Brian Bloom | January 24, 2022
Consistent messaging is the practice of delivering the same core story and unified message across all channels and interactions, including marketing, sales, PR, internal communications, and events. It ensures that every audience—employees, partners, influencers, prospects, and customers—receives and understands the same unified message.
Key takeaways
> Consistent messaging creates a unified brand voice and ensures all audiences understand the same story.
> Steady core messaging builds trust and strengthens both brand identity and reputation.
> Alignment with brand and message improves campaign and product success.
> Clear messaging empowers employees, sales teams, and partners.
> Consistency enables measurement, long-term impact, and sustainable results.
Throughout my 40-year career in communications, no challenge presents itself more often than making sure clients establish and maintain a consistent message – one that reflects the brand voice and comes through their voice and resonates with key audiences.
What I mean when I say “consistent message” is the ability to communicate the same story to all audiences in all directions, from the website and literature to public relations and advertising and everything beyond: sales presentations, conferences, trade shows, internal meetings, and so forth.
This means all of an organization’s audiences hear and understand the same message. And audiences include employees, agents, reps, distributors, influencers, prospects and customers.
Consistency makes a memorable impression on all audiences and sets expectations about a company and its products. It is a way of distinguishing a company or product from its competitors and clarifying what it offers and why it is the better choice.
What does it mean to have consistent messaging?
As we start our relationship with a client, we often work with them to establish words that reflect the company’s characteristics, not its products.
Words that have meaning, like authority, fun, friendly, imaginative, passionate, reflect a company’s mission, soul and personality. We then use those words as a criterion to develop marketing messaging strategies and tactics. They also help us determine and exclude activities that contradict the company’s image and brand messaging.
For example, one construction and automotive adhesives company used established corporate messaging to halt development of a product because it would oppose its brand image. However, many years ago, after establishing a high-quality brand image, a premium shirt manufacturer killed that image when it decided to sell through a low-end retail channel.
Companies with a desire for instant gratification, lack of clarity and having an “all or nothing” mindset will quickly struggle with consistency and adversely affect its long-term sales goals.
What are the benefits of consistent messaging?
Consistency isn’t just about repetition; it’s about building clarity, trust, and recognition over time. When your brand’s message stays steady across every channel and interaction, people begin to understand who you are, what you stand for, and why you matter. Here’s how a consistent messaging strategy can strengthen your reputation and drive lasting success. A consistency messaging strategy helps:
- Maintain your message
Your employees, sales personnel, prospects and customers will have a better understanding about the organization, its products and what makes it different than the competition.
- Communicate your value
Consistency shows you are serious. However, when you are inconsistent, the value of your message and your market position relativity is always reduced.
- Establish your reputation
Business growth requires a solid track record of success. You can’t establish a track record if you are constantly changing direction or trying new tactics that do not fit the company’s message, personality or products.
As a result, many campaigns fail before they get to the finish line. And not because the tactic was flawed or the goals were unclear, but because you didn’t stay the course with your established message.
- Help you stand out or be noticed
Small actions carried out repeatedly will amount to big results over time. When you do something for a long period, it differentiates your company and product. This can help you attract new opportunities that may not have been possible before.
- Make yourself relevant
Your employees, sales team and customers need a predictable, consistent flow of information. Too often, small and large businesses adopt a campaign or an initiative only to end it before it gains traction, wasting time and money without securing results.
- Establish relationships that add value
When people notice a consistent company, they tend to be more supportive. And employees and sales personnel will embrace a consistent vision and run with it.
- Increase self-confidence
Self-confidence is a feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities and judgement. The more consistent a company is in both words and deeds, the more its employees, sales personnel, and customers will gain confidence that the company will meet their needs.
- Generate momentum
Consistency creates momentum, and when momentum is moving in the right direction, success is inevitable.
- Create an impression of quality
When a company provides a consistent message and image, people often interrupt that to imply quality. As a result, the company could soon become a force to be reckoned with.
- Enable measurement
Until you have tried something new in a consistent manner over a period of time, you cannot really determine if it works. How do you measure effectiveness if what you are measuring isn’t performed consistently?
We had a former client that kept changing its direction every month, which made the program incredibly difficult to truly measure. New initiatives, processes, and campaigns typically take at least six months before you can determine their success or failure. It’s often minor tweaking instead of major overhauls that make the difference.
Are you ready to ensure consistent messaging?
In the end, the results will reveal if your company is consistent. If you know you are not on track, you need to hold yourself accountable. This means you can adjust your actions or behaviors to help your company move toward its goal and achieve both the short- and long-term success.
Want to learn more about how you can power your story with consistent messaging? Talk to us today!
