Three Tips for Creating a Strong, Consistent Brand Image

When running an e-commerce store, and especially one around fashion, it helps to have an appealing, consistent brand image. A strong brand is something that every business should vie for, no matter the size. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to brand your business using the online resources at your disposal.

1. Conquer Color

Knowingly or not, most brands attach themselves to a color that can becomes an effective marketing tool for the business. If a company’s website, logos, and packaging are colored completely differently, it creates an inconsistent and confusing brand that won’t be instantly recognizable at a glance.
When operating online, branding starts at your website. This is the beating heart of any online business, especially for services that don’t exist in the real world. For an industry that juggles branding quite well, see iGaming sites where many different games get advertised on the same page. Besides the site-wide color scheme of iGaming platforms, individual games also have their own sylistic features. Some may include symbols inspired by a particular theme, such as the recurring clover motif in Irish-themed games or the ever-popular fishing games, while others may be centred more around an aesthetic – take, for example, the golden art deco style of Live Lightning Roulette.

Balancing site and product branding is a tightrope that most e-commerce businesses also need to walk. In fashion, it’s common to find product lines that have their own brand image that’s separate from the company selling them. Color is the fastest, easiest, and most effective way of distinguishing between brands while allowing them both to stand out.

To conquer color, fledgling brands should decide on a color palette. Most brands choose one to three primary colors and up to six secondary colors, which can be used in different contexts to indicate sub-brands or product lines.

There are a few guidelines that help when creating a strong brand:

• Use solid colors from your brand palette.
• Mix brand colors with specified proportions.
• Don’t deviate from your brand-specified proportions.
• Contrast text against brand colors.
• Don’t mix brand colors within text.

2. Find a Brand Narrative

We understand most things in life by telling stories about our experiences and what they could mean. Knowing this, it’s unsurprising that some of the biggest brands have a strong brand narrative. That is, a story about how the brand came to be and what it aims to achieve that sets it apart from the competition.
Brand narratives come about naturally through businesses that have been around for a long time. In the fashion world, that would be mainstays like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, or Prada, all over a hundred years old.

Founded at the dawn of the modern travel era, #LouisVuitton is on a perpetual mission to explore new horizons, propelled by an innovative spirit, boundless creativity, and unparalleled savoir-faire. Explore our new #LVJobs site at https://t.co/nzU0nCBbcw#LVTeams pic.twitter.com/0NpwuP95u6

— Louis Vuitton (@LouisVuitton) November 22, 2022

In more modern cases, brand narratives can focus on unlikely or zany circumstances that led to the brand’s existence, or a good social cause that the brand wants to advance.

At its core, brand narratives must be genuine and relate brand values to customers. Even seemingly unremarkable businesses have something in their past or their current setup that, if isolated and focused on, can start to form a strong brand narrative. There are plenty of brand narrative examples from the fashion space to inspire you, if you need any help getting started.

3. Implement the VCP Process

The VCP process is a three-step guide to a successful business. It stands for Visibility, Credibility, and then Profitability. Strong brand images must be attached to a successful business to work, so taking care of your business’s profitability is vital to ensuring your brand sticks around.

Visibility is simple – stick out and get customers online. For fledgling businesses, consider a low-cost, high-ROI marketing method like SEO. Many SEO sites like HubSpot provide free resources for young businesses.

Just like how visibility is tied to your brand coloring, credibility is helped by a strong brand narrative. Including an updated and responsive online presence, with more official means of contacting the business, is key to developing credibility. If you have a strong brand with a good line of products, profitability should come easier than less-developed businesses.