Having a good brand position in the market ensures steady business. This is the ultimate goal of many entrepreneurs, whether their companies are big or small. If you are just starting out a branding campaign for your new product or business, you may be looking for ways to leverage your strategy in order to compete with industry giants.
As a result, you would probably hire a rebranding company to help you in your marketing campaign. This will reduce your risk of making branding mistakes that you may regret forever. But if you are not yet prepared to partner with any consultant, you can design your own branding strategy. Just make sure to avoid certain mistakes that even an established brand is likely to commit. Here are seven of them you should avoid:
- Failure to Understand What Branding Is
Branding is not just a means to make your business grow. As a matter of fact, branding is itself a business. When something becomes popular, you can create a business out of it. It is wrong to put up a business without knowing what brand you are building. Know your brand first before promoting it. You can’t introduce what you yourself don’t know.
- Not Able to Have a Definite Branding Guideline
Now you know what brand you are establishing for your business. You want to be known in a certain manner. However, you should also know certain guidelines that will define your brand. Here are several points you should consider when creating a guideline:
- Spokespeople
- Images and Photos
- Voice and Sound
- Fonts
- Taglines
- Brand Colors
- Logos
You have to define your brand completely using the above factors.
- Making Your Logo Too Complicated
You don’t have to use all colors to create a logo. It doesn’t have to be too artistic just to create one. All you need is something that will make your customers easily remember your brand. Consider the case of Coke. Their Coca-Cola logo only has one color, and that is red. It doesn’t have any graphic design nor any image of a complex object. It is simply Coca-Cola for a long time.
- Unclear Message
It is not only the image that you should consider in building a brand. You should also create a clear message that your customers will always remember. In creating a message, don’t fall into the trap of using general statements such as “the best product you can buy,” a “service that will surely satisfy you,” and the like. Be specific like, “The only one-click solution to prepare your dinner.”
- Changing Your Brand Too Quickly
It is better to be known for a brand you accidentally created than to create a new brand that will not be easily recognized by your loyal customers.
- Not Protecting Your Brand
Nowadays, anyone may copy or use your brand whether or not your brand is already known. Protect your copyright.
- Unrelated Branding
Some companies make mistakes by creating a brand that is too unrelated to the product or business. Make your logo and your message define what you really offer.
Conclusion
If your brand is not as strong as the popular ones, there is no time to commit any branding mistake that will expel you out of competition. On the other hand, not being aggressive in marketing campaigns is another pitfall. You have to keep on launching a brand campaign, but be careful in every move you make. Even an established brand can make mistakes, let alone a start up business.
