Advertising and marketing serve one essential purpose: to bring in business. Your logos, patterns, color choices, word choices, and more all are designed to persuade people to do business with you, whether you’re offering tutoring services or selling a product.
Marketing is only effective, however, if you do it across multiple platforms (digital, print, etc.) and if you keep it consistent.
Multiple platforms.
Whatever your business offers, you can’t rely on one method of advertising as your sole marketing option. You need to utilize a mixture of digital methods and offline methods. Digital methods include having a website, using social media, and buying online ads. Offline methods include billboards, ads in magazines and newspapers, vehicle wraps, the sign outside your physical location, and things like business cards, branded pens, t-shirts, and tote bags.
Consistency counts.
All of those methods are only useful if potential customers are able to recognize that they’re all for your business. The only way that can happen is if you use a consistent logo, name, and color choices. Hired printer services like Nonstop Signs and Graphics and digital graphic designers should be on the same page when it comes to the specifications of these advertising elements. Even a change as small as the same logo with different colors can be enough to throw someone off and give consumers the impression it’s two different companies.
Repetition keeps you in mind.
This consistency isn’t just important for recognition purposes. The other reason your advertising works is because the customer sees it over and over again, and this puts you firmly in their mind. They might not need a plumber but once every few years, but if they see your ad on social media and pass by your billboard every day, when their toilet backs up, your name will come to mind because of the constant repetition.
But again, if you make even small changes, that can be enough to make a marketing method seem like it came from another company and they might not remember you as easily then.
How to stay consistent.
You want to be consistent, but you also don’t want to be boring and offer the same thing every time. So how do you manage consistency along with the freshness of new and different advertising? Try the following ideas:
- Keep your company logo in the same place every time, such as the top right corner or bottom left.
- Use the same or very similar colors in every advertisement. For example, a plumbing company might use shades of blue to represent water, or a jewelry store might use shades of silver and gold.
- Keep signs and graphics the same. If you make magnets to go on company vehicles, for example, keep them as close to the same as your business location’s sign so the connection between the two is made.
Don’t forget to apply this to anything you use for marketing purposes. Apparel, pens, business cards, tote bags, fridge magnets, keychains, and other promotional items designed with the intention of reminding people of your business should use the same logo, patterns, colors, and other graphics.
Consistency in advertising is critical to making your message cohesive across all marketing avenues. Keeping your business in the forefront of potential customers’ minds happens when they see your ads in multiple places and ways, and can connect them all to your business. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by creating an ad that is so wildly different that people can’t immediately connect it with your business.
