Standardization aspires to perfect consistency and predictability across the data set; both within and between fields.  The following examples show an illustration of Non-Standardized vs. Standardized data: 

Notice the inconsistent casing, abbreviations, punctuation, ‘state’ entries, the missing leading zero in the Connecticut (CT) ZIP code, and several entirely blank records.  

...after some preliminary standardization routines were run on it:

Now all the records are Upper Case, punctuation has been removed, address elements have been standardized to USPS regulations, the ZIP+4 has been added, the leading zero on the Connecticut zip has been added, and blank records are gone.  

Validation                                Enhancement.