Guest post by Gordon Maher
Branding for a business, especially a start-up, is essential to its success. However, defining your brand is not so easy it requires forethought thought and a strategic plan.
If you don’t have a plan, then your branding efforts can backfire and hurt your business.
Branding isn’t just about ticking a few boxes of a branding checklist; it’s a process that’s built on consistency and focus on the big picture of how you want to be perceived.
Although, building a brand identity takes time there are some basics you should get right from the get-go. Unfortunately, many businesses start off on the wrong foot and make mistakes that prevent them from positioning their brand for long-term success.
These are mistakes that you really can’t afford to make.
Mistake 1 – Not Having A Brand Strategy
Every business needs a brand strategy. In a world where many products and services are similar, your brand image and what it stands helps separate your business from your competitors.
You have to figure out what your unique story is, what you stand for, who your ideal target customer is and how you would like to position yourself in the market.
Mistake 2 -Not Having A Consistent Brand Voice
The second mistake a lot of businesses, especially small ones, make is not having a consistent brand voice. Your brand is the personality of your business, and it shouldn’t feel like your company has split personality disorder.
So, ensure that your identity remains the same on all your marketing channels and that all your communications follow a similar tone.
Mistake 3 – Not Putting Thought into Your Logo
A logo is worth a thousand words. Although, small in size it has to do a lot of heavy lifting. It’s also one of the first things your audience will notice about your business.
Your logo design should not be an after-thought. The types of colors you pick, the fonts you choose and the icons you use help convey your brand personality, they tell a story, and you want to make sure your logo is telling the right story.
Mistake 4 – Not Having a Distinct and Consistent Visual Identity
In highly competitive markets your visual identity can help differentiate your product or service from that of your competitors. But, your visual identity, just like your brand voice needs to be consistent across all platforms.
Companies like Monday, Elementor, have this nailed. They have a consistent and distinct visual identity which makes them stand out from the rest of competing companies in their space.
Mistake 5 – Not Keeping an Eye on Your Competition
Your competition shouldn’t be your branding benchmark, but it’s important to understand how they are positioning themselves. Maybe, you have a gap in your brand strategy, that your competition is filling.
While you should always focus on building your own unique identity, don’t shouldn’t ignore what your competition is doing, or you may miss out on a golden opportunity.
Mistake 6 – Not Being Responsive Online
Gone are the days when social media used to be only for talking and communicating with friends and family. Consumers today are vocal and expressive and social media has given their voice a platform.
If you’re not responsive to questions and feedback on your social media channels, then the image you portray online will be one of a business that doesn’t care about its consumers. That is a serious offense in the branding world.
Mistake 7 – Not Having a Customer Centered Brand Policy
Companies like Amazon built their brands around their customers. With Amazon, the customer is everything! This is what has helped them become such a powerhouse of a company.
If your brand is not customer-centered, you will struggle to get ahead. But, when you have a customer first policy, your audience will be more inclined to become brand advocates, and advocates are worth their weight in gold.
Mistake 8 – Not Budgeting for Branding
Branding ROI (return on investment) isn’t easily measurable in numbers and due to many businesses when starting-out tend to shy away from investing in branding.
However, even if you are on a tight budget, you should still make room for branding activities such as sponsoring local events, even if you can’t measure the direct ROI.
Mistake 9 – Not Realizing Your Brand Is Aging
You have a strong brand, congratulation, but is it getting too old? Perhaps it is time to re-brand some segments of your business or maybe a brand overhaul.
Not realizing that your brand has aged is another mistake a business can’t afford to make. As fashion styles represent the era they are from; similarly, brands too represent the decade they are from and require a refresh from time to time.
Mistake 10 – Not Innovating and Experimenting
Innovation and experimentation are at the heart of marketing and branding, and if you fail to innovate then you will be left behind by your competitors who are trying new things, and I am sure you don’t want that to happen.
The mistake of not innovating and experimenting is not one a successful business can make.
Bonus Mistake – Not Building A Community Around Your Brand
You should strive to have a strong and thriving community of customers. You do this by providing added value that goes beyond your core product or service.
There are lots of ways to achieve this, such as creating content that enriches your customer lives or by creating forums and groups where you can engage directly with your audience and where they can engage with each other.
To Wrap-up…
Getting from where your brand is now to where it wants to be is a long road, but by avoiding the above common mistakes, you can get to where you want to be a lot sooner.
If there are any other mistakes, you think that businesses make, please chime in below in the comment section and let us know.
About the author: Gordon Maher is the head content writer for Tailor Brands the worlds leading logo maker and automated branding platform. They offer a suite of tools that help small businesses and entrepreneurs create a professional brand identity.
