Cohesive branding is essential to growing your business in 2021 (website, print, social media, etc.). What is cohesive branding? Branding is everywhere. Everything and every person has a brand. So, if you have a business, you have a brand already. The goal would be to create cohesive branding, so that people say exactly what you want them to say about your business.
A quick recap: a brand is what people say, think, and feel about your business. You can influence this, but ultimately you can’t decide it. Branding is how you go about influencing that perception. So if you want to be seen as a fun, exciting, and adventurous brand, but people see you as a boring, monotonous, and desperate then there is a disconnect somewhere in your branding.
Here is why being cohesive will boost your business.
1. BUILD TRUST + RECOGNITION
Creating a consistent experience for your audience – from your social media graphics to your blog content and so on is essential. People will learn to recognize you and your branding, across all platforms, and see you as a valuable resource.
2. SAVES TIME
Cohesive branding is like having an automated system in your business. It will save you time. You will find that creating content, graphics, emails, etc. is SO much easier when there’s an outline or guidebook for you. That is what having cohesive branding is – a guidebook.
3. BOOSTS CONFIDENCE
The first part of developing branding is figuring out your vision and mission statements, which involve defining your target audience, and understanding why and how you serve them. Combine those things into sentences that efficiently and effectively introduce you, your products to others. Be clear. Be confident. Be proud!
4. PROMOTES PROFESSIONALISM
Having a plan, having a goal, having a target audience, having consistent visuals – all of this makes you look better. All of this makes you sound better. All of this makes you more appealing, more trustworthy, more shareable, more likely to succeed. Let your branding be a representation of your skills, your knowledge, your ability, your fresh thoughts and approaches. People will start to realize your value for themselves.
5. DEFINES YOUR PURPOSE
You need both a vision and a mission statement.
A mission statement is what I consider a “one-line introduction.” It is quick, memorable, and it covers who you serve, how you serve them, and why you serve them.
Your vision statement is a little more intensive. It is the “big picture.” It’s where you see yourself in five years, or ten years down the road in your business.
Quite a bit of time should be spent analyzing and developing your mission and vision statements, so that you have a solid foundation to build your branding on.
