Consistency within your brand translates to trust with your customers.  Like any relationship, trust is the cornerstone to success, including with your customers and potential customers. 
 
Your business exists for a reason. At a high level, your products or services provide a solution for your customers’ needs. Customers turn to your brand because they have trust in you. When you are consistently meeting those needs with high quality work, your business does well.
 
While this concept seems so simple, you need to make sure that your marketing efforts are as consistent as the products and services that you provide. After all, consumers trust recognizable brands. Giving your customers a consistent experience across each channel of communication is as important as providing them with your dependable product or services.
 
Do your social media sites align with your website? Does the tone of your content match your emails? Are you using your colors, and logos appropriately? How about the images that you use in your brochures? There are countless ways that your customers are communicating with you. Social media, phone calls, email, and in some cases postal mail.  Keeping your messaging and graphics similar across all of these channels is essential for a successful marketing strategy.
 
When your brand has the same look, feel and voice, you are promoting yourself in a way that helps to build trust.  Even the smallest of businesses can gain a lot from providing consistent messaging and branding.  Not only will it make your brand seem more dependable, but also customers will appreciate your attention to detail.
 
Some simple ways to create consistency across your various communication platforms include:
 
·      Use the same graphics or style of graphics. If you like icons, utilize those icons across all channels and content.
·      Make sure your tone and message in your writing is the same. Use the same voice across all channels, whether you decide to be more formal, or conversational.
·      Create a style guide for your brand, so everyone representing your company can refer to this one document to see everything from the type of font to use, to the colors to use.
·      Along with the style guide, make sure your team has access to logos, colors and images. If you make it easy for them to find, they are less likely to go rogue and create their own look.
 
Regardless of what industry or sector your business operates within, consistency is key to building a brand that your clients trust.

I am always preaching about the importance of blogging, and writing for my company, but have yet to set aside the time to start blogging for myself. Writing is something that has always come fairly easy to me, but it's also extremely personal. I'm not someone who likes to write content for the sake of it- there has to be meaning and purpose behind my words. 

In order to convince myself, and you, that blogging really *IS* important, I have compiled a list of the top 5 reasons why you should take my cue and start blogging for your business, or even for yourself. 

1. Become a Thought Leader. You're good at what you do. You know what you're talking about. Why not share your expertise with the world? Blogging is a great way to help you establish your voice and grow a following. Once you start posting, and posting often, others will be able to learn from your experiences and knowledge.
   
   
2. Boost your SEO. This is common knowledge at this point, but it is worth repeating. Blogging will help you perform better in search engine results. Blogging regularly helps to keep your website up-to-date. The more you write, the more content you have. This content will help your site perform better with long-tail keywords. So start blogging today, and don't forget to include keywords and important industry terms within your content. 
   
   
3. Establish a Community. While there are countless blogs out there, you still have the opportunity to build a community with your blog. Allowing comments, and responding to those comments, are great ways to build a community with your readers. Ask thoughtful questions at the end of your blogs. While blogging is the perfect channel to get your thoughts and opinions out in the world, the comments section is a great place to have conversations. 
   
   
4. Become a Better Writer. The best way to get better at something, of course is to practice. The more you write, the more comfortable you will get. It can be daunting when you first start. Staring at a blank page and wondering "where do I even start?" If you don't have a topic picked out yet, HubSpot has a great topic generator tool. If you already have a topic, collect your ideas and just start writing. It's sometimes easier to start with the meat, and then go back and add your intro and conclusion. 
   
   
5. Create New Opportunities. Blogging can be used as a sales tactic to help you promote your products and services, or it can even help you land a new job. Either way, your blog as a networking tool. This venue can open up new possibilities for you, your career, or your business. 

Regardless of your reasons behind blogging, if you stick with it, you will see the benefits. Stop making excuses (like I have for far too long) and start writing. You'll find your groove, and wonder why you didn't start blogging sooner.