E-commerce business owners have so many responsibilities on their plate that suggesting even one more task for them to take on can sometimes be met with an exasperated sigh. When you’re already juggling customer service matters, managing employees, and communicating with vendors, the very idea of maintaining a consistent brand presence can rank very low on your entrepreneurial totem pole. However, I’m about to show you that brand consistency is more than an abstract buzz-term; it is the connective tissue of a business that enhances its potency to turn a profit.

In order to know how to be consistent with your brand, you have to understand what your “brand” really is. You can’t pinpoint a brand easily, because it’s not one single thing: Your brand is not your logo, your slogan, your color scheme, or how your receptionist answers the phone. It is all those things and much more. Even though we refer to “brand” as a singular term, it really is the plurality of everything about your business that matters the most to your customers. Thus, the collective commentary they make about you determines your brand.

I find it is easier to understand the relationship your brand has with your customers when you compare it to a dating relationship. When you first meet each other, you want to go out of your way to make a good first impression. You can’t come on too strong or you risk offending them. Each time they return, you want to reward them by offering more and more of yourself. Eventually, you may even get married!

(If that last example seems a little too extreme, ask yourself if you want your customer to see your competitors or not. I didn’t think so!)

Just like in relationships, you can’t make someone love you. You can, however, influence how they feel by how you behave towards them. If you are consistent with your behavior, that will foster trust. In business, the amount you sell to a customer is commensurate with the amount of trust you have earned with them. You have to enable brand consistency every single time the customer comes in contact with your business: from your online store, your social media efforts, down to when they open the package they ordered in their living room.

So now that we understand the basics of how brand relationships work with our customers, let’s look at some of the areas we can be consistent:

Copy

Whatever you want your customer to read has to have a particular “voice” that is specific to your brand. Would you rather read a canned item description from the manufacturer or one that has personalized insight? Investing time in making sure things like your homepage and landing page ad copy actively engages customers will elevate the profit-potential of any e-commerce store. “About Us” pages, e-mail newsletters, social media updates, PPC ads, heck—even your invoices can have something specific to your core brand persona.

Fonts

I cannot emphasize enough how important font usage is to conveying the uniqueness of your brand. Never, ever use the font your logo was created with anywhere else in your branded communications. Don’t overdo the amount of fonts you use, or it could dilute your efforts to be consistent. To play it safe, my advice is to have one font that has a lot of personality and one that is more conservative. Think of afont duo as Good Cop / More Interesting Cop.

Color

The colors that you establish on your website must equal what you establish in other forms of media, and vice versa. It is important to understand the basics of color theory and the emotional effect colors have on buying behavior. Picking colors can never be based on personal preference. Your color scheme must be appropriate to your products and in service to your strategic brand differentiation. Violating the rules of color consistency will undercut your efforts at every turn. For example, if your newsletter features subdued colors, and your website is bright and cheery, you are encouraging an emotional disconnect with your customer.

Merchandising

When e-commerce store owners begin to recognize that being pro-active about merchandising can produce big dividends, consistency can often fall by the wayside. Sometimes there can be more freedom in merchandising (A Valentine’s Day graphic might feature specific fonts you wouldn’t normally use.), but freedom can prove to be a risky commodity.

Be careful that the “voice” of your brand is not overshadowed by the demands to move product. For example, could you imagine Neiman Marcus launching a big blinking banner on their homepage that said, “Year-End BLOWOUT SALE! Save up to 60% NOW!” Of course not. That doesn’t match the “voice” their brand has maintained for years. The way they merchandise their products is very specific to their core brand integrity.

Remember, your long-term brand strategy is a linear progression that should be crafted with care and precision. What you tell your customers today has to be followed up by what you tell them tomorrow.

Although there are many other areas in which companies can consistently reinforce their brand power, these are some of the most prominent that I often see. EYStudios is committed to helping you maintain your brand across various media. For more information on how we can elevate your company’s brand with your customers, contact us today!