Why consistency is your most profitable brand asset
It’s 2024, we are officially in recession, and right now your brand has never been more important to your business. It builds you lasting relationships and keeps you ahead of the competition.
Marketing may promise many things but, very simply, the biggest value your brand bestows is customer trust; this doesn’t just mean profit, but better margins. Trust is built through consistency, communicating the same values and the same promise across every customer touchpoint, every day. Of course, your job is then delivering on that promise, but the customer demand has to be there first. If you develop a consistent brand personality people will rely on you; if they can rely on you they will become loyal.
So you can see the seemingly simple concept of consistency and the value it ladders up to, both in the short- and long-term, is immense. To further help us understand the bottom line benefits of consistency, consider what it offers – predictability; this is the building block on which success is based. Predictability means people know what to expect from your brand because it turns up at the same places, saying the same things, wearing the same clothes, and is ready to solve the same issues, 24/7. Predictability and long-term success are not only happy bedfellows but are also in every successful business thesis ever written.
Consider the opposite of predictability – uncertainty; the undisputed enemy of business and consumer confidence. It seeds doubt and fear, and delays decisions; ultimately, it makes customers disappear. This is because in psychology terms, uncertainty causes human beings anxiety. We become stressed and then hesitant, we cannot make decisions. We want people to feel safe and they feel this when they have consistency; it is the bedrock of how we live productive lives.
Making consistency work for you
As discussed in the context of branding, consistency starts with the delivery of your brand values and your promise. However, the business thinking starts much earlier than this. It starts with your business goals, your ambition, your five year plan. You need to get the whole organisation fervently believing what you are going to consistently promise so they can also live it. They need to be evangelical that there is one version of the truth and that it will work. If you all believe, and it is also going to make a profit, consistency makes so much sense. Simple tools can help people both believe and sing the same song; a brand manifesto, great internal communications and brand guidelines, are all part of the kit for success. Don’t just tell it, sell it.
Consistency in where you show up
It’s not just how you look, sound and what you promise that matters, it’s also where you show up. People are wired to rely on you showing up at the same time and in the same places. They may not have even used your products and services yet, but consistency builds that bridge by increasing consumer knowledge via content and branding.
Media plays a big part in this; choose a specific media and own it, have an ‘always on’ presence, get people to see you in the same place to build familiarity. These tactics will help ensure your brand comes easily to mind with consumers, which is crucial if they are to consider your brand when they are in the market for your product or service. If you have a bigger budget, not only can you afford to reach more people more often, but you can also choose bigger, more impactful and emotive media formats: double decker bus wraps, TV (yes, it is still around & watched), or drive time radio. People’s recall of you being on big media is trust and legitimacy through association with the more premium media formats.
In summary, in order for people to trust you they must be aware of you and remember the message. This takes time, from awareness to committing you to memory, then trusting you, considering you and finally choosing you. The brain needs time and (you guessed it) consistency. Getting customers in your buying funnel is one thing, keeping them there and converting them is where the money resides.
Consistency has to be built on the solid foundations of authenticity, sustainable promises, real emotion and compelling storytelling. The first person who really needs to believe is you – then your brand becomes irresistible to demand and loyalty.