Everyone knows that a common design identity for all media is important to branding. Customers and targeted prospects should know at first glance that whatever they are viewing is about your company. Most people glance at adverts and emails. In that second they need to know it is from you.

Given that you almost certainly sell by using multimedia and not just email marketing, brand consitancy needs thought. The first difficulty is that there are certain restrictions placed on printed matter and different ones for graphics displayed on a computer. The last thing we want is a design which is bland.

Logos are very effective in establishing your ownership. Those who already are customers or who use your products in some way will notice your logo subliminally. However, a logo alone is not sufficient for integrated design.

The most effective way of branding is by style. Your website, marketing email, packaging, trade stand and invoice can all be instantly recognisable by subtle factors that are common to all. The ranges produced by some upmarket car manufacturers are instantly recognised as such despite them going from the fairly small to the vulgarly large. Badging comes afterwards.

They pay their designers a great deal of money for this advantage, but there are steps you can take to make your material appear corporate. Branding is not that difficult.

It is easy enough to have main headings in a common typeface. So easy that one wonders why everyone doesn’t do it. If you have picked Arial for your marketing emails then use it for the invoice as well. Sub headings should be treated similarly.

With text there is a lot more flexibility. You can choose from justified, flush left or right, or even centred. Bold, italic and even small caps can be used for specific functions that will be common between adverts and emails. Leading, a little extra space between lines, can make a tremendous difference to readability and be easily recognised.

If you can’t afford a bespoke quality design (who can?), check through the free email marketing templates for something that will be a good base and then modify it slightly so that it is undeniably yours. Subtle works well when applied to style. 

Be different by being the same.