I remember when my daughter first wanted to dress herself. Like all 5 year old little girls, she wanted to be fiercely independent, especially when it came to her wardrobe. Most days she would come out of her room wearing a fluffy pink tutu, her favorite cowgirl boots, a long sleeve shirt with some sort of princess motif (every 5 year old owns at least 3 of these) and a pink crocheted winter hat complete with ear flaps….in the dead of August…in the south. And yes, even though she looked like a half hobo ballerina cowgirl, we let her wear it out and wherever we went people would smile and say how adorable she was. Do you know why? Because she was 5 years old and at that age, mismatched just happens to be cute.
Now, stop and think about that same scenario but instead of a sweet, adorable 5 year old put yourself in that get up (get up – southern expression meaning crazy outfit). Hmmm not so cute anymore huh? In fact, you may actually get carted off to the looney bin because you must have lost your ever loving mind dressing like that in public!
So where am I going with this lovely tale of 5 year olds and looney bins? Well, straight to your branding of course! (10 points if you saw that coming) Being mismatched just isn’t cute, in fact it leaves an impression that you are scattered and don’t have a clear direction for your business. Customers notice this…oh yes, they notice and they run as fast as they can because really, who would want to spend their hard earned money in a shop that looks scattered and clueless? Potential customers thought process – If the owner of said shop doesn’t bother with the outside why would they bother with the quality of the products there selling?
With all of the social this and website that, your brand is in a lot of places which means it’s being seen by some of the same people. If you have one design for your website, a completely different one for your etsy shop and possibly even a third or forth for twitter and Facebook it gives a horrible impression to those people you are trying to impress the most!
You want your branding to be consistent wherever your are…not only is it more professional but it’s how you build….(drumroll please Brad*) BRAND RECOGNITION! And we love us some brand recognition because it’s what helps potential customers remember who you are.
So would you rather be a sleek, sophisticated kick ass woman dressed to the nines or a half hobo ballerina cowgirl?
*Sorry ladies, there is no Brad…although if there was I am sure he would look a lot like Jensen Ackles. Don’t know who Jensen Ackles is? Google him, you won’t be sorry!
Do you feel like your brand is cohesive or do you need to do some work on unifying the style? Share your brand recognition struggles + stories in the comments!
