Consistency is Key

Meeting after meeting we often find ourselves thrashing out ideas for product development and acceptance of product or service. So the theme goes, played out many times in many businesses and often pushed aside because the budget won’t accommodate the cost of bringing these new ideas to market.

It doesn’t have to be like this.

Susanna Krass show us how to think about consistency and employ true grit when developing our brand and in doing so create what she describes as stickiness. ” Consistency is the backbone of brand success, but you’ll need grit to make it a reality. Yet consistency required to deliver it, appears to have fallen out of fashion. It’s being left behind.” The catch cry of being nimble in the way we go about just about all we do is forcing change, often to the detriment of our objectives.

The idea is to always think about how with change we can make things better, but not to ignore what has gone on in the past. In fact it is in the past we can find the gems upon which previous successes have been achieved. Throwing aside these techniques is really a waste of time and money and ignores the Intelligence and hard work of previous times. A blend of the old and the new therefore makes sense, providing we blend the great ideas together. There is always the pressure of trying to stay ahead of our competitors and the pace at which change is required is non relenting. Susanne suggests, ” I would simply venture to suggest, we need to adopt a multi speed approach to business components, specifically brand.” On the data at hand, specifically brand, it shows the power of your brand is reached through brand consistency. ” After all, a brand must first achieve recognition and awareness before it can attain affinity.” Grit is required to build what is called stickiness,or stop going for change when you don’t need to.

Technology contributes to the apparent need to reinvent ourselves because it offers new and faster ways to achieve our goals. Susanna, ” Paradoxically, the easier change becomes and the more choice we’re presented with, the less happy we are in the choices we make, perpetuating a cycle of choice evaluation and more change.” Seek to find the right mindset in which we can build a balance between the urge to implement change and staying with proven techniques built around perseverance. Susanna shares three key outtakes which when followed givers us a great opportunity to find and retain brand consistency.

* Find Your Driving Purpose

Interest and passion play an important role here. Brands that are able to re express their visual identifiers, photographic styles, campaign ideas and even products, yet sustain consistency through clear alignment with tier core reason for being.

* Stick With It

The challenge here is to find ways to overcome our urge for change for the sake of change. It’s easier to make your hard work feel meaningful if you start with a clear purpose in which you believe. Adopt measure and focus and break up your challenge into tangible parts. Clear feedback should guide minor changes and tweaks that serve to fine tune the machine..it is not a case for reinventing the machine in response to every setback.

* Teach Your People To Fish

The point here is about employee engagement, empowerment and ownership of your brand. The aim is to align your organisation around a shared vision and purpose and impart a sense of responsibility and opportunity within the individuals who are charged with delivering your brand. Engage your employees in a longer term collective goal, limiting turnover and HR expenditure.

” Brand grit works because consistency can unlock creativity, not restrict it.”

The key element in preserving your brand and adding value to it is consistency. We have found out from this analysis that patience is needed. Stand back and look at what you want to change before implementation. Consider the success stories in your businesses and draw on the features which were successful. Be progressive but don’t force change. Deliver what your clients expect from you. And, think about applying grit into all that is being considered. Be aware of the necessity to keep pace with the changes in all you do but don’t waste money forcing change.

Hayley James