people will have expectations of what your responses look like, and that they may start to trust you even when you meet a bump in the road.
Putting together a consistent style across different channels can often demand a lot of work, but the results are rewarding. It needs you to present yourself the same way in such diverse places as:
Remember that not only must your brand reflect in the channels you use, but also your choice of channel might say something about who you are. By releasing a podcast, for example, you will be expressing that you are likely aiming for Gen Z and Millenials with full-time jobs. Most podcast listeners are in these demographics, but there is a long tail of other dedicated users.
The best way you can ensure you keep the same expression of your brand between these different platforms is by creating a set of brand guidelines. These allow both you and others working for you to always present yourself in the same way.
These days, even in the small space of a clothing label, your brand can shine through. This is much better than having a utilitarian accessory that does little more than inform a user of washing instructions.
These tiny banners offer a new vector of presentation you might not have otherwise and are often a small surprise for the clothing's owner. Though, you should be aware that it will be important to ensure the clothing, including the label, are comfortable. Harsh textures or cheap materials will reflect on you in the same way as any other low-quality product.
Despite the small size of most clothing labels, you can still place a lot of detail into that area. At the very least, it is perfect for a brand logo or any similar iconic emblem related to your image. Make sure to also use fonts and speech as defined in any brand guidelines you put together too.
If you want to go the extra mile, a QR code or website address could add an interactive element that pulls people to your site or even a specific promotion.
Uniforms, as the name suggests, create a single image across the whole of your staff. It turns them into brand ambassadors that can promote you with their very existence. As such, you may want to see how heavily you can brand an item, such as using your imagery on patches, ribbons, or even zippers.
It is not only workwear that you can use for branding. You can also create a line of casual wear that you can either give your staff or that they can earn, for example after each year of work.
This clothing can also create a stronger sense of team spirit. As such, they are great for post-work get-togethers or shared team-building exercises. Though, you do need to be aware that when workers wear your clothing outside of work as any patch does represent the company image.
Advancements in fashion, marketing, and technology have allowed for new ideas in the world of branding. These are only a couple of concepts you might want to investigate:
As the finishing touches to branded casual wear, some companies now offer branded trims on clothing. This comes in the form of ribbons or embroidery, depending on the budget set aside for the pattern.
It can reflect a commitment to high quality and detail in a company's products. To many, it can appear as a prestigious addition to any uniform.
Some brands allow for comedy and blunt honesty in their communication to attempt to seem "unprofessional" as a part of their identity. So long as this matches the brand guidelines, this can enhance a company's level of trust with consumers. If placed in a hidden location, such as on a label, this then feels more like a secret the consumer has discovered, encouraging further loyalty.
This article should have given you a much better appreciation of how consistent brand communication can help you in the long term. We want to take that one step further and help you brand your clothing labels too. We also offer branded ribbons, patches, zippers, and other elements that would be perfect for uniforms or gifted clothing items.
We can work with you to determine what your brand needs and how best to apply your central tenets to clothes to maintain your identity. So, get in contact with HiLabels and find out what we can do for you today.
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