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When you walk into your favorite store, you expect to find their other locations to look similar or the same. It’s an unconscious expectation, but admit it: you become used to the look and feel of a brand once you’ve gotten to know it a little better.

Conversely, if a store’s locations have a confusing layout, use different logos or do not seem consistent, the business seems disjointed and fractured. You begin to ask yourself, “Is this even the same company?” and feel a sense of unease because your expectations don’t match up with the reality.

Keeping brand standards is an important component of businesses and can become easily overlooked. It’s important to develop branding for a multitude of reasons. Brand standards allow you to…

Keep Focused

Having brand standards in place prior to marketing campaigns allows for better focus on the best services and products for customers instead of getting distracted. Disruptive creative or copy that doesn’t fit can cause clients to lose their attention on what is important. Developing your brand standards might result in better vision.

Remain Unified

Consistent branding allows for cohesion and unites the customers, company and support team under one mission. This unification doesn’t happen instantly – a consistent strategy regarding the imagery and message must happen first – but once it does, the company can find its balance and focus on the important things – customer service, quality products and more.

Dunn’s Sporting Goods is a good example of a brand that keeps its message consistent, uses the same standards across the board and positions itself as knowledgeable in its industry. That unified theme keeps Dunn’s successful and competitive with larger big box sporting goods stores.

Become Recognizable

Customers become accustomed to the brand and are more likely to understand services, the mission and more if the same branding is followed throughout. Customers who go into one location expect it to be similar or the same to their usual one. This helps them gain the service they expect and find products they need without searching forever or getting frustrated.

Likewise, if your locations look the same, customers will come to expect the same quality of care no matter where they go. Keeping brand standards allows for this and builds loyalty and trust towards the brand. If your visuals are standardized, those you serve will expect standard service as well.

Brand development is just part of the reason Rent One has grown from just one store thirty years ago to over 60 locations today, with more coming soon. Consistent wall art, direct mail pieces that showcase the brand and utilizing a website that unites the regional rent to own store are just a few ways branding is upheld at Rent One.

Brand standards with a consistent focus mean more than looking the part. A company with integrated branding builds trust and loyalty, remains cohesive and provides a united front to tackle whatever challenges the business faces.

Want to reevaluate your branding? Contact us to get started.