I have a confession to make – I am obsessed with quirky socks. My craze started last year when a colleague got me a 6-month subscription for a novelty sock company. Each month I would wait patiently, anticipating what crazy cotton keepsakes would make their way into my letterbox.

By the end of 2020, I had amassed an impressive collection of foot-centric quirkiness. From chillis and burgers, to tacos and bananas. At least from the ankles down, I am quite the fashion statement.

For my birthday this year my kids decided to jump on the bandwagon. When I saw the carefully wrapped present, I had a fair idea what to expect. Needless to say, I was excited.

When I opened the wrapping, there was a lovely pair of plain black socks. Plain, black, run-of-the-mill 1950s-dad socks. Sigh. I faked my joy and thanked them for their kind gift. Bless them.

But deep inside, I knew this wouldn’t fly. I knew ‘Black Socks’ wouldn’t be accepted by the others. The literal black sheep of my sock drawer – they just weren’t part of the family.

Whether it is socks, signs or stationery – consistency is important

It could be your business cards, website or vehicle signage – it’s vital that these elements of your brand look like they belong to the same family.

Why? Because it helps with brand recognition and memorability.

Perhaps it’s an image you use, a graphic or the use of colour. Whichever you choose, having a common recurring element helps strengthen your brand and ensures it resonates with your customers across various touchpoints.

Keeping all your branding with one supplier is the best solution for this. By doing so, they become the keeper of your brand and will oversee all your work to ensure it’s consistent.

Here are a few great reasons to keep all your branding with one company:

Creates brand consistency
By keeping your branding in one place, it can ensure your colours, logo and graphic elements all look like they belong together. So website or vehicle signage, all look like they part of one happy family.

Builds stronger relationships
Whether it’s with customers or suppliers, relationships in business are everything – after all, people buy from people. Keeping your logo, signage and print with one company allows for a solid relationship and understanding of one another – likes, dislikes and the problems that need to be solved.

Your vision imagined
If you’ve been with your branding agency from the start, they should know what makes you tick, your vision and your grand plans. Being able to understand your business from grassroots level, helps them define what it is that you are trying to achieve with your communications, both within your business as well as reaching a wider audience.