1. The Key to Branding is Consistency By: Roy DiMarco May 28, 2014

2. What is Branding? Branding defines the essence of your business and illustrates what consumers can expect from it. 3. Primary Tactic A primary tactic to successful branding is to maintain the same look, feel, and messaging across ALL of your marketing, public relations, and online materials. 4. The Importance Increased brand equity - Which adds value to your companys products and services, helping to increase brand awareness and profits - The key is to possess a clearly defined image of how you want your business perceived by the public. Remember, perception is reality. 5. THE STEPS 6. Develop Brand Position The first step is to create a brand position that defines the identity and personality of your business that you want to share with others. It should match your overall company goals and vision. Brand positioning provides meaning to consumers and allows a company to differentiate itself from its competitors. 7. Establish Image Once your company decides on a brand position that best reflects the business, the next step is to establish imagery that represents a companys personality and tone. 8. Messaging As a brand you cannot be known for everything, so focus your messaging on the most important aspects of your business. You can outline important differentiators, such as the reliability of your company, the pioneering of new methods, and/or your low cost service or product. It is sometimes referred to as your Unique Point of Difference. 9. Slogan The next step is to create a company slogan or tagline, which should be a witty or memorable short statement that consumers can easily remember. And, the tagline should extend to other aspects of your brand as well. It can be integrated into employee phone responses, e-mail signatures, brochures, website platforms, and advertisements 10. Logo A logo is a major component that defines your company, making it possible for consumers to easily identify your business. The logo that you decide on should be placed virtually everywhere that you can possibly insert it. This includes websites, social media, pictures, products, commercial vehicles, collateral, clothing, and store locations. 11. Corporate Material Its critical to create a consistent look and feel for marketing materials, company stationery, and other collateral, incorporating the same color scheme of your company, brand logo and logo placement, fonts, and imagery, all the while maintaining a professional layout. 12. Branding Example Click here for more branding examples 13. Branding is an area of marketing that has many factors to consider. However, by narrowing down your business objectives and messages and maintaining consistency, you will streamline the process and set the stage for success! 14. Blog Author Roy DiMarco A second generation advertising and marketing executive, Roy DiMarco is the President & CEO of HLD Communications. He is a hands-on leader who has a flair for finding effective solutions to clients marketing challenges. Connect with Roy @roydimarco LinkedIn