How to attract clients with brand consistency

Speak to any brand designer worth their salt and they’ll bang on about brand consistency – they’ll tell you it’s crucial.

They’ll have a heart failure if you don’t use your logo like they’ve recommended, and cry into their cappuccino if you choose a colour they haven’t sanctioned.

So what is the big deal about brand consistency, and why should YOU be bothered about it?

Putting it simply, brand consistency strengthens your brand and helps you attract and convert clients with ease, giving you a competitive edge.

Let’s explore.

We all love consistency in our lives. We crave it, especially from others.

Do you have a friend you can rely on to show up in a fabulous way?

Perhaps they’re always generous, optimistic, all ears, and true to their values. It’s great to have someone solid like that in your life, right?

Like our best friends, consistent brands are reliable and trustworthy, we can be certain how they’ll behave, and they’re unlikely to disappoint.

While we initially get to know our friend through those first cosy chats over coffee, we get to know a brand through its website or socials. We quickly come to appreciate what it stands for and what makes it different – its strengths, values, attributes and behaviours.

Then there’s the way our friend speaks, dresses and wears their hair – usually in a way that matches their personality – making it easy for us to spot them in a crowd.

A strong brand conveys its personality and style using a cohesive visual and verbal identity – a logo, fonts, colour palette and voice combine to communicate its unique qualities, cultivate connection, and ensure we instantly recognise it as we scroll.

In a nutshell, brand consistency involves communicating your uniqueness in an aligned and unchanging way – time, after time, after time – so your ideal clients quickly get to know you, recognise you and remember you – right when they need you most.

Three words – Know. Like. Trust.

That’s what brand consistency has the power to develop.

And I possibly don’t need to tell you – know, like, trust is key to attracting ideal clients and propelling them to the fourth step – buy!

Know = brand awareness

Showing up consistently in person, in print, and online decreases the time it takes for ideal clients to start recognising and remembering you.

In turn, this helps them internalise your message quicker – which, BTW, doesn’t happen until they’ve come across you AT LEAST five times.

Imagine showing up looking and sounding different every time, and you can see how that might slow things down.

 A bit like your friend having a weekly re-style and personality transplant. “Who are you, and what have you done with my bestie?”

Like = connection

Take a minute to think of a brand or business person you’ve quickly grown to like and connected with in some way recently.

Their social media content may have been one of the first things that caught your eye, followed by an interest in what they had to say – it was like they were reading your mind and understood what you were going through.

You liked and followed. You stopped mid-scroll to read their content, and then you started to leave a comment or two. You spotted them on another platform and followed them there too.

Before long, you were on their website (instantly knowing you were in the right place because the style and messaging were the same). You signed up for their beautifully branded freebie. And now, you receive their weekly emails (which you instantly recognise in your inbox) that are packed with their unique personality.

Wow! How did that happen?

The brands we come to like and connect with quickest, are those that show up consistently and authentically – drip-feeding us their core messages, delivered in an unwavering visual and verbal style.

Trust = taking action

This is the big one!

When your branding is consistent, this helps you build trust with potential clients (and existing ones too). They know what to expect, they see you as reliable and that makes them feel comfortable. The exact same feeling we get with a trustworthy friend.

Think of a brand whose socials all look different, their messaging meanders, their website is bewildering. In one breath, they sound positive and energetic; in the next, you don’t know what to make of them.

Talk about a lack of clarity, confusion and loss of credibility.

By being consistent, you stand out – for all the right reasons – and people will see you as professional, distinctive and dependable.

When people feel they KNOW, LIKE and most importantly, TRUST you, this moves their decision to do business with you beyond logic and makes it emotional – a sure-fire way to start winning clients in no time!

If it’s not – don’t panic! The good news is, it’s fixable and worth the effort.

 Here are a few telltale signs that all is not as it should be:

• Switch what you say about your offer and who it’s for every time you write a post
• Use a new version of your logo on your socials but leave it as it is on your website
• Pick a professional headshot for your LinkedIn profile pic, and one from your 2018 summer holiday for Instagram.
• Constantly choose cool new fonts and colours for your social posts in Canva

If any of these ring true, it’s time to move brand consistency up your to-do list.

Full confession… even I let my brand consistency slip from time to time, so it’s worth scheduling regular audits, to find and fix any flaws.

By making all your branding consistent wherever you show up, you can start fast-tracking know, like, trust, buy!

How to improve your brand consistency

Are you wondering where to start?

Next month, I’ll share seven simple steps to improve your brand consistency.

Make sure you don’t miss it!

Sign up for my monthly emails, and I’ll let you know when it lands.
You’ll also get my FREE Brand Clarity & Confidence Cheatsheet ⬇️