By Elvire Gosnold, Director, Blabbermouth Marketing: The continued popularity of multichannel marketing means that strong and consistent brand identity is more important than ever.
Multichannel marketing is the communication with customers and prospects using a combination of indirect and direct communication channels such as websites, direct mail, email, mobile etc. A multichannel approach is a fantastic way to engage with your target audience. However, ensuring the key messages and corporate 'look and feel' are the same across all marketing channels is harder to execute if not planned correctly.
Consistency can be easily lost when several companies and agencies are working on the same brand. For example, there may be an in-house marketer for collateral, an e-marketing agency for e-shots and web designers for web updates. When so many different parties are working together, brand subtleties can get inadvertently missed.
Detailed brand guidelines are an obvious starting point to ensure there are clear rules for all parties to adhere to. Viewing your marketing activity as an integrated campaign rather than individual marketing projects is another way of flagging any inconsistencies at an early stage.
Sending out differing messages to your target market will lead to confusion. But ensuring there is straightforward consistency across all your marketing is simpler than you think. Easy checks such as making sure your business card has the same font and colours as your product proposal document makes a difference to how prospects and customers view your company.
Branded product sheets explaining your services in an easy to understand manner is also advisable, and don't forget to clearly state why your company is better than your competitor.