Your brand is vital to your business. How you project yourself to the public can make the difference between being viewed positively and not being viewed at all.

The Answer Comes from a Single Question

The way to make sure your business doesn't compromise the integrity of its brand is simple:
Ask yourself, "Would Coca Cola do this?"
Substitute Coca Cola for your industry if necessary, but pick one of the biggest worldwide competitors to name. Big businesses have entire departments devoted to developing, analyzing, and promoting their brand. They'll spend millions in research and develop on a single wordmark, product name, or logo. While your company might not have millions or a specialized brand department, you can take the steps to make sure things are portrayed in the right way.
Ask yourself if the things you're doing are the things you should be doing. McDonald's would never put out a bus advertisement that neglected to name their company or include their official logo. A huge musical act would never put up posters with their lead singer's name instead of their group. Chapters would do their best to never send out a press release about their latest book launch that was full of spelling mistakes. Magazines always have their name printed in the same place on their cover in the same design to make them recognizeable from a distance.
The way you let the public see you is one of the most important things you can do for your company. You can keep your business's brand strong by making steps like the following:

• Make sure that every advertisement or press release you publish has your official logo, wordmark, and style guide used.
• Use the same templates every time you start something new. Not only will it save time in setup; it will also help you make retroactive changes if necessary.
• Don't radically change your brand every couple of years. Keep at least one or two things the same as you had before your redesign. For example: if you change your logo, keep your name.
• Even if it's a rush job, make sure you do it right. Often, rush jobs are the things that cause your brand to suffer the most.

By making sure your business's brand is always presented the right way, you can keep yourself strong in the public eye.

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