We hear it all the time in life, “consistency is key.” It’s true for trying to learn a new hobby or healthy habit, and it’s also true for marketing! The more consistent your marketing, the more memorable you will be to your audience. In order to create this synergy across your marketing efforts, there are a few factors you have to consider, so let’s break it down.
Your Message
Your overall marketing message should be the driving force behind every piece of marketing communication. A marketing message is what you’re doing, why people should care, and it should reflect your mission, vision, and values.
Mission Statement: an explanation of the reason for an organization’s existence
Vision Statement: what an organization desires to achieve in the long run
Core Values: traits that represent an organization’s highest priorities, deeply held
beliefs, and core, fundamental driving forces
It’s important to keep your message consistent, so your audience understands what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Remember our lemonade stand example? Why are you selling lemonade to people? Perhaps you’re selling lemonade because you want to offer people a refreshing drink on a hot day. If that is your reason, then that should be your message. Focus on letting people know that your lemonade will refresh and cool them down, rather than focusing on price or another attribute.
By staying consistent with this message, people will come to recognize that your lemonade stand is where they should visit on a hot day. Learning is enhanced by reinforcement. Therefore, the more you repeat your message, the better your customers will learn what you’re doing. Consistency is critical for being memorable and therefore staying top of mind for consumers. Don’t worry about repeating yourself. Unlike face-to-face conversations, people need to hear a message at least seven times until it sticks.
Branding
A brand is what people associate with your business. Visual elements, such as your logo and colors, are often the first impression consumers have of your brand. Keeping your brand consistent is important because it makes you easily identifiable. Remember, learning is enhanced by reinforcement. The more people see the same logo for your lemonade stand, the better they will remember it.
When you’re developing marketing materials, especially if you’re not someone with a background in graphic design, it is easy to get lost in all the options for shapes, colors, and fonts, coined “shiny object syndrome”. This is where consistency is key. Try to stick to your brand’s core colors and logo as much as possible. This will make a connection in consumers’ minds between your colors or logo, and your business.
Channels
One great thing about marketing is there are so many channels you can use to spread your message. The downside is there are SO many channels you can use to spread your message, and it can be overwhelming!
Channel: the tools and platforms you use to communicate with your audience
The key to consistency with channels is not to waste time on what you cannot sustain. The idea here is quality over quantity! If you really like social media and know that you can keep up with posting, start there! If you don’t know how social media works and you don’t have the time to learn, focus on traditional advertising like paper ads or email marketing. It’s also important to identify where your audience is going to be and meet them there. If you’re trying to reach millennials, you won’t use newspaper advertisements. If you’re trying to reach an older generation, you’re probably not going to use TikTok. Decide what works for you and stick to it until you have the resources to expand.
Your brand persona
Your message, your visual branding, and the channels you use all culminate to create your brand persona. Your persona is what people think of when they picture your business, and it’s how it makes your audience feel. When you keep your brand elements consistent, then one element of your brand will trigger the recall of the other elements. So, when people see your lemonade stand logo, they will think about a refreshing beverage, or if they come across a lemonade stand your logo will pop into their head. The more consistent your marketing efforts are, the easier this persona is for your audience to understand and recall.