I have found that brand consistency is an area of struggle for many small businesses. Keeping the look, feel and message the same across customer touch points is not inherently difficult, however it can be almost so obvious that it is often just overlooked. This is unfortunate since the opportunity your brand has in front of your target buying audience is fleeting…and expensive! It is crucial that every time you impact your customer, it be as polished and professional as possible.
Should an entrepreneur or start-up decide to self-manage their marketing materials, here are a few tips to help maintain brand coherence. Of course, there are many other details and nuances within advertisements and marketing materials, but this is a good foundation.
- Once your logo has been formalized, make sure you have it multiple formats. 4/color, black and white, .JPG and .EPS to start.
- Know what your brand colors are in CMYK, Pantone/PMS and as Hexadecimal RGB (web safe).
- Stick to two or three primary fonts, and limit yourself to as few font sizes as possible.
- Develop and use a tagline. It may also be helpful to create a standard “boilerplate” for the company and each product or service line.
- Build a library of product photos and stock images that you have purchased or that you have taken yourself. If possible, have the most often used images in optimal resolutions for both print and web.
When you compile the above details of your brand you will have a go-to reference for your company and will ensure that you are always putting the same foot forward. Your customers will recognize you that much quicker, and you will save time, as you don’t “reinvent the wheel” creating each new marketing piece from scratch.