What Does It Mean to Have Message Consistency?

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is a lack of consistency in their messaging. Unfortunately, changing your mind about what messages you send on behalf of your business makes it nearly impossible for your prospects to actually understand what you do. 

What about your company? Do you have message consistency across all channels, all the time? With an exploding number of sales and marketing channels, it’s really challenging. In this post, we’ll explain what exactly is the message consistency of your brand, give you some proven ways to improve it, and rise above the chaotic noise of your competitors.

What Is Message Consistency?

It’s rather common to confuse consistency with repetition. These are not the same things, but they are related.

Consistency is about ensuring that your communication components stay aligned with your key idea or message regardless of the channels you have chosen. Repetition is about delivering your message – again and again. Your audience can get tired quickly.

Brand consistency is the practice of sending messages coordinated with the core brand values in the same tone, including the brand logo in a similar way, and the same colors throughout all brand visuals. 

Along with the visual elements of a brand, there are three crucial areas where brands must be consistent to drive customer loyalty:

• Customer Experience: with a consistent quality customer experience you will boost trust and confidence in your company.
• Values: showing your values will support your words with actions.
• Brand Identity Elements: using the visual brand components will make your brand recognizable and help you set yourself apart from the competition.

Benefits of Brand Consistency

The most evident benefit of having message consistency is brand recognition. The goal of every business should be to become immediately recognizable by its target audience. This not only helps build a strong association between your core messages and values and the visual elements of your brand, but it also helps stand out from the competition. It gets you a particularly valuable perk in highly competitive markets. Other advantages of brand consistency are:

Familiarity

Consistency also creates awareness of your company. When people see your logo, website, or marketing promo, they can immediately recognize them as belonging to your company. This familiarity helps the remember you and your brand.

Trust 

When you are consistent with your messages, it builds trust with your customers. They know what to expect from you, and they can be confident that you are a reliable source of information and products.

Loyalty of customers

Customers are more likely to stay with brands that are easier to identify in the long term. It’s only possible with a strategy based on consistency.

The consumer wants quality. When they find it in a brand, they need to have the assurance that they will always find it.

In this sense, consistency-focused branding can generate this kind of acknowledgment in the long term, bringing more security to the consumer. The main results are loyalty and, in some cases, enhanced authority.

Authority

Authority is an important accomplishment that companies can get if they do a good job when consistently boosting their image. Some brands have developed their image so well that the authority has connected the brand’s name to a product.

Brand differentiation

Message consistency is also a key differentiation factor. In our competitive world with a big range of similar offerings, brand consistency often means the difference between profit or losing it to competitors. Communicate with consistency, again and again, and that will set your company apart from the rest.

How to Build Brand Consistency?

The work to build message consistency relies on strategic efforts that put the company in the spotlight. This is done by aligning concepts and values with campaigns and marketing actions.

Following, find out what are the basic steps to achieve the expected results.

Have a clear marketing plan

Your marketing plan should represent your goals, describe your target audience, and marketing strategies. This will help you to stay on track and make sure that your marketing and PR activities are consistent.

Use the same branding

Brand guidelines are crucial to ensure that the brand always follows its style and other rules in its communication strategies. Every department in your company should have access to these guidelines. According to it, employees have to create marketing copywriting and visuals, brief outside agencies and freelancers, and communicate with clients. Your brand guidelines should be used as a standard document for new and existing employees.

Don’t forget internal branding

The consistency of your brand doesn’t only include messages to customers. Your brand voice should also resonate with those who work in your company. With a brand-centric culture, employees can invest in the brand. Make sure to include ensuring onboarding and training programs that give an understanding of what brand values you have, and branded items (mugs, hoodies, etc.) encouraging employees to advocate for the brand.

Positioning aligned with values

Positioning aligned with values and identity is crucial. It allows the brand’s audience to recognize its authenticity more in each company.

As logical as it is to maintain this consistency, it’s undeniable how challenging it can be. It demands persistent efforts, always respecting the image the company wants to build. With this in mind, and with some practice and understanding, it’s possible to build and maintain a consistent long-term image in the market.

Meet the expectations of the public

Your audience has expectations regarding how a company carries out its branding. It’s about how that business has built its image over the years.

For example, it might be strange if Netflix suddenly changes its good-humored promo that brings it closer to its audience to the more formal ones. Such changes could lead to a lack of identification and weaken engagement.

Create a positive image

Brand consistency also depends on a positive approach to topics, coherent positioning, and a perfect image.

The public expects brands to do a quality job constantly and stay away from controversial issues or events that cause negative impressions. Remember, staying away from that is also part of the job!

Stick to platforms and channels that fit with your brand identity

With new marketing trends and emerging marketing platforms, it’s easy to get dispersed. Not every new platform is right for your company. Before becoming following the crowd and trying a new platform, take the time to estimate its audience and determine if it makes sense for your brand.

Track your results

It is crucial to track your results so that you can see what is working and what is not. This will help you to optimize your marketing strategy as needed.

How Does Message Consistency Work in Practice?

As for brand consistency, some companies have been very effective. Let’s take a look at some examples below. 

Adidas: Impossible is Nothing

Adidas focuses its social media posts around the slogan “Impossible is Nothing”. Its products and promo share inspiring stories of sporting and sustainability to motivate its customers on their sporting and ecological journey. It also makes consistent use of #ImpossibleIsNothing and other related hashtags to carry on its main brand message.

Starbucks

Starbucks uses consistent color schemes, store layouts, and customer service experience to differentiate itself from other coffee shops. While many of Starbucks’ products are similar to other market participants, the special atmosphere sets Starbucks apart from the competition.

Nike

Nike’s efforts to maintain brand consistency are amazing. You can see the Nike brand logo on every single piece of products that you can buy from them, which is why the association is deep inside of our brains now.

Wrapping Up: Message Consistency

Message consistency is a challenge for every brand, however, given the variety of channels and formats available today. By following the tips in this article, you can improve your consistency and enhance your marketing results.

If you need help creating and driving a consistent message or determining the right media to reach target audiences, we can help you take your messaging and brand to new heights of success. Contact us today.

Read more:

• Message Development – Guide to Achieving Maximum Results in Brand Messaging
• What is Brand Storytelling & Why Your Business Needs It
• Top 10 Tools for Personal Branding You Need to Know About