Good branding can help make your company stand out in a competitive market. Building a successful brand isn’t easy. Here are five common blunders to avoid to ensure that people remember your brand for the right reasons.
Not researching the competition
By researching your competitors, you can identify the kind of branding that they’re using and aim to make yours different. The worst thing you can do is accidentally imitate your competitors, who may then decide to file a lawsuit. Make sure to promote the part of your business that makes you unique. This could be a service or product that other local businesses don’t offer. Alternatively you may be aimed at a niche market that other companies aren’t, such as high-end consumers or those on a very tight budget.
Not getting feedback
Make sure to get feedback on your branding so that you can identify its strengths and weaknesses. By relying on your instincts, you could be overlooking certain factors that could help boost your branding. Once you have a rough design, ask your friends, family and colleagues what they think. You can also create an online survey and get some public feedback. Advice from a marketing professional can also be advantageous. Aim for feedback from a wide array of sources.
Doing it all yourself
Unless you own a marketing company yourself, it can often be worthwhile getting some help from outside professionals. Doing it all yourself will be time-consuming, and if you don’t know what you’re doing it could come across clumsy and unprofessional. Shop around for a digital marketing agency to help you build a professional brand. You may even want to hire specific companies for specific weaknesses such as website design or social media marketing.
Getting caught up in logo redesign
Many companies wanting to freshen up their brand will make redesigning their logo the first point of call. Whilst a strong logo can make a difference, this can often be costly. It may involve having to pay to change signage, re-print t-shirts and you may have to alter your website to accommodate for a new logo. Consider other changes you can make that aren’t as expensive and are likely to be more profitable such as coming up with new promotions, offering new services or upping your marketing.
Allowing branding inconsistencies
Your brand needs to feel consistent across the board. This means not only using the same logo everywhere, but having the same tone of voice on all platforms and having a clear target market. If this is all inconsistent, your company could come across as disorganised to potential clients. Make sure to have a clear message with your branding, and if you decide to change this message make this change universal – you don’t want to end up with a website that’s stuck in the past and contradicts the rest of your advertising.
