All companies should strive for brand consistency, but a quick review of many small businesses (and even large businesses) marketing materials reveals that many companies do not practice brand consistency. As a graphic designer, you can increase sales by teaching customers the power of brand consistency.

Why brand consistency is important

Brand consistency, or the seamless retention of brand colors, symbols and logos, styles, fonts, philosophy, and attitude across all marketing mediums, helps companies establish a more powerful marketplace presence. A consistent brand image does not limit design, it fosters creativity: as long as brand constants are in place, you’re free to craft designs that reach specific target customer segments. Brand consistency facilitates customer engagement and interaction, helps create a sense of trust, and ultimately lends itself to increased awareness, sales and profits.

Why don’t companies practice brand consistency?

Several reasons account for why many companies do not practice brand consistency. Among them:

startup companies do not have the funds to pay for professional design, so they wing it on every design

as companies grow, more opinions and designers often added to the mix, leaving design briefs open for multiple interpretations

dated materials do not reflect more recent brand revisions

the lack of a formal brand identity convention and/or director

How to profit from teaching brand consistency

Regardless of the reason for any particular client’s brand consistency shortcomings, you can take advantage of the opportunity to teach them about the power of brand consistency. Demonstrate to your clients how a consistent brand image fosters their own profits, and how an inconsistent image jeopardizes all the other branding they’ve done. There are several ways you can increase your own sales by teaching brand consistency:

integrate branding into all client print, web and mobile designs

develop client branding conventions

oversee client design team to ensure branding conventions are explicitly adhered to

It’s easy to see how a simple brochure design job could lead to a long-term client who asks you redesign all print marketing materials, advertisements, websites and mobile applications. As the client grows, they might ask you to develop branding conventions and then oversee their design team.

It’s inarguable that brand consistency is ideal for companies, which makes it an easy sell for graphic designers. Thus, simply teaching your clients about brand consistency can turn a job that’s worth a couple thousand dollars to multiple jobs worth tens of thousands of dollars – all from a single five-minute conversation.