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It’s no secret that branding is one of the most essential aspects of every business. But the key, of course, is consistency. If you don’t believe us, consider this:
A consistent brand presentation can boost your revenue by 20%.
Yes, you read that right. Twenty percent! That is so much untapped revenue within your reach!
So, whether you’re a brand-new business owner or your current branding is in desperate need of some TLC, we’re sharing four ways you can create brand consistency to boost your awareness and revenue (and look really good doing it).
1. Define your brand
Before you share your brand with the world, you need to figure out what it actually is. Maybe your initial instinct is saying, “I sell XYZ, what more do I need?” And while that’s a great jumping-off point, you’re gonna have to dig a lot deeper than that. Here are some questions to ask yourself along the way:
- What is the ultimate goal of your brand/company? (This can also serve as your mission statement!)
- Who is your target audience? What are their likes, dislikes, and problems you can help solve?
- How do you want to speak to them?
- How do you want to make people feel?
- What are your company’s core values? What standards do you want to set for yourself?
Take your time to really flesh these answers out. That way, you’re building a solid foundation for your brand — one that you can build on and one that can help ground you as your business grows and evolves.
2. Create a style guide
Once you have all of the above details figured out, it’s time to bring your brand to life on (digital) paper by creating a style guide. What’s a style guide, you ask? Think of it like this: It’s the holy grail of every single brand element. For example, if someone is totally new to your brand, they should be able to read your style guide and know exactly how to create content and visuals for you.
Here are some of the most important details to include in yours:
Your brand’s voice + tone
- What your brand sounds like (Is it more fun and laid back? Is it more professional and buttoned-up?)
- Specific words to emphasize brand (and words to avoid!)
- Special nuances regarding grammar, punctuation, or spelling (e.g., Do you use the Oxford comma? Do you purposely misspell a word as part of your branding?)
- How do you refer to your business/company (i.e., Do you use first-person or third-person language?)
Pro tip: If you have trouble figuring out your brand’s personality, think of a real or fictional person(s) who would embody your brand best. If you can’t think of one, make one up!
Your logo + logo variations
The design elements of your brand are just as important as the written words. Of course, one of the most important design elements is your logo. (But don’t forget: Your brand is so much more than your logo.) In your style guide, be sure to include details like:
- Main logo
- Black + white logos
- Using your logo on dark and light backgrounds
- Whitespace
- Sizing
- Uses
- Watermarks
- Dos and Don’ts
Typography
When it comes to your brand’s typography, you should be as specific as possible. Include details like:
- Main fonts
- Supporting fonts
- Font sizes
- Font weights (like bold, regular, light)
- Gradients
- Use cases
- Website fonts (HERO images, Headlines, Body Copy, etc.)
- All caps vs. lowercase
- Rules about underlining and italics
- Dos and Don’ts
Imagery + photography
Make sure your style guide also has details about the type of imagery and photography that’s appropriate to use. In addition to visual examples, outline things like:
- Sizing
- Styling
- Themes
- Pre-sets
- Filters
- Editing
Color palette
And, of course, your brand needs to stand out with its unique color palette. Be sure to include:
- Main brand colors
- Supporting brand colors
- CMYK, Pantone, and RGB settings and HEX codes
- Patterns
- Complimentary colors
- Dos and Don’ts
Examples + inspo
Here are some of our favorite examples of brand and style guides to check out and use for inspiration!
3. Use consistent brand elements
Now that you have all your visual elements decided, you can start bringing them to life across your digital platforms. But remember: Consistency is key. So, no matter what you post — or where you post it — make sure all of your elements are the same (and, of course, aligned to your style guide). Elements like:
- Brand colors
- Voice + tone
- Fonts
- Patterns
- Icons
- Logos
- Social media handles + titles
- Bios / taglines
- And any other element that you’ll use across your entire digital ecosystem!
4. Use templates for everything
One of the best ways to ensure your brand stays consistent? Templates. By creating templates for your website, emails, social media profiles, presentations, etc., you’ll save tons of time and money while your brand stays on point.
Not to mention, any future content creation will be that much easier because you won’t have to build everything from scratch each time! Talk about a game-changer.
But, if you’re not a designer or have the creative chops to make your own templates (no shame in that!), we can save you even more time and money with Styled Stock Society templates! Whether you need templates for Instagram, Facebook, social ads, podcasts, guides, workbooks, or virtually anything else, we have a template for that.
The best part? They’re all completely customizable. In other words:
Our templates + your brand elements = Your very own branded templates.
Pro tip: All of our templates are customized through Canva to make things super easy for you. Plus, with Canva Pro, you can create an entire brand tool kit with your colors, fonts, and logos, so customizing your templates becomes that much easier!
5. BONUS: Become a Styled Stock Society member!
With a Styled Stock Society membership, you’ll not only unlock access to thousands of templates — you’ll also get perks like:
- Unlimited downloads from our stock photo library of more than 9,000 images (hello, more brand consistency!)
- Monthly social media caption guides
- Stock video clips
- Marketing toolkits
- And more bonus resources added throughout the year!
We’re serious when we say that creating (and maintaining!) a consistent brand image has never been easier.
Ready to take your brand to the next level? Join Styled Stock Society now!
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