If you've read any of our blogs yet, you'll notice we really try to drill home the importance of consistency. While it's a pretty straightforward concept, in reality, we find this is the BIGGEST mistake almost all (yes, all) businesses make (UnderBelly included).
So instead of drilling home just why you should be consistent (we already did that here) I'm going to give you some ways to actually practice consistency.
A. Create a Branding Sheet and USE IT. This is a one-page document that lays out your exact brand colors, fonts, logos, and any assets that you use regularly. This sheet will save your life as you're designing various things on different software because you cannot, and I repeat, you cannot simply guess your colors and fonts.
B. Create a social media calendar and be intentional. I know this is a pain in the ass, but honestly, it will make creating social media content so much less stressful. Create a general layout for what you want to promote and which medium makes the most sense (Instagram post vs Instagram stories vs LinkedIn etc). Being consistent with your social media means being real with yourself. Do you have the time to be posting 5 quality, well-thought-out pieces of content every week? Or is 2 more realistic? If 2 is more realistic, plan for two and take your time creating them. There is ZERO need to push out content that is not thought out.
C. Think through your entire customer experience. In today's world, most of your customers are going to have multiple touchpoints with you before they actually have your product in their home. This means that there are many opportunities to create consistency. But that also means there is a lot of opportunities to confuse your customer. You want your ads to feel like your social media to feel like your website and to feel like your packaging etc etc. But the only way for that to happen is if you actually think through every step and plan it with intention. Take the time to put yourself in your customer's shoes and see what they are going to be seeing.
D. Copy. Copy. Copy. Your brand is much more than just your brand colors and logo. You want your copy to reinforce your branding and that means that your copy needs to be consistent. This may take some time to figure out, but it is just as important to think about your copy as it to think about your brand colors and name. Be sure to be intentional with the copy in your social media posts AND captions. Think about the emails and newsletters you are sending out. Think about how you describe your products and what your audience sees on the main page of your website. Figure out what words and phrases (and punctuation!) you use, and what you avoid, and then WRITE IT DOWN.
E. Constraints = Consistency = Customer Expectations. We find most businesses lose their consistency for a few reasons. One, they don't have a brand sheet/ identity so they don't have anything to pin themselves to. You listened to our first step, so that is not going to be your problem. Second, they don't plan ahead. They get too excited to post something and so instead of taking a beat to think about how to properly promote or advertise something in their brand, they just 'get something out there'. You are forewarned. But the 3rd reason is they want to mix it up. This mentality is completely understandable, you don't want your audience to get bored!
In reality, what you're doing is confusing your customers. Your customers will come to have expectations from your business, and mixing it up without intention will only weaken your brand, not strengthen it. Finally, as the good ole adage goes "Creativity Lies within Constraints." These constraints will help you go deeper with your brand helping to strengthen your relationship with your customer.
Let us know how you and your business practice consistency! Also, if you have any questions or would like our thoughts on what you are doing, please reach out! We would love to chat.