How to Spot-Check and Refine Your Brand’s Marketing Identity

Cohesion and unity are essential in our hypercompetitive business landscape.

By creating a unified marketing line, you can increase your brand’s visibility, ensure consumer loyalty, and keep your product visibility high. Because there are many places for consumers to learn about your brand, mapping out your brand identity is important to ensure a sense of familiarity for consumers.

In fact, a common problem for many businesses is their failure to invest in building consistency across their brand. Even the biggest brands in the world can fall into this trap, a problem that can harm the brand image and impact revenue.

One common mistake companies make when developing brand identity consistency is focusing on a unique idea before validating whether it resonates with ideal clients. For young brands, it’s easy to let enthusiasm for a flashy pitch overwhelm a cohesive brand identity. You can develop an innovative and unique marketing scheme, but you’re wasting money and time if your demographic doesn’t connect with it.

While unfortunate branding issues might seem like a small problem, the fact is that a misaligned marketing campaign can cause real damage. Consider the famous instance of PepsiCo’s Kendall Jenner ad from 2017, which received immediate backlash due to its insensitivity during Black Lives Matter protests. While PepsiCo pulled the ad and apologized, it still faced a drop in stocks and its popularity among Millennial consumers.

Companies must be aware of the subjectivity of brand identity vs. brand image and how a poorly executed marketing campaign can negatively affect consumer perception. And for young companies still engaged in the hard work of building a consistent brand identity, there are numerous factors in today’s media environment that complicate the task.

There are many marketing channels and ways a consumer can interact with a brand. The benefit here is that different audiences are found on different marketing channels, so you can tailor your messaging to be more personalized to your audience. For example, an older, more established audience might favor traditional TV networks and Facebook. At the same time, young demographics such as Gen Z are better reached via TikTok and Snapchat. However, while your brand might be able to speak to different audiences on different platforms, there needs to be consistency in your identity and messaging.

Creating a cohesive brand identity is attainable for the conscientious business. Here are five strategies to monitor and refine your brand’s marketing identity:

1. Create consistent brand guidelines.

One of the best ways to embody a consistent branding message is by establishing brand guidelines. Identify the key elements that contribute to your brand’s consistency, such as the brand voice, tone, visual identity, messaging, and overall brand personality. Then, ensure these guidelines stay updated regularly. These should live in a place accessible by your entire company so that anyone creating content or marketing collateral can ensure your brand messaging, tone, and personality are aligned.

2. Invest in market research.

The closer you can get to the customer when testing ideas, the better. Similarly, don’t wait for the internet to decide whether you’ve hit the mark with your new messaging. Test with your specific demographic and a wider audience to gauge public reaction.

3. Build relationships with the media.

Creating strong relationships with the media can help foster positive communication channels, allowing for smoother public relations if there’s an issue. Additionally, building authentic relationships with influencers and customers is essential, as they’re the people reviewing your product or service. You can avoid unnecessary backlash by having an open dialogue and feedback loop.

4. Audit your marketing channels regularly.

Start by compiling a list of all your marketing channels. Then, evaluate each channel for consistency by reviewing the content and messaging against the brand’s checklist. From there, use analytics tools to track the performance of each channel, including engagement, traffic, and conversion rates. Evaluate how each channel is performing in relation to your overall marketing goals.

5. Understand your customer base.

Compare the people buying your product or service to your ideal customer profile. If you see that your ideal customer isn’t buying but others are, this presents an opportunity to dig in and figure out what your brand messaging might be missing. Or even better, you may find that the new audience engaging with you is a better fit for your product and a more profitable route in the long term.

When developing a strong business destined to stand the test of time, creating a cohesive brand identity is crucial. Brands that develop a consistent, thoughtful brand identity can distinguish themselves from the competition — and overtake them.