Consistent content: Why it's important and how to maintain quality standards
In this blog:
Introduction
Introduction
You might think you’re already being perfectly diligent in how you create and construct your content to ensure it’s consistent, but take a closer look - is there something you can spot with ‘fresh eyes’ when looking back on recent content you published such as articles, landing pages, social media posts (or any other formats)?
Sometimes we all get caught out. Even brands we wouldn’t necessarily expect to ever put a foot wrong.
Here’s an example of something that happened recently. I spotted a LinkedIn ad from a brand that I respect and admire. I was used to seeing their content on various channels — but this time, something I saw in their ad unexpectedly jarred with me.
I reread the ad several times and concluded that, yes, it was the way they’d positioned something in their messaging that was jarring. Their content was unusually ‘off’ in this instance, and ultimately inconsistent with the other experiences I’d had with their brand.
I was strangely compelled to call them out on it (publicly via social), and to their credit, the organisation in question came back to me immediately:
“Thank you for bringing it to our attention. This is an oversight and definitely not how we'd like to position ourselves. We're removing the ad campaign now.”
It highlights the fact that — big or small — any organisation can get things wrong with its content.
Perhaps it’s because content creators (and marketers in general) have many boxes to tick when it comes to maintaining quality standards and consistency. For many, there is also a requirement to produce high volumes of content — so it’s probably quite easy to miss the mark from time to time.
And when we talk about ‘consistency’ and ‘content’ there are many forms that ‘being consistent’ can take; everything from the tone of voice you use when you write to how a finished piece is formatted when it’s digitally published.
Consistency alone isn’t the only goal for creating good content of course. Ultimately, your content has to jump multiple hurdles to meet all those endless business goals and user needs — BUT consistency is an important contributing factor for building and maintaining brand personality and presence.
How consistent is your brand’s content?
As digital consumers, we become used to how certain brands try to engage with us on the channels we’re active on. During that first set of exposures to their content (on average, it takes seven impressions for people to start remembering your brand), we start to become familiar with things like their messaging, their visual style, and the language and tone of voice they use to talk to us with.
It’s a transient process, which by and large, we as the audience don’t consciously notice.
What can happen if your content is inconsistent?
“Quite a lot” is the short answer. Inconsistent content can contribute to or directly damage:
trust in your brand
your brand’s reputation
levels of loyalty from customers and fans
your brand’s ability to turn existing customers into passionate brand advocates
Even the most minor of mistakes and misfires in your content can speak volumes about your organisation; risking leaving your audience feeling lost, confused or — as in the situation I described above — disgruntled. In other words, it can negatively impact any consideration or decision for someone to ‘do business’ with you.
There’s plenty of research to back this up. One report states that unified brand presentation can increase revenue by up to 23%. Moreover, another study indicated that businesses with consistent branding tend to experience up to 20% greater overall growth than those with off-brand content.
In short? It means that getting consistency right can reap big rewards.
How to create consistent content
Here are some strategies you can try to have confidence that the content you create really holds its own, in the consistency stakes.
1. Use a content calendar to plan your content
Ok. I admit that, in the past, I’ve not been the biggest champion for content calendars, mainly because of my own experiences with them within several chaotic content-producing organisations.
Essentially, I’ve always disagreed with anyone touting them as some kind of ‘catch-all’ solution, however, I still think that this tool type has a place in your content creator armoury.
Looking ahead to the next quarter, half year, or even year, spending some time on properly devising and ‘plotting in’ your content upfront is a good move. And of course, keeping all of these plans together in a centralized manner means that you can quickly refer to it.
By working in this way, you can better ensure that:
The content items you develop lead into each other well and are strategically scheduled for release
Your content is as aligned as possible with your organisation or client’s business objectives
The right content is created for the intended end audience
You avoid diluting certain brand elements such as your messaging (i.e. through creating too much content on an ad-hoc basis)
One caveat associated with content calendars is that things are subject to change. You’ll probably need to be reactive to any market or industry developments, sudden changes in business objectives, or even the odd stakeholder changing their mind about something at the last minute. You’d expect to be flexible for those eventualities – and that goes for your content calendar too.
2. Develop writing guidelines for your brand
There’s a consistency to be found in the way you speak to people, but also in the way you present certain language elements, such as how you use capital letters, write a date, or refer to people’s job titles. And let’s not forget the importance of good grammar too!
It always amazes me when I see organisations or clients with beautiful branding guidelines, but nothing focused on their content.
That means that there may be a lack of proper guidance around things like:
Tone of voice
How to use technical language
How to write about people and organisations
Grammar and punctuation
Accessibility and readability
Writing guidelines are an important reference for any organisation trying to build and maintain a brand, because, without them, any content you’re creating and publishing carries a heightened risk of mistakes and consistency errors.
This is especially true if your resource for content production extends to beyond your marketing department - so internal subject matter experts, members of senior management and even guest contributors.
In their publicly available tone of voice guidelines, The University of Leeds specifically includes why consistency is important for their content and brand. The guidelines state:
“Consistency is everything.
“The more consistent we are, the more likely it is that people will understand what makes us special. The way we express ourselves has to be joined up and consistent so that people admire, respect and, crucially, trust us. It’s no good saying we’re imaginative if our language is anything but. So we need a strong verbal identity that we all understand and know how to use.” — The University of Leeds
Ensuring there’s a proper protocol in place can also help stamp out the temptation for ‘someone, somewhere’ to create ‘rogue’ content. Rogue content flies in the face of all the good work you’ve been putting in to keep all of your content consistent.
The State of Brand Consistency (LucidPress)
If you need some inspiration, take a look at Mailchimp’s example of a good writing guide. I personally love everything Mailchimp does with their content, but from a writing guide point of view, they seem to rather expertly cover all the bases in the digital document.
What’s more, because it’s not a static PDF, content creators can interact with the writing guide content and, for example, search for specific things more easily.
NB: It's also available under Creative Commons Licence to others to use as a basis for their own guidelines. Brilliant.
3. Consider creating a quick consistency checklist
Many content creators intuitively know what makes a good quality piece of content, but when you’ve got all those new pieces in a queue to be produced, there’s nothing wrong with a little due diligence to make sure any inconsistencies are ironed out at the drafting stage.
A quick checklist can act as a good safety net for writers who’ve been so ingrained in the detail of writing and editing their content that instances of repetition, spelling errors or clumsy grammar are more than possible.
Here's an example of a webpage content checklist:
4. Never forget who you’re creating content for
Keep reminding yourself about who it is that you are trying to attract with all the content you’re creating and distributing.
It’s sometimes hard to stay focused on this when you’re in this constant cycle of content production, however it’s important to keep actively evaluating and checking you’ve pitched your content at the right people; ideally whilst you’re still in the drafting phase.
It sounds clichéd, I’m sure, but I always try to imagine I’m the end reader when I’m writing. I’m doing it now, with this article.
It allows you to be more ‘intentional’ with what you’re saying too.
Taking this approach of being mindful whilst you create content can help strengthen your brand. People are more likely to recognise and appreciate that you’re creating valuable and useful content specifically for them. You know your audience, and you know them well.
Content consistency relies on the right strategy and technology to support it happening
Things that may at first seem like little isolated mistakes do matter in the long run — especially when it comes to how well you’re maintaining the consistency of your brand.
It’s for this reason that your content strategy should always take this into account when any planning is being done. It really is the nitty gritty and the big-picture stuff you need to keep an eye on.
Final thought: I know it’s not always roses in the garden for us content creators. Sometimes politics and personalities can get in the way of your attempts to maintain quality aspects such as consistency.
Just keep trying your best to navigate around the proverbial potholes, and keep tunnelling your way through to what you think (and deep down, know) will work best for your end readers. Undoubtedly, the right tech stack will help you achieve content consistency far more quickly — so choose your technologies wisely, or at least take some time out to evaluate whether what you’re currently using is doing a good enough job.
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