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Why You Should Keep Your Branding Consistent Across the Customer Journey

6/16/2021 | admin

Why You Should Keep Your Branding Consistent Across the Customer Journey

The true value of a brand is not in the name or the icon but in the expectation and feeling it creates in the customer. When we hear of the “Cains Ballroom,” we know not to expect an elegant setting with Lawrence Welk conducting. We expect raw music in its true form, be it country, rock, or something loud. We know to wear jeans and boots if you got ‘em. Building a loyal customer base is essential for any business’s success. And if the Cains is your kind of place, you’re going to tell all your like-minded friends. An authentic brand means delivering on the expectations you have defined for your customer. You must consistently meet those expectations in everything you do or say - print, digital, media, customer service, even your location’s decor. It all creates the expectation your customers are going to measure your business against. Strong branding helps customers feel confident in what your business offers and solidifies the trust and loyalty you work so hard to build.

What is a customer journey?

While every business is slightly different, most customers follow a basic framework when deciding whether to make a purchase or do business with a company. The roadmap of experiences that leads them to their purchase decision is called the customer journey. In other words, the customer journey includes all the experiences someone has with your brand—from first becoming aware of your company to purchasing from you regularly to recommending you to their friends. The main stages of the customer journey are:

Awareness: Cain’s Ballroom, I think I’ve heard of that.
Discovery: My friends are saying it’s great, certainly better than that place I’ve been going to.
Purchasing decision: Hey, let’s give this place a shot.
Retention: That was great! Who’s playing there next week. Let’s go.
Advocacy: I’ve found this awesome place. You have to come with me.

Why is consistent branding important?

In general, it takes 6-8 interactions for a customer to even consider purchasing from your brand. Your message has to be consistent and easily recognized across all the customer touchpoints. Print, digital, and media must work together to define what your customer should expect. These expectations have to be met in the delivery of your product or service. Consistent branding ensures that customers aren’t confused by conflicting messaging or disappointed by unmet expectations. This is critical from the early stages of their journey, so they build more recognition and trust for your business through the satisfactory delivery of your goods and services. This helps you move them closer to a purchasing decision, and after the customer has made a purchase, consistent branding will keep them coming back because you’re a brand they know, trust, and like.

How to build consistent branding

Follow these steps to ensure your branding is consistent across every step of the customer journey.

Awareness

A customer might initially hear about your brand through an advertisement online, on TV, or in print. At every advertising touchpoint, make sure your branding is clear. Establish who you are and what you have to offer. Include your business name and logo prominently on these ads, and display a clear brand promise. Ensure your imagery and copy matches the experience you want your customers to expect. To entice the buyer, use customer-centric messaging and imagery that aligns with your brand’s voice and style, its promise.

Discovery

Potential customers will likely research your company online to learn more once they’ve heard about you and before committing. You’ll want to maintain a consistent design—including color palette, an eye-friendly font set, short phrases that can be easily read and understood, and pleasing imagery and logos—across all channels, including your website, blog, and social media, as well as your signage, printed materials, and media. These channels should also include a clear value proposition and deliver on the brand promises you made in your ads. Demonstrate how you fulfill that promise using imagery and storytelling. Match your marketing materials and imagery with your brand promise; fine paper with elegant fonts for the Mayo Hotel and card stock with a bold print for a bar. Don’t forget about your customer-facing team either! Your team’s interaction with the customer, whether answering the print, serving the customer or fielding concerns, should always support your brand. You should be responding to all customer interactions in your standard voice, as well. And plan! We all know the pain points of our value proposition; those weaknesses trolls may try and exploit. Anticipate them, expect them, and prepare for them. If overwhelming crowds can occur at a great show at the Cains, responses to comments should be ready with a pre-determined, on-brand response to negative comments of this type. And most importantly, be honest, sincere, and natural. Do not blame others or become defensive.

Purchasing Decision

Once a customer decides to purchase from you, it’s your job to make them feel confident in that decision. Carry your branding through to their purchase experience to minimize confusion and reinforce your brand’s promise. Ensure your communication in the early stages of the customer journey matches their actual experience in the latter stages. The overall design of your signage and decor should match your early marketing efforts, as should your messages and value proposition. Outside, use sidewalk signs, banners, flags, and window graphics to share those messages. Inside, make sure your wall and floor graphics, product displays, point-of-sale signage, business cards, and brochures match, too. Packaging should also become part of your brand experience. Pay attention to the colors and designs of shipping boxes, product boxes, printed materials, bags, and even tape or ribbons to ensure they match your branding. Additionally, ensure your sales team is using fresh, up-to-date, and consistently branded collateral. Your brochures, postcards, catalogs, look books, and stationery, as well as your digital channels and advertisements, should feature a similar look and feel. Make sure that the message you are sending to customers and potential customers is aligned across all stages and interactions.

Retention

You’ve won the customer, but their journey is not over! If a customer has a negative or inconsistent experience with your brand during or after the purchasing process, they’re less likely to return. Pay close attention to any follow-up communications you send customers and ensure you maintain a uniform logo, color palette, and design. All your marketing emails, direct mailers, social media posts, and retargeting ads should use those same elements to reinforce the customer’s understanding of your brand. Also, pay close attention to how they interact with your follow-up messaging. Do they still engage with your messaging? It’s one thing for someone to unsubscribe when they get your first email. It means something entirely different if they ghost you after they have made a purchase.

Advocacy

The Gold Standard! When someone becomes your advocate, they are willing to risk their own personal brand for you. They believe the fulfillment of your brand promise is so strong that it will benefit them to advocate for you. Every step of that customer’s journey has to have exceeded expectations by just a little bit. Measuring and tracking retention is important but doing the same for advocacy provides further insight into your success in satisfying your customers and growing your brand. Just like you follow the response from your marketing efforts, make sure you can measure your level of advocacy, not just for the numbers but also to understand what you are doing great and where you can improve.

Great customer experiences start with solid branding

The importance of creating and fulfilling a consistent brand promise cannot be overemphasized when it comes to building and reinforcing positive customer experiences. The more your customers come to understand and trust your brand, the more likely they will be to advocate for you. Don’t neglect any part of the customer journey—even after they purchase—to ensure you build a loyal and expanding customer base. (And by the way, head to the Cains. There are some great events coming up this summer.)

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Why You Should Keep Your Branding Consistent Across the Customer Journey