Have you ever envisioned how your customers perceive your brand and product? It should be easy to recognize your brand, what it stands for, and what your product does through the right means of communication. Achieving brand consistency helps you attract consumers and continuously build trust.
The goal of brand consistency is to increase the chances of your customers actively choosing your brand and product repeatedly. Now, that’s easier said than done, considering the abundance of brands consumers can choose between. Standing out, paying attention to the market dynamics, and maintaining a clear association with your brand is more important than ever.
The significance of brand consistency
For any brand owner, brand consistency should be highly prioritized. The most important reason for this is that, ultimately, brand consistency matters most to your customers.
Each time a consumer sees or uses your product, their associations and experience should remain the same. Brand consistency entails that the customer can:
- easily recognize your brand and product
- clearly tell what your brand and product are
- understand exactly what the company standards are
These elements make maintaining a clear link between your product, brand values, and target audience easier. Aside from establishing a trust relationship, consistency will also give consumers the confidence to interact with the company more often.
You can take specific actions towards stakeholders to increase the chance of achieving brand consistency and ensure that consumers keep coming back to you. Let’s look at how your label and packaging design, communication strategy, and sustainability efforts are involved:
1. Product exterior
On a surface level, how you present your product determines whether it’s distinguishable from your competitors. As we say here at Skanem Africa:
“Your label and packaging should have ‘shelf appeal’ and make the consumer want to pick up your product from the shelf.”
Think about the following features regarding your product design:
Label shape and size
Make your product more recognizable by using different label shapes and sizes, other than round or rectangular, or by applying a pattern or special cuts.
Keep in mind that the size of your label should be just right and include information that you want your customers to see. Too small, and your message might not come across. Too big, and it’s less sustainable. Showing that you have actively thought through the size of your label gives off a positive association toward consumers.
Label material and embellishments
The label material and design must first of all match the surface of the product or packaging. Most labels can also be enhanced with special embellishments to attract attention. You can, for instance, create glossy or matt effects or spice up your labelling design with a touch of gold or silver foil. Adding a scent or using a tactile label can evoke the senses and spark curiosity amongst consumers, making it easier to remember your product.
Colours and fonts
Colours should always blend well with your corporate standards. Diverging from this creates disassociation with your brand and products. Although mixing different colours to stand out may be tempting, it usually has the opposite effect. Keeping the colour combinations few and simple is more memorable.
At Skanem Africa, we have a specialized ink management system that dispenses ink to match your brand's Pantone colour reference. This facilitates consistent and accurate label printing, from one print run to another, ensuring brand consistency and shelf appeal for all your products.
Lastly, don’t forget the importance of the font. It should be legible and stand out on your product label, clearly communicating who your brand is and what your product does.
Read more: How to make your packaging and labelling stand out from the crowd
2. Outward communication
Once consumers are familiar with your brand and product, staying consistent in communicating with them is key. This is especially true if you are implementing changes to your labels and packaging, the product’s functionality, or if there are new happenings concerning your brand.
For instance, you might:
- promote new merchandise at the supermarket
- advertise on social media
- blog and send newsletters
- partake in trade fairs
- have your sales team speak directly with your customers
With a standardized and strategic communication plan, you’ll be better equipped to give your customers valuable information regularly and redirect their attention back to your brand.
Multinationals, such as Total and Unilever, maintain high brand consistency through consistent communication. As a result, they are amongst the most recognizable brands anywhere in the world. There is no reason why local companies can’t do the same, using the appropriate strategies.
Read more: Great customer experience begins on the store shelf
3. Sustainability
Keeping up with existing and upcoming market trends goes hand in hand with brand consistency. During the last few years, the movement toward higher sustainability has undoubtedly become one of the largest trends globally. And businesses need to keep up.
Here at Skanem Africa, we see that more and more sustainability champions are emerging among our customers wanting to learn more about:
- sustainable and eco-friendly materials
- possibilities for recycling
- return policies
As a brand owner, it is important that you not just implement sustainable changes but also clearly communicate them through your brand standards, product packaging, and labels. Together, we can find solutions that show your customers your brand is up to date and working towards sustainability.
Read more: A guide for choosing cost-efficient and sustainable label materials
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to know more about how you can optimize brand consistency through packaging and labelling.
