Starting up a business sure is a lot of work and most are caught up with a bunch of different aspects without considering if they do more harm than good. One of these aspects is branding. While it may sound redundant, branding is an essential part of letting potential customers know who you are and what your vision is.
It’s common among novice business owners to commit branding mistakes. In turn, it compromises their marketing strategies and their sales. But all is not lost. Come to think of it, branding is the easiest thing to fix!
To guide you even better, here are 5 branding mistakes that you need to stop doing!
- Not having branding strategies in the first place
Everything starts with a plan. Branding needs guidelines on how, when, and where to use logos. This also includes the writing scheme, tone, colors, imagery, fonts, and more. Failing to establish all of these before you set out to advertise is risky. It implies that your business is inconsistent and even unprofessional.
Identify your brand strategy first.
It would aid you in how to deliver the message that you wish to convey and what interpretation it is that you intend to elicit from the audience. Furthermore, having a fleshed-out strategy would not only embellish your business with direction but also provide credibility.
- Jumping on the bandwagon
In today’s day and age, trends continue to dominate the advertising game. Businesses desperately try to keep up with it but some conflict with their brand. It may be tempting to jump on the bandwagon but it would merit you another branding error: failing to differentiate your brand.
Understand that trends are not permanent. While they may work today, they may not tomorrow. Yes, it’s good to be relevant and grab opportunities for significance. But it’s best to check first if it agrees with your brand or if you can purposefully tweak it to fit your vision. Your customers focus on the value you give.
- Connecting with the wrong community
The style you like may not be the style your audiences are looking for. One of the many mistakes of rookie brand designers is that they produce content for the general public without specifying their target market. This makes it hard for your brand to connect with customers well.
Personalization is important! Your brand needs to speak to your audience on a personal level. But isn’t this a lot of work? Not that much! You can use language everyone understands, level up your creativity and sensitivity, and be inclusive with your audience.
Consider outlining your market’s demographics. From there, you can easily strategize on branding and many other facets of your business.
- Inconsistent designs and styles
The most important thing a business needs to build with customers is trust. And you can’t achieve that if your brand continues to present inconsistent designs and styles. This crucial detail may be the mistake that keeps you from getting clout and progress. If you’re going to look different every single time, you risk breaking the trust given to you by the customer.
Yes, change is inevitable and good! But again, don’t fix something that isn’t broken. You can upgrade your brand without having to compromise your vision.
- Not having a contingency plan
One crucial detail about branding: it’s always up for public scrutiny and may easily lead to being sued. Even just a single misstep can make your entire business come crumbling down. Like it or not, no business is secure from PR and branding setbacks. To top that all off, not having a crisis management plan will only make things worse. It’s like you’re out in the cold without knowing what to do.
Don’t let branding crises affect your brand poorly in the future. It is the most flexible thing you can change right now. And, having a contingency plan would do wonders for your brand!
All in all, branding is definitely crucial and must be strategically and professionally identified. To help you with this, Motion Cabin offers assistance with all your branding needs!
Take your business to the next level! Send us a message.
