Maintaining a Consistent Brand

Do you have a Fan Page on Facebook?  What about a Twitter account?  How about a Flickr Photostream?  All of these are fantastic online tools to help improve your creative business, and they really do work especially if you maintain a consistent brand across all of them.

So, what are the main things to remember to maintain brand consistency and spread your message clearly...here's a small list of things to do:

Use The Same Logo Everywhere

This is easy to do today and typically doesn't have to be anything too complex.  First, when you create a logo, remember to keep it simple and easy to understand so your customers can recognize you.  Second, use your logo everywhere you have a business presence (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Blog, etc.) so that you build your brand across these platforms and it's consistent.

Create a Unique Domain Name

After you name your business the next thing you'll want to do is buy the domain name (URL or website address) for your new business.  It's definitely not necessary, but it's nice to be able to tell people a simple name followed by dot-com.  To do this, you can use sites also known as domain registrars like GoDaddy, NameCheap and Network Solutions and purchase your own personalized domain name for less than $10 per year.  After that, all you need to do is redirect your new domain name to your business site whether that's your Etsy shop, your Meylah site or just your Flickr Photostream.

Use a Personalized Email Address

Everyone needs an email address to manage an online business and what better way than to use a personalized email address that is consistent with your business name.  This doesn't mean you need to pay for a hosted email account...nope, you can set up a free email account with a service like Google's Gmail.

Then, through your personalized domain name above, you can create a free email address that is consistent with your new domain name and redirect it to your Gmail email account to manage.  This way you give the appearance of a branded email address that shows professionalism although it's easy and free to manage through Gmail.

Create Your Business Cards

One of the most common and widely used ways to maintain a consistent brand is through your business cards.  On your business cards, make sure you use your logo, your business' domain name and your personalized email address so everything is consistent and shows professionalism.

A great way to create your business cards is to use MOO, an online printing company that offers excellent solutions for business cards, postcards, greeting cards and their famous MiniCards, which can double as a business card or as a product price tag as we’ve seen from some fellow artists. The best part of MOO business cards is that you can use your own photos for each of your business cards so every card is representing your brand and your products professionally.

After all, one of the toughest parts of building a business is being recoginzed so make sure your brand is consistent and you'll be recognized everywhere you are.  How do you maintain consistency in your brand?

Main image courtesy of pyth0ns

Just a friendly reminder to enter Meylah's July Contest: What's Your Passion? Name Your Price! for a chance to get your own personalized site at your price...entries will be accepted up until July 31, 2010.