What’s your most powerful marketing tool? It’s not social media. It’s not your website. It’s not even email marketing – none of these things. Your most powerful marketing tool is brand consistency across everything you do, and everywhere your clients see you. That means the vibe you give off on your social media channels should reflect what clients see when they visit your website or read marketing emails.
Why is brand consistency so powerful? It would be better first to ask this question. Why would you want to work with a firm communicating mixed messages or unclear discourse in different media? You wouldn’t. Deep down, your firm’s voice and image must be consistent. Instinctively, this makes sense. Let's dig down a little further with reasons why a consistent brand is so effective:
- Brand repetition is a mental reminder. As you know, clients only instantaneously make decisions to award work. They need time to do their due diligence and evaluate all their options before making a final decision. Knowing clients will be going through this evaluation process, it is essential to stay in front of them by providing a branded message that reinforces your image and message. The idea is to make selecting your firm easy for prospective clients.
- Your brand evokes your firm's personality. Your firm is like no other. It is comprised of unique technical talent or experts in your field who make up the greater whole. This greater whole is an identity or personality portrayed through images or messages. If the personality seems inconsistent in message or image, audiences are led to believe the firm is broken from the inside.
- Your brand differentiates your firm from the competition. Who wants to be confused with the competition? I know you don’t. Ensuring your brand is consistent and robust allows you to differentiate your firm’s characteristics from the competition effectively.
Here’s how to pull off brand consistency across every aspect of your professional services firm.
- Brand colors: Netflix is red. Facebook is blue. They’ve chosen their colors, and your firm should, too. Picking a color scheme isn’t as easy as choosing your favorite color and moving forward from there. Think about the type of audience your firm reaches and select an appropriate color for that audience.
- Voice: Establish a persona and stick with it. If you will be colloquial and down-to-earth in your Facebook and Twitter posts, it is also good practice to sound that way in your marketing emails. Like speaking to a good friend, your clients should know what kind of vocabulary to expect when interacting with you.
- Visual brand language: Decide more about your firm’s visuals by deciding on a logo and the lettering you’ll use to convey your voice across all marketing materials. Pick visuals and fonts that are clean and easy to understand. Over time, your logo and visuals may change. Think about the visual brand language Google has established by changing the logo’s letters in honor of people or special events that internet users can appreciate every time they conduct a Google search. It’s that kind of genius you want on your firm’s side.
The time to focus on brand consistency is when you’re just getting your professional services firm. It’s not like you can’t ever go back and rebrand your firm years from now, but creating a solid self-image from the get-go is your best bet for developing business from day one.
For more useful tips on creating brand consistency, contact Colosi Marketing today.
Image via dollarphotoclub.com
