What is brand coherence, and why do I need to know about it

But what’s more important than just branding? Well, creating a cohesive brand, of course. Without a cohesive brand strategy, you’ll struggle to grow. The quicker you can get this strategy in place, the stronger your position in the market will be.

In this article, we talk about what brand coherence is, why it’s so important and how you can create brand cohesion.

What is brand coherence?

In a fast-paced world, it’s easy to lose sight of your brand foundations which can cause you to make inconsistent marketing decisions. But this can damage your brand and create confusion with potential customers. This is where brand cohesion can help.

Brand cohesion is the consistency of your messaging and your brand. It can unify every effort to create a strong brand when considered properly. However, this is more than simply how your business looks. It’s also how your brand shows up wherever it is being seen and how it makes people feel.

Whether it’s your website, blog posts, social media presence, infographics or email marketing, every single one of your marketing efforts should be aligned to your brand foundations. By presenting yourself in a consistent way, people can understand who you are wherever they see you which builds interest, trust and, in turn, conversions.

Why is brand cohesion important?

First impressions are vital in the corporate world. A customer's first impression of your brand can influence how they react and engage with your business going forward. This underlying uniformity is hugely valuable and can strengthen any business. Cohesive branding helps create a positive first impression and means customers can recognise your brand regardless of the channel they see it on.

Without even realising it, you will see examples of well-known companies using cohesive branding everyday. Take the fast food giant, McDonalds, for example. McDonalds has become such a cohesive brand that they’ve even removed all branding from their ads in the past. No images, no logos - just the brand’s colour palette and chosen type.

When done well, brand coherence is a powerful thing. So, does everybody need it?

Does everyone need brand coherence?

In short, yes. Every business will benefit from creating a cohesive branding strategy. Brand coherence will help you establish your brand and the many components that make your brand a business. For example your products, services, customers, place in the market and so on.

If your brand is spread across multiple products or services it could be hard to create a cohesive brand. But there are ways around this. For example, creating individual collections that carry a cohesive message. Or, creating a style guide to organise your branding assets. A style guide will also help everyone within your business understand and use your assets with consistency.

The benefits of brand cohesion

Recognition: Possibly, the top outcome of brand cohesion is creating a brand that people can recognise, no matter where they are when they engage with your brand.

Trust: Branding can increase trust by making you appear more professional and respectable, particularly when it is cohesive and consistent. Trust is important for any business and can help to increase sales while growing a loyal audience.

Efficiency: Cohesive branding can actually make your marketing efforts more efficient as a style guide can include things like templates and colour palettes to ensure all communications are visually aligned.

Conversions: With a unified message from channel to channel, nothing is lost in translation and so customers are more likely to engage and convert.

Time to create a cohesive brand

While brand cohesion isn’t something you can create overnight, it can be broken down into a step by step process. Take a look at all areas of your marketing, such as:

• Logos (brand identity design)
• Brand colours
• Imagery and brand applications
• Icons
• Graphic language
• Tone of voice
• Marketing channels

By looking at each area with a unified approach, it’s easier to see where your efforts need to be more aligned. Now that we’ve talked through brand coherence in more depth, it’s time to take a look at your brand and how cohesive your efforts are.