Sound Image

I recently wrote on the importance of finding a solid image, and to compliment that identified image, think about limiting the genres of music you enter into. Of course you can think of bands that have crossed into all sorts of styles or music and awed listeners in every one, yes. I can also compose a list of groups that have performed naked, but that doesn't mean that it is a model to follow to increase popularity.
Think of your band as a business. If you go to the owner of a business and ask them who their market is, they will give you a clear answer (and it won't be "Everyone"). Your product is your music and it will appeal to a specific group of people, and you want to market to them as best as possible. This again goes hand in hand with the image idea.
The mark of death is when you have turned yourself into a tool of image branding. You want to look like you sound, but you don't want to be a sell out! In every style of music, every aspect of what is a beautiful sound, dynamics matter, passion matters, lyrics matter! You CAN write a punk song that gets quiet, you can rap with tempo change, and counter melodies enhance good music of all kinds.
My point is this: if you focus your energy in a specific area, you keep your fans in that area, you gain word of mouth, you are reinvited to venues that play that music, and people who listen to that can play your cd to other people without skipping half the tracks on the music.

Image Consistancy

Think of an image of your favorite band. Now look at a picture of you and your members. See a big difference? Many aspects of band image must work cohesively (along with a great photographer) for the great divide to occur between the joes from the bands that look concrete.

1. The Cloths

You don't need a uniform to look like your group belongs together. Between the 'average' style of everyone, the style of music you are playing, and the feeling you are trying to create, you should be able to identify and physically articulate how you want to construct yourselves. Say the exact feeling out loud with each other. Then when preparing for a show, everyone can consider that very word, or phrase and pick the perfect ensemble.

2. The front man

Nearly every band that makes it big has a front man. This lead figure will define you. He will be the name on everyone's lips and the others will be 'the drummer' and 'the keyboard player.' Take extra care to decide who this is, and figure out how he has to be for the group image to be successful.

Example: If the lead singer/front man does nothing but stand at a mic and sing, it's very difficult for the rest of the team to make a show exciting. They can jump and rock and dominate their instrument, but without the charisma from that key player, it's just a bunch of lost energy.

3. Grooming

Bands change their image drastically over time. The transition observed in most that survive more than a few years is as follows: Clean cut, precise hair, and otherwise looking like a model for the Gap. As fame progresses, there is a tendency to move towards the unruly. Untamed hair, facial hair that comes and goes, well worn cloths, and now looking like the product of some industrial waste land. Find your passion and get your groom on, but do it consistently across the band!

4. Stage presence

The same band can play the same music in the same venue to the same people with different results just by the way they act on stage.

Should you all smile- or are you too cool for school?

Jump, kick, and rock? Dance? Casual?

You decide- just make sure you do it together and on purpose.

Before and After:

Sound Presence

Recently, I listened to a very good local band. They were together, harmonized vocals, had clear dynamics, and the system was powerful enough to reach any vocal level you could possibly need...but they sounded unprofessional.
Why was that?
Even though the speakers could handle the volume, they weren't controlling the sound properly that they were sending to those speakers. It's a tight balance between having no processing (raw) and too much and sound cheesy, especially in small and medium sized venues. If you put an echo on a system in a small room it may be hard to take yourself seriously, but leaving that sound raw could be even more unforgiving.
Bands with a dedicated sound person will change effects and processing throughout a show, but what sound you want will be different from other people depending on your style of music and your concept for a song. Try going to a music store and trying out all the various effects, choruses, echos, and what-not. the bigger the store you go to the more that they will have in house to try, and on average, the more knowledgeable their staff will be.
Don't let that last step of the process comprimise your sound.