The story of consistency

Somewhere, in every client engagement, we find ourselves extolling the virtues of consistency. Yes, strategy is the right place to start, and that strategy must then lead to action, but without consistency, all your effort and good intentions can be wasted. Why then, is it so hard to do?

Brand consistency is the act of replicating or repeating actions and behaviours on schedule and without deviation.

While this might sound dull, it’s far from it. Consistency is the secret ingredient that sets successful school brands apart. It’s crucial in capturing attention, creating an emotional connection, fostering loyalty and building your brand equity.

The relationship between your school brand and your three key audiences ­– prospective parents, current parents and staff – is no different from personal relationships, and it needs the same care and attention. One of the reasons we trust people in our lives is because they are consistent. They are, to a degree, predictable. Brands are no different. This does not mean your school brand cannot evolve, but changes should be intentional and aligned with your brand’s core identity.

The challenge of maintaining consistency

Schools have a complex relationship with consistency. They tend to prioritise creating new communication and marketing executions and messages at the expense of maintaining the cadence and quality of existing channels and brand consistency suffers.

To be fair, many school marketers are hired with the explicit mandate to ‘improve’ their school brand. Improvement is often interpreted as the need to do new and different things to be successful.

However, incremental change to your core brand – even if it is in the right direction – is usually not an effective path to improvement. Your prospective parents, current parents and staff do not have the insight you have, or see the trajectory you imagine, and simply become confused by the stream of small changes. Just when they feel they have a handle on ‘who you are’, you change again. Brand consistency always precedes success.

Brand consistency is notoriously hard to achieve. A study by Provoke Insights revealed the top reasons marketing professionals find it hard to consistently represent their brand:

• They cannot ensure brand assets meet the brand standard.
• Brand importance is undervalued overall.
• There aren’t any brand guidelines.
• There isn’t a centralised library of brand-approved assets and templates.
• There is a lack of clear communication to internal stakeholders.

Each of these issues can be successfully addressed in your school with clear planning and application of resources.

Why is consistency so important?

Your brand is who you are, what you promise and your ability and willingness to keep that promise. This means your school brand is built over time through repeated actions that create strong patterns in the mind of your various audiences. In turn, these patterns make the brand more identifiable and memorable.

Consistency in your visual identity is critical because it indicates to your audience that your school is dependable, steady and reliable. However, your brand is much more than your visual identity. It is about your school’s character traits and what you promise. This means being consistent with your writing style, your advertising promises, and even down to how your students present on their way to and from school each day.

Practical steps for achieving consistency

However, consistency should not be pursued for its own sake. It must be beneficial to your school brand. Overly consistent approaches can lead to a lack of distinction and creativity. Ask yourself:

• What are we consistent with?
• Why are we consistent with it?
• How are we consistent with it?

Achieving brand consistency happens within several layers:

1. Strategic consistency: Align your school brand’s intent, idea or concept. Ensure it supports your goals and your whole-of-school strategy.
2. Visual consistency: Use visual assets consistently across all channels. This includes logos, typography, colours and imagery.
3. Verbal consistency: Maintain a consistent tone of voice and messaging across all channels, from communications and marketing to parent interactions.

A good way to assess consistency is from a user’s perspective. Document every interaction and critically evaluate how aligned they are. Regularly review and refine brand guidelines to ensure they are being followed.

Brand confusion is expensive. Brand consistency reduces confusion. Your school can be more efficient with its resources and increase effectiveness by being relentlessly and remorselessly consistent.

A 7-step school brand consistency framework

1. Define brand intent: Clarify your school’s core values and mission to guide all branding efforts.
2. Customer journey audit: Review touchpoints to identify brand inconsistencies and areas needing alignment.
3. Strategic, visual, verbal lenses: Assess branding through strategy, visuals and communication to find improvement areas.
4. Maintain discipline: Ensure all actions and communications consistently reflect your brand values over time.
5. Foster creativity: Refresh your brand with innovative strategies to keep it engaging and relevant.
6. Generate enthusiasm: Engage your community with exciting content to maintain interest and prevent disengagement.
7. Use the right tools: Use tools for consistency but rely on experts for strategic, creative brand execution.

insight applied

• Brand confusion is expensive. Consistency reduces confusion.
• Brand consistency can be dull, but it one of the most powerful tools available to you.
• Avoid incremental confusion. Make intentional, aligned changes to maintain brand clarity.