Why is brand consistency important? (Copy)

If you are wondering “what even is a brand?” you are not alone.

We tell people all the time that your brand is NOT just your logo it’s so much more than that.

It’s your tone of voice in your email marketing, it’s your “aesthetic” on Instagram.

It’s what people perceive about your business.

The way I like to look at is branding is supposed to bridge the gap between you and your ideal customer, kind of like a matchmaker.

Whoever your ideal customer is, your brand should speak directly to that target market and tell them exactly what they're trying to hear.

Our other favorite analogy at hinge about branding is it's like an outfit.

That is my aim for all of our clients -- to walk around with that sense of confidence that a great outfit can give you.

Still not convinced on the importance of branding?

It takes 5 to 7 (1) impressions for people to remember your brand, and even passed that it takes 12 to 14 impressions for them to actually take action with your brand. (2)

If you think about it this way, here’s a scenario: people see your ad on Facebook. They come across a story on your Instagram. Then they may see your website.

To put it in perspective, they have to do that five to seven times before they remember your brand, and then they have to do the 12 - 14 times before they take action on your brand. Kind of crazy right?

If you need further convincing, this one might be my favorite of all the statistics:

Brand consistency across all platforms can increase your revenue by up to 33% (3)

Which means, you don't have the snazziest logo or the most trendy colors.

The brands that do a great job have a consistency from medium to medium.

So your socials, your website, your business card, your letterhead, your lead pages, your landing page…..and on and on and on.

Having that consistency adds a huge layer of legitimacy to your brand and I think that’s something that consumers trust and why that statistic is as high as it is.

So this one is pretty straightforward.

50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) are enough for people to form an opinion about a logo and/or website. (4)

This is so important, and I think something a lot of companies don't realize is that when you are pushing people from your social media or your email marketing or your TV commercial or whatever outreach and marketing you are doing, when you push people to your website or landing page you have only a handful of seconds to capture their attention. 

So back to the consistency piece, if you’re leading people to a landing page that doesn't match an ad that you've been running on social media, no matter how successful the ad is if when they land where they're supposed to take action and buy your product or service and that website isn’t clear and consistent with your brand and messaging, a lot of times they’re gone!

This next one is more internally focused for companies and was really surprising to me.

Brands with poor company branding pay 10% higher salaries. (5)

This is wild to me, but makes total sense. After I read through the article where I found this statistic, it said companies with poor branding have a harder time attracting and retaining top talent, so without realizing it, they have to offer higher salaries than their better-branded competitors. 

Finally, authenticity is key.

86% of consumers say that authenticity is key when deciding between brands. (3)

So this is also a super hopeful statistic for me because everyone has authenticity.

You are who you are.

No one our there is exactly like you or your company.

What’s hopeful about that to me is that consumers aren’t thinking , “oh which one of these companies has the slickest logo?” They’re trying to figure out which of these companies is most like me? Has the same value as me, etc?

So in that way, it really evens the playing field! 

Sources:

1 - https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/branding-statistics/#gref

2 - https://mission-minded.com/when-it-comes-to-your-message-how-much-is-enough/

3 - https://www.oberlo.com/blog/branding-statistics#:~:text=Brand%20consistency%20is%20making%20sure,percent%20(Lucidpress%2C2019).

4 - https://www.sweor.com/firstimpressions

5 - https://hbr.org/2016/03/a-bad-reputation-costs-company-at-least-10-more-per-hire