You are trying to save resources and graphic design seems like something you, a team member or a marketing / communications professional can do.

You’ve worked hard to make your dream a reality. Of course, you want to ensure it is recognizable. The first rule of thumb? Build trust in your brand.

Building that trust requires a connection with your target audience. To achieve it, your creative execution must be constantly consistent. It is crucial to get it right.

Here are four tips:

• Know what you need before you begin. Define your brand pillars to create a strong foundation. What is your brand vision, personality, positioning and affiliation?
• Next, have a creative professional define brand colors, fonts and creative execution guidelines. Mind the brand.
• Don’t settle. There are many programs that allow anyone to try their hand at graphic design. Use caution. Layout, font and colors are just a few of the key elements of graphic design.
• Take your time. If you choose to DIY your brand creation, understand it will be a time-consuming process to get it right. Take the time necessary to not only learn what you want, but what you need. Learn the art of design.

Experience pays. In the end, it will save you time and money to hire a professional graphic designer. They have the programs and experience to communicate your brand. They will give you the exact guidelines to follow to easily remain consistent and help distinguish your brand from the competition.

Own it. Once you have chosen your brand architecture and standards, own them. Use them religiously. Don’t use your logo in one color scheme on one social media post, then alter it for another. Instead of a random mixture of colors, know and use complementary colors. Keep all of your design elements consistent – Every. Single. Time.

There is value in creative and graphic design. Be consistent and follow brand guidelines. If you don’t have consistency, you won’t build connection. Without them, you may as well do nothing at all.

In conclusion, have a partner or team with the experience and know-how to help you stay consistent. We’re ready to rock when you are.

In April, we discussed using the start, stop, continue approach to cultivating the growth you want from your 2018 marketing plan. Good marketing begins with branding.

“Branding gives you an exceptionally effective way to broadcast who you are to your target market quickly and efficiently.”– Rick Haskins, MultiChannel News.

Therefore, start by determining who you are and who you aspire to be as a company. What is your vision? “A brand’s strength is built upon its determination to promote its own distinctive values and mission,” Jean-Noel Kapferer wrote in (Re)Inventing the Brand (2001).

Who you are should be based in part by what target customers want. What / who do your customers or clients need you to be? Therein lies the power of the branding exercise. With the right guidance and strategic partnerships, in working through the branding exercise you can determine what your brand should be, what makes the brand relevant to your target, and how to best describe its personality.

Branding Exercise Defines Key Brand Pillars

Great brands have three key attributes:

Conviction
Belief by everyone within your company that the brand is important and that the brand stands for a specific and important promise to the consumer.

Consistency
Imprint the brand into the essence of the organization so it comes alive for everyone it touches. Brand consistency equals earnings consistency.

Connection
Your brand must connect (through conviction and consistency) with target consumers to be effective. After all, as Zig Ziglar said, “If people like you they will listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.”

Whether your company is established or new to the market, large or small, retail, direct buy, online or MLM, one of the most important things you can do to achieve growth is to create a strong brand. It is a critical component of any business.

Take the time to define your brand architecture. The exercise is valuable. We’d love to help define your company’s foundation.

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A great logo makes your business. It serves as your abbreviated calling card, and speaks to your company’s culture, beliefs, and defining qualities without explanation. Add in color, font and unique graphical aspects and your logo becomes your brand.

“Your brand’s logo is the sort of thing that can have a bigger effect on your business than you first think,” says John Rampton of Forbes. “The wrong logo can make your brand come off as unprofessional, assuming anyone notices you at all. A good logo will create instant recognition within the minds of your target audience.”

Your logo should be unique, memorable, timeless, and versatile. It should stand out in the market. And it should represent your business and its message.

So you have an amazing logo!?!? NOW WHAT? Two simple but surprisingly difficult ideas:

Protect and Share.

On repeat. Make it your 2018 chorus.

From pictograms, ideograms, hieroglyphs to today’s world of avatars, emojis and icons, it can get confusing fast. If you are in a sea of sameness, unprotected and using your marks haphazardly, you are dead in the water.

Your logo usage must be easy, clear, and second nature. Take the Olympic rings, for example. No one mistakes them, everyone knows exactly what they represent, and what time it is when you see them. You can even hear the song in your head, can’t you? No questions. Put your logo under that filter. Every time you put it in play.

If you don’t diligently protect your marks, you are wasting effort.

So how do you protect your logo? You have standards, you have guidelines, you have a playbook and you follow it. No. Matter. What.

Remember, strong brands are:

• consistent at every touchpoint
• supported by strong teams
• not forced
• protective of their image

So in 2018, protect that brand. Share it. And do it again and again. As always, we can help!

I’m always looking for parallels in my life. A single thought that can be applied across all situations is something that resonates with me. These days, I am recognizing the importance of consistency.

Coaching Consistency

My youngest son is a tennis player. Although he is only 10 years old, he is serious about it and quite good. He can hit amazing serves, screaming forehand winners, and beautiful touch volleys that are something to behold. But his coach is stressing the need for consistency on the court. Those screaming forehand winners are beautiful, but can you hit them consistently? Are you putting in the work to get them there?

Last night, I had a bit of a parenting meltdown. After an extremely long day, I walked into my children’s den and found an absolute mess. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I lost it. But after I settled down, I realized that there have been little things that had been wearing on me all summer, but I hadn’t been consistent in my enforcement of the rules. I’d been letting things slide.

It’s not always easy to be consistent. It’s a mindful, daily commitment to doing what is best for the long term, even if it makes the short term difficult.

Marketing is largely about consistency as well

Establishing your brand voice and ensuring that you are consistently using that voice, across all channels, at every customer touch point, all day, every day, is absolutely key in marketing.

• A good brand is built over time by establishing trust. Consumers want to know your brand, trust your brand, and depend on your brand to deliver quality time and again. This involves consistency of product and experience.
• You must communicate your brand promise consistently. In your marketing materials. On your website. Across social media channels. Everything  you put out into the world should accurately reflect your brand.
• Your employees have to buy into the need for consistency. In their interaction with customers, in the service they provide on your behalf, they need to be looped into your branding so that they are also consistently reflecting the core values of your company in all that they do.
• Your marketing program requires consistent attention. Social media posting should happen at consistent intervals, on brand and on message. Consistent blogging is key. Your customers want to see you, hear you, and recognize you on a regular basis.

Are you being consistent in your marketing? Are you consistently applying your brand promise, day in and day out, at every touch point? If you’re not sure, give us a call. We are passionate about branding here on the Porch and we will set you straight!