Something that I talk about so often (maybe even too often 😉) is consistency.
Wondering why I’m still talking about it, even after admitting that I talk about it too much?
As a quick exercise, I’m going to give you a couple of colors and I want you to tell me what brands you think of right off the top of your head.
Ready?
Red and yellow arches.
Red and white circles.
Yellow and blue and meatballs.
Did you think of McDonald’s, Target, and Ikea?
That’s the power of consistent branding. 😉
Branding and Buzzwords
Your brand is what people think and say about your business.
I know that consistency is a big buzzword right now, and I understand that buzzwords can sometimes get a bad reputation. Our eyes start to glaze over when we’re hearing the word for what feels like the thousandth time, we start to tune out, and suddenly we’re daydreaming about something completely different.
But I also understand the value in showing consistency within your visual brand, and that’s what we are here to talk about today.
Now, I don’t expect anyone to be consistent with their branding 100% of the time.
Confession- I’m not even consistent with it 100% of the time, and I’m a brand designer!
However there is always something to be said about improving yourself, especially when it’s something that you can improve that will immediately up-level your business.
I’m here to equip you with 5 tips that you can begin utilizing today in order to make your visual brand more consistent!
Here they are, in no particular order.
Use a Universal Headshot
I am a huge proponent of showing up as yourself in your own business. Personal branding is so important to me!
Something that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with is hiding behind their brand elements. They try to hide behind their logos and color palettes and graphics and fonts, and they are deathly afraid to show up as themselves.
I cannot even begin tell you how many people I follow on Instagram whose content I love, but I have no idea what they look like. It’s kind of weird… and it definitely keeps me from being able to fully trust them.
Having a universal head shot to show what you look like and show your face everywhere that you show up is going to go a very long way in making sure that your audience recognizes you not only for your brand but they also recognize your face. This is going to help them going to help them begin to know you and like you and trust you, which as we all know is essential in building a successful business.
What if I can’t afford a professional headshot? Girl, same. I’m here to tell you that the headshot I use across my web presence was shot with my own camera propped up against the dresser in my bedroom while I crouched on the floor to get a good angle. With the magic of a little bit of lightening and brightening, I don’t think you can even tell!
What if I don’t want to post pictures of myself on the internet? While I don’t relate to this one personally, I can definitely understand! My advice for this is to invest in a professional digital portrait that either has no facial features or one that has very unspecific facial features. The faceless portrait is a big trend right now and it should be fairly easy to find an artist on Etsy to design one for you.
Use a Consistent Color Palette
When you use the same 4-6 colors in all of your marketing materials, your audience begins to associate those colors with you and your business.
If they are scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest or Facebook and see a graphic using your brand’s colors that you use all the time, they’re going to immediately recognize it as your content. And, if your content is something that they’re interested in, they’re going to stop their scroll and they’re going to look at it and engage with it.
Having a consistent color palette is instrumental in helping your audience learn to recognize your content when they see it, so that they can begin to engage with it.
Choose 2-3 Fonts
Using the same 2-3 fonts consistently within your marketing is really similar to using a consistent color palette!
When you pair consistent colors with consistent font usage, your audience is going to begin to associate those things with you and your business.
Using consistent fonts is something that I really recommend especially when it comes to your social media presence, because you want your audience to be able to stop their scroll and take notice when they happen across a graphic or post that you have created.
Have Logo Variations
I have talked about this before in blog posts and in my Facebook group, but it’s worth saying again: your logo should have several different variations that you can use in different contexts so that it can fit anywhere, regardless of the shape or the size of the available space.
For example, for my own brand, I created three logo variations: I have my primary logo, which is in a square shape; my secondary logo, which is more of a horizontal design; and then I have my logo icon, which is a very simple circle using my two initials (RF) and then it has designs down at the bottom. With those three variations I can put my logo anywhere and know that it will fit without needing to be stretched or altered in any way.
Know Your Brand Elements
Knowing your brand elements is something that I don’t talk about terribly often… so what does this mean, exactly?
When I talk about brand elements, I mean things that you use consistently that aren’t necessarily a part of your brand or web design.
For example, within my own branding, I have my 3 logo variations, my color palette, and my fonts, but I also know that whenever I’m creating graphics in Canva, I like to use gold elements and geometric shapes.
If you go to my social media pages or look around on my website, you’re going to see a lot of gold and a lot of shapes, specifically circles and rectangles.
You won’t find these elements on my branding board, but they are things that show up consistently within my social media presence and my website.
Next Steps
If you are ready to get more consistent with your visual branding, I highly encourage you to head on over and join my Facebook group called Building a Brand, Not Just a Business for tips and tricks and weekly trainings surrounding branding!
If you feel ready to take the next steps and invest in professional branding, I would love for you to book a FREE discovery call so we can chat about the direction your business and brand are heading in! I have several packages in multiple different price points that range from semi-custom to fully custom branding.
rebeccafletcherdesigns.com 