When I start talking with business owners about their brand and design, they often expect me to jump straight into their color palette, fonts, or logo. All of which we will absolutely discuss because they do make a difference. But what I really want to start drilling home from the very first meeting is the power of consistency.
The idea of consistency, in theory, is simple. You want every interaction your customer has with your brand/ business to feel the same. Feel is the keyword here, and it is because you are trying to replicate a feeling that, in practice, can be tricky.
As a customer, I should recognize your brand no matter where I am in the pipeline. If I click on your social media ad for the first time and go to your main page, it should feel familiar. If I take the next step to your website, it should feel like I've simply continued my journey forward. And this level of consistency should remain all the way to the moment your product is in my hands, and I'm receiving emails regarding your holiday sale.
This is where brand fonts, colors, assets, tag lines, etc., all become handy. They help you replicate visual cues to trigger the feeling of consistency. Having a strong understanding of your brand with easily digestible brand guidelines will make things easier, especially as your team grows. Reminder: words, phrases, actions, inactions, etc. all feed into your brand and the sense of consistency. This is why when Facebook promotes its support of voting rights, it feels inauthentic, but when Patagonia speaks up against climate change, people listen.
Beyond improving the general customer experience (which in itself is important), it will help you carve a distinct role in your customer's eye and help your marketing efforts drive home. Your customer will think of you when recommending a product to a friend or when they see a million different options on the shelf at the supermarket. Having a strong (read: consistent) brand will help you step in front of your competitors in your customer's eyes because, at the end of the day, decision fatigue is real, so you might as well help make it easier for your customers.