Tell us—if you saw the tagline “I’m lovin’ it,” would you recognize the brand? Of course, yes! Not just you, but many people would instantly associate it with McDonald’s.
McDonald’s mastery of fries and burgers has cemented its status as one of the world’s most recognizable brands, thanks to brand consistency.
People recognize the brand due to its consistent use of visual elements—the iconic golden arches, catchy jingles, and instantly recognizable red-and-yellow color palette.
However, achieving this level of cohesion can feel overwhelming, especially when juggling websites, social media, packaging, and more.
Worry not, though. There are a few practices that can help you create a brand that is as cohesive and recognizable as the big players. Let’s check them out.
#1 Develop a Brand Style Guide
A brand style guide, according to Oswego County Business Magazine, is a set of policies about visuals and languages for official internal and external communications. That is, it’s a set of rules that regulate how a brand’s image is presented.
It outlines your logo usage, color palette, fonts, tone of voice, and image style. This keeps everyone on the same page. Whether it’s you, a new hire, or an outside agency creating content, your brand will feel cohesive.
The easiest way to create these guidelines is through the use of a digital asset management system.
DAM, or digital asset management, is a solution that allows businesses to organize and store digital assets, including logos and brand fonts and colors, in a centralized location. One of the greatest benefits of DAM is that you can share the brand guidelines across the entire company.
Having brand guidelines in one easy-to-access location, Lingo explains, helps eliminate confusion and encourages consistency within a company.
#2 Align Your Visuals Across Platforms
Your visuals—graphics, photography, layouts, and iconography—are important for creating a cohesive brand identity. They need to stay consistent across platforms so that your audience recognizes your brand instantly, no matter where they encounter it.
Humans prefer visuals. They are easier to digest as well as remember, states Search Engine Journal. Hence, your Instagram feed, website, and even printed flyers should convey the same visual story.
Your logo, for instance, should be consistent in size, placement, and color everywhere. If it looks one way on social media and different on your website, the audience will be confused. They might even lose trust in your brand. This will lead to a loss in revenue.
And if you’re designing new materials, resist the urge to try something totally different. Experimentation is great, but it should still align with your core branding.
#3 Use Templates to Streamline the Creative Process
Templates have emerged as a powerful tool for brand consistency.
The Drum reports that there has been a 42% increase in template usage in the past year. Brands use the same template at least 30 times, on average. Using one template multiple times not only promotes brand consistency, but also reduces manual work for design teams.
Make sure to have templates for social media posts, email newsletters, presentations, and even website pages. That way, your team won’t have to design a template anytime you decide to take something new live. When the design and structure are already set, your team can focus on the content instead of stressing over fonts and layouts.
Your templates should follow your brand’s guidelines, but there should be enough room for customization. That way, they won’t feel cookie-cutter. Tools like Canva are ideal for this task because you can create templates easily and share and edit them.
#4 Train Your Team
Even the best style guide won’t save you if your team doesn’t understand it.
Communicate your brand’s personality, values, and overall identity to your team clearly. Whether it’s customer service reps, salespeople, or your social media manager, everyone needs to be in the loop.
Hold workshops or training sessions to explain your brand guidelines. Better yet, show them examples of what’s on-brand versus what’s not. The clearer the picture, the better.
Don’t make it a one-off event. Conduct these sessions or workshops regularly. You can create a quick video and share it with your team, so they can rewatch it and align their efforts accordingly.
Take Elements Financial, for example. This $2.3 billion Indiana-based credit union trained employees on how to use branded content. The session also highlighted how consistent branding would pay off for each individual.
The result? The transition from solely allowing marketing-posted material to letting employees develop their own voice resulted in hundreds of social postings and thousands of impressions.
Branding consistency doesn’t mean rigidity. Rather, it means creating a cohesive experience that builds trust and recognition. So, take the time to implement these best practices. It might feel like a lot of effort upfront, but it will pay off big time in the long run.
