Want to Create a Memorable Brand? Focus on the Integrity of your Brand Elements

Want to Create a Memorable Brand? Focus on the Integrity of your Brand Elements

If you want to create a memorable brand for your company and your products or services then the integrity of your brand and your brand elements is critical.

What comes to mind when you think of the word integrity? For most, the words moral code may pop up. Having integrity as part of your business ethic is important. There's also another way to think of integrity: togetherness.

Put another way integrity is it is all about cohesion, unity and solidarity. To stand out and be heard, seen and experienced your branding elements (i.e. your brand voice, look and stand) need to be tied together in a way that works and is recognizable. For example, your brand needs consistency in your fonts, logo designs, color numbers and style.

There are a couple of reasons why you want to focus on the integrity of your brand and brand elements.

Reason #1 – Easy Recognition

If you want to be quickly forgotten, then don’t make your branding easily recognized. Your goal should be to make clients and prospects remember you and your business effortlessly. Repetition and recognition of colors and visuals will make them get familiar with and grow comfortable with you. This builds the “know, like and trust” factor between you and prospects.

Reason #2 – Your Branding Tells a Story

One way to think of your branding is that of a story teller. It shows the world the bigger picture of your story in a specific way. You could compare it to a book with chapters that have themes, each building upon the other. If you take a chapter by itself, it still conveys the essence and theme of the entire book.

Branding does the same thing. Each marketing piece is a representation of your story. It should convey who you are and what you do. They can be tweaked, but ultimately they should still be cohesive and unify your core message.

This is where your brand touch points come into play. Your site, all your business cards, personal branding and such are those opportunities to share your message and connect at a deeper level with your audience.

Now, being consistent doesn’t mean that you have to be boring. It does mean that if you don’t connect with your audience and you leave any opportunity for confusion, most people will stop in their tracks and stop the buying process.

Your Turn – Assess Your Brand Integrity

Take a few moments to look at your branding elements: web site, logo, business cards, etc. Pay attention to the colors, fonts used and messaging. Are you being consistent throughout each item?

When you update your images and profile pictures on social media, does it stay in unity with your brand?

If you discover that something is not in line with your brand, set a deadline and get it done!

Don’t get overwhelmed by trying to do it all at once. Pick one thing at a time, fix it and soon you’ll find your brand’s integrity will shine through.

Bonus Tip: After you have defined your touch points, gather them together and create a brand standards document. We call it a Brand DNA Guide Book. You can see an example in the image below.

Once you’ve defined your elements, share them with your team! This adds to your consistency.

Where are you starting in your process to bring integrity to your brand elements?