Consistency Series: Communication Consistency

Get on message… stay on message.

It’s true for politics and it’s true for brands. Having a clearly defined messaging strategy is critical to brand communication. But how do you align to a message and get the word out consistently?

Strategic alignment

Brand strategy development and messaging creation isn’t easy. There are many factors at play both short-term and long-term. There are competitive threats and internal hurdles. Doing the work up-front to build alignment to a strategic messaging platform is a critical steppingstone to consistent messaging.

Internal education

Messaging consistency isn’t just for advertising – it permeates all brand interactions. All teams that represent the brand in any capacity should be fluent in the core tenants of the brand message. Especially in interpersonal communication – for example a sales associate to a client – knowing how to build the brand through messaging in an authentic way can speak volumes in building the brands reputation.

Clear, concise, consistent

Across the board, people are remembering fewer and fewer details. In the digital era, we have lesser need to store information in our heads when we can get it at our fingertips. For brand messaging, this means a clear and concise message is all the more important. Driving home this core idea through consistent focus is important to build a strong connection.

Bring it to life

Media has changed and is still changing. Reaching your audience is more niche and nuanced, the days of a 30-second prime time ad solving all your problems are in the past. How can you bring your brand message to life across a variety of platforms? Traditional media, digital media, experience, conversation, etc. – all these venues can provide opportunity to bring your message to life and build your brand reputation.

Measure and sharpen

Is it working? You can’t know if you don’t measure. Some pitfalls of brand messaging consistency are:

1 – there weren’t metrics in the first place. Because we didn’t measure we don’t know if it’s working, so we get bored and do something new, or stay on message even if it isn’t showing results.

2 – the metric isn’t changing fast enough, so we get bored and completely change course.

Sometimes a tweak like sharpening language, getting more concise, being more functional or tapping into greater emotion can amp up results without completely shifting course. A complete U-turn in message wastes the progress that has been made, but also confuses the audience as to what they should know about the brand. 

Stay the course

This isn’t easy, and it’s not always exciting – but staying the course drives commitment to the core ideas of the brand. Think about GEICO – they have spent years and millions telling people how to save money on car insurance. They have reinvented the way the message is told through geckos, cavemen, raccoons and Pinocchio – but all sharing their core message. It’s this type of dedication to a clear, concise and consistent message the builds a reputation over time.

What next?

Want to better understand how to get started?  Leaderboard is happy to help.

Whether you are part of a large marketing team looking to understand global perspective, or a regional company looking to make headway in a crowded competitive space – we can help.

If you are managing a merger or acquisition, where your services and footprint are growing and complex, or a niche specialist with complex technology – we can help.

Let’s have a conversation and get started on this journey to grow your brand through impactful, consistent messaging.