A few weeks ago I noticed a can of Coca-Cola in our refrigerator. It stood out because our family doesn’t have soft drinks in our house very often.
But the biggest thing that stood out to me was the phrase printed at the bottom of the can: “Delicious & Refreshing.” It immediately reminded me of a 1905 Coca-Cola ad that I had used in a marketing presentation which I had given recently.
In the middle of that 119-year-old Coca-Cola ad, under the logo was “Delicious and Refreshing.” Wow! The same phrase. Just the “and” changed to an ampersand. That’s some consistency! They knew what their customer benefit was in 1905. And since the drink hasn’t changed, the benefit hasn’t changed either. So they keep saying it.

Design styles may change through the years. But consistency is a marketing principle that never goes out of style.
Advertisers often ditch good marketing because they get “bored” of it and they think their customers are bored of it, too. Of course, customers might get bored of the presentation style. But they don’t get bored of the product benefit. You don’t have to use the exact same words to describe the product benefit like Coca-Cola has done. But, then again, you might.
Consistency doesn’t prohibit creativity. In fact, some of the most creative marketing campaigns are extremely consistent. Finding new and creative ways to keep saying the same thing over and over again is the real work of creative marketing. We don’t have to start with a blank sheet.
The benefits of consistency in marketing are two-fold:
It keeps you focused on the customer benefit that you originally identified.
It allows your marketing to keep building on itself instead of starting from scratch over and over.
No matter how much design styles change. No matter how much media avenues change. Some marketing principles are timeless. And consistency is one of them.
If you need help refreshing your marketing while retaining consistency, contact me: delanebutler.com/contact. That’s what I love doing for businesses and nonprofits.