When you spend thousands of dollars to develop and strengthen a brand that you believe in, the last thing you want to do is dilute the power of that branding with inconsistencies. Yet as time goes on, we continue to see businesses make this mistake. They are engaged, often unintentionally, in detracting from their brand by failing to stay consistent.
Here are 4 ways you may be creating inconsistency with your brand right now:
1. Social Media
One of the more common mistakes that we see companies make is jumping into social media when they’re not quite prepared or before they have an idea of how it will tie in with the rest of their business. They either get antsy that they are missing out on something and need to hurry to catch up, or they don’t take social media as seriously as they should. Either way, they may be hurting their brand because they fail to keep their social media channels consistent with the rest of their marketing collateral.
2. Trying to Save A Buck by Using Old Stuff
Once you make a decision to change your branding, even in the slightest way, make sure that the change happens across the board. When you try to use older, outdated marketing materials that don’t reflect the most recent changes you’ve made in your company, you are creating an inconsistency that could lead to the loss of potential business. Is it cheaper to just keep using the old letterhead or brochures until they run out? Maybe. Then again, if you factor in the amount of business you stand to lose from inconsistent branding, maybe not.
3. Leaving Printed Material Out of the Equation
There’s more to be seen than just what’s online. To truly make your brand recognizable, follow up your online marketing with printed material that works to validate and support your online messaging. An email or a website with your branding on it is great, but a mailer with that same branding helps to really establish you as a household name. When your potential clients and customers are only seeing one aspect of your marketing, they may not catch the full vision.
4. Business Cards Without Website and Email Addresses
If your in a business where you are making several person to person contacts a day where business cards are exchanged, be sure that your business card has a link to your website and your email address. First be sure that what they will see on the website is consistent with what they see on the business card. They should be able to instantly tell they are at the right place – not just because of the logo or tagline, but also the communication that should be consistent all around.
If you find that there are elements of your marketing that may be creating inconsistencies in your brand, call Printing Solutions and let us go to work to help you fix the problem. We offer many different services and products that can help you feel confident in your branding. 480-596-6300.