Maintaining your brand’s integrity
When it comes to creating and maintaining a strong brand, integrity is key. Your customers need to believe that your message is authentic, that your products have value, and that you stand behind everything you put your name on. When there’s a break in trust, it can be difficult to recover. That’s why it’s so important to create a unified perception of your brand from the outset and ensure its ongoing governance.
Watching your tone
A brand’s voice should express its purpose and values in the way that it speaks to audiences, not purely by reiterating the same words time after time, but rather by using a unified and recognisable tone of voice that audiences resonate with and ultimately trust.
A consistent tone of voice is essential in galvanising the perception of who a brand is and what it stands for. Whether that tone of voice is casual and upbeat or formal and authoritarian, its entire messaging platform should be unmistakably recognised by the same characteristics.
Audience’s are more sophisticated than ever and can easily disassociate with brand language that communicates incoherently and inconsistently. This is particularly crucial when they are used to experiencing messaging that reflects their personal alignment with a brand, all of a sudden it no longer represents their values and beliefs and subsequently they relinquish their allegiance.
Visual identity crisis
Brand image is the most upfront aspect of the overall brand expression. Audiences will instantly recognise the form of your logo, the cut of your typography, the style of your photography and the hues within your colour palette. The visual identity becomes a stylistic expression of your brand’s narrative, helping to project a sense of personality, mirroring that of your audience, and in much the same way as we get used to how people in our lives present themselves when there’s a change in their usual image, it raises questions about who they really are.
A mercurial brand image creates confusion. If your logo changes colour arbitrarily then its recognition weakens. If your brand imagery jumps between illustration, monotone photography and computer generated graphics then your audience perception becomes muddled. Worst of all is the subtext of inconsistency in brand image. Brands that demonstrate inconsistency essentially tell audiences that they don’t have any sense of self, and why should people believe in a company that doesn’t really know what it’s about.
Best foot forward
To maintain your brand’s integrity you must avoid exposing weaknesses that may open the floodgates to brand erosion. Like building a house, it’s all about establishing a robust foundation. The initial groundwork in creating a brand will help ensure that its integrity is maintained in the long term. An intelligent brand strategy that establishes the consciousness of the brand in terms of its purpose, personality, values and behaviour will help set the scene for everything that follows. If a brand has a clear understanding of itself, then its voice and image will evolve naturally and authentically.
Creative with purpose
Investing time and effort in crafting an authentic brand voice and image will pay dividends in establishing a brand identity that is impermeable and creates a stronger connection with the target audience. It’s all about creating with purpose and ensuring that there’s rhyme and reason for the creative choices that are made. If a brand’s colour palette is defined by its values or personality then they must remain steadfast in all expressions. The creative expression should always be backed by solid intelligence directed by the foundation established in the brand strategy, embracing this simple approach will help not only initial expressions of brand communications but all subsequent activities seeking to expand recognition in the long term.
Set standards
Even with a solid strategic foundation and smart identity system things can still go awry. There will inevitably be times when you outsource to third party suppliers who aren’t as familiar with your brand standards. In the wrong hands logo colours can be radically changed, type faces replaced with inappropriate fonts and messaging delivered in the most indifferent tone. This is where the rule book can be used to prohibit a multitude of sins. A good brand guidelines document will help mitigate any misuse and educate your partners about the inner workings of your brand. It doesn’t need to be a 4kg ‘War and Peace’ style manual and shouldn’t overwhelm the user with intricate science, it simply needs to articulate and illustrate the essential standards that must be maintained to protect your brand’s integrity.
Establish governance
In addition to brand guidelines it is advisable to give individuals either in your organisation or an agency partner, the role of brand guardian. These trusted individuals will be fluent in the language of your brand (both written and visual) and adept at ensuring its expression is consistently delivered across all media channels. Brand guardians play a pivotal role in not only maintaining integrity but also in ensuring its evolution is considered and in alignment with the fundamental brand strategy.
Protecting your brand’s integrity, means protecting your relationship with your audience. And in a world saturated by brand communications, the integrity of your audience relationships should be paramount.
