Brand Cohesivity: 5 Reasons why your business needs a cohesive brand to thrive
Whether you’re a fledgling entrepreneur or a badass boffin of business, you’ve heard the buzz around cohesivity. Your business coaches and Instagram mentors have rambled on about cohesivity to a point where it’s all just a not-so-appealing soup of buzzwords and “top 10 hacks”. Is there a reason why everyone is on about cohesivity? Well the short answer is: Yes. Keep reading if you want to learn 5 simple reasons why your business needs a cohesive brand to thrive..
1) Create an epic first impression
Marketers love scaring newbie business owners with the age old tale of, “You only have 2 seconds to make a good first impression!”… Unfortunately, they are right to a certain degree. Humans are impatient and have a habit of making rapid fire judgements (don’t worry, I’ll be the first to raise my hand). First impressions play a major role in business and most of the time, it’s the first impression that you give off that makes or breaks the sale. No matter how dope your product or service is, if you don’t make a good first impression, chances are, you’re going to send Suzie Shopper skipping to the next salesman. This is why your business needs a cohesive brand. That first impression matters more than you think it does…
Think of your business and your customers first interaction being similar to a blind date. The whole point of a blind date is to make an absolutely epic first impression so you can secure that second date. If your business arrives to that blind date all tattered, confused, scruffy and not sure of why he’s actually there… Suzie Shopper will be sent running to the dapper, dashing and down-right-sexy Business Number 2.
A cohesive brand immediately communicates it’s purpose and will give it’s customers reason to stay and browse in their store or on their site. That’s the first reason your business needs a cohesive brand to thrive… In other words, by getting the customer to stay and browse, you’ve managed to score that second date!
Primary Logo in a Brand Design Project for Lauren Culverwell, Professional Make-Up Artist
2) Professionalism
Good design has a knack of standing out against the crowd. What are you doing to set yourself apart from the average Joes out there?
Not only does good design create a good first impression, but it’s able to tell a story too. Your logo suite serves as the name tag your business wears to that blind date. If you’ve scribbled your name illegibly in crayon (or in Comic Sans), you’re going to receive a very different greeting as compared to a neat, on-brand name badge.
Good design whisks you from newbie to established in an instant. It can fool people into thinking that you’ve been in business for years. Good design married with cohesivity, shows your customers that your have strong foundations. All of this works together to make you more professional. This will make people take you seriously and show you the respect you and your business deserve. Not only that, a cohesive brand image from all fronts shows your customers that you have a particular knack for the finer details and take pride in your business. This is the sort of story you should be telling your customers in order to gain their trust.
After all, would you choose to buy your next iPhone from a dodgy pop-up ad or from the iStore? Think about it… what actually leads you away from the pop-up ad and towards the site? What is the site doing right and the pop up ad doing wrong? And lastly, who gives off the better, more professional, first impression?
3) Trust
Another reason your business needs a cohesive brand is trust. You’ve made a good first impression, you’re looking dapper and professional. You have people browsing your services and products, things are going well. The next step would be convincing the customer to take action. How do you do that? Unfortunately, just because people are browsing your products, doesn’t automatically mean they’re actually going to make a purchase.
This is where trust comes in. It is whether they trust you or not that will determine if they make a purchase. After all, there are other businesses that sell the same or similar products to you… what’s going to make them choose you? Ultimately, they need to believe and trust that YOU are the best decision they could make!
But, how do you make people trust you? Well, it just happens that cohesivity is the first step. Cohesivity coupled with a solid brand strategy work together to attract your ideal clients directly to you. Customers can sniff out honest, hard-workers from the other lazy and slap-dash businesses. This all links back to your first impression. They can tell when you have put intentional thought into each touch point of your business:
When your potential clients see your logo, your Instagram account, your Facebook feed, the sign on your window, your website, your blog, your business cards and your packaging… not only will they notice if you have maintained cohesivity throughout, they will also be very impressed by the fact that you have! They will assume you take the same pride in your packages and services too... Not only that, they will also assume that you will take the same level of care and consideration in working with them. This is where trust starts to form!
Trust is vital, but that’s not where it ends. Another reason your brand needs cohesivity to thrive is:
Secondary Logo in a Brand Design Project for Lauren Culverwell, Professional Make-Up Artist
Notice how cohesivity is maintained
4 ) Recognizability and Memorability
Picture this: You’re driving down the high way and on a billboard you see a big, bright, yellow “M” surrounded by a sea of red. You know instantly that it’s a billboard for McDonalds. You’re unphased by it because you’ve had dinner already, but moments later, your toddler asks you, “Mamma, can we has McDonalds?”. A little freaky, maybe. But props to McDonald’s for nailing their recognisability to those levels.
A brand is made recognisable and memorable by many factors. Namely it’s physical elements (like logo suite, colours, brand patterns and font selection) to it’s non-physical elements like it’s brand voice.
By maintaining cohesivity throughout your physical and non-physical elements, customers will recognise you immediately. All of your branding elements will work together to put forward a unified, professional image.
Even if you don’t dig Big Macs, you have to give Maccy’s some credit for being impossible not to recognise.
Packaging Design Project for Lauren Culverwell, Professional Make-Up Artist
Cohesivity is Maintained through to the product packaging. Lauren requested our bespoke brand design package.
5) Set Yourself Apart
Be honest with yourself and see how many businesses you can name that sell the same (or similar) products or services than you. Now, what makes each of those businesses different? If your’e looking for a burger, what would make you choose Maccy’s over the corner burger house you can’t remember the name of? Good Branding can set your business apart and elevate you above the noise of other brands.
By now, you should see that there’s a whole lot more that goes into branding than just a logo. A well-designed and cohesive brand brings life to your business. It allows you to develop your own brand personality and sets you apart from your competitors. Good design and cohesivity allow you to build trust with your audience as well as create an unforgettable first impression. At it’s core, cohesivity can lead to increased sales and engagement too! All because you invested in your cohesivity and branding!
Ask yourself:
Is your brand cohesive?
Is your brand strategically designed?
Do you stand out from your competitors?
Do you attract your ideal clients?
Do you know how to DIY a brand identity that’s actually strategic?