Maintain a consistent brand

We are having new letterhead, promotional cards and newsletter templates printed next week. We signed off on most of the artwork today.
Maintaining a consistent, quality image to your customers is very important. Every transaction has a perceived risk and every aspect of your business must work to reduce the perceived risk of doing business with you.
The various documents being printed all had variations of our address on them before sign off:
1136 Gold Coast Hwy
PALM BEACH QUEENSLAND 4221
1136 Gold Coast Highway
Palm Beach Queensland 4221
1136 Gold Coast Highway,
Palm Beach, QLD, 4221
We need to maintain an absolute consistency in everything we do – this aids our branding (people will remember us far more easily), it also shows that we take care of the little details and it presents us as a quality firm (obviously not to a huge degree, but every little bit helps).
Having said that, no one actually ever says “Hey, I noticed that you use a consistent style across your range of documentation.” And there are exceptions, of course – like when you need to abbreviate due to space restrictions.
People will notice sloppy work
But people will notice if your communication material is sloppy, badly written and mistake ridden. Get it consistent and keep that style. It will impact on your branding, your marketing and your success.
So, make it Qld, Queensland, QLD – it doesn’t really matter which one. But choose one and use it everytime (unless of course you don’t live in a place called Queensland. That would just be silly!)
Regards
Brendon
(from www.tailored.com.au post July 2003)