Being an entrepreneur is a rewarding journey. However, launching your brand in a competitive market isn’t always easy. It requires skill, efforts, and sometimes, even a little luck! In the case of branding decisions, even one bad mistake can completely derail your brand in your customers’ minds.
Your brand is very important. It is the first thing customers see and the last thing they remember. It is also the theme that runs throughout your entire marketing strategy. Your brand reveals to your customers what to expect when they buy your products or services.
When you focus on building a recognizable brand, you can convert customers into loyal patrons. But all this depends on your branding and marketing activities by Top Advertising Agencies and thus, we bring you the top 5 common mistakes that you should avoid so that you can refine your company’s brand in the future.
- An Amateur Logo
A good Logo is more than just aesthetics; it reflects the personality of a brand. A logo is the first thing customers look at when they see your brand. New businesses often don’t think they have the funds to invest in a logo and end up getting it done from a novice. Investing in a quality logo from a professional designer can make a huge difference in building your brand over the years.
Right branding is crucial to every business’s success. But, some business owners are tempted by the cost advantages of using design software to create the logo either by oneself or getting it gone by a friend. No matter what, these amateur designs are definitely a bad idea for the business and its brand image.
On another hand, a professional logo designer creates a logo with your overall brand in mind. This is a huge benefit for your company because it gives your community and your customers a clear idea of what to expect from your business in terms of products, services, and general buying experience. Your designer will also define the color palette, font style, visual appearance, and the usage requirements for your company logo. These standards will set the tone for your marketing campaigns.
- Lack of Consistency
If you’re inconsistent with the crucial elements related to your brand, your customers won’t remember your business, and they will be confused about your offerings. In fact, if your branding activities don’t reflect your products, services, or the experience for customers, it can alienate your existing customers and stop new ones from being associated with your business.
When establishing a brand, you have to get basic marketing materials in place for getting inquiries. Your brand assets like business card, letterhead, social media banners, website, marketing brochure, hand-outs, labels, invoices, and everything that represents your brand should carry a themed and consistent look. To keep it simple you use the same font and colors throughout.
For example, your retail store offers colorful and exciting clothing for young adults but your website is dull and lacks character, customers won’t know what to expect.
- Not Knowing Your Customers
Remember that everyone isn’t your customer, hence knowing your customer in the most important aspect of creating your brand. As per research, you can get a 241% return on investment if you know exactly who your customer is. Specialize in your niche and focus on reaching out to them. It will require less investment compared to mass marketing and also comes with the reward of brand loyalty and free word of mouth publicity.
Avoiding these kinds of common errors is quite simple, but not easy: find a need that you can fill, then fill that need better than anyone else.
To understand those needs, you’ll need to do some research and testing. Once you know what customers really want it helps you create a reasonable USP, which will help position your brand in the market. And with a strong understanding of what your customers need and want, you’ll have no trouble attracting repeat buyers.
- Not Emphasizing Your Points of Differentiation
To put in a simple question: “So, do you have anything to offer which is different from others?”
In modern times, it’s not enough to emphasize the brand’s ability to meet your customer’s needs. You need to mention a few points of differentiation that make your brand superior to competitor brands. These points should be valued by a significant number of customers. During all promotions, use these points so that customers get attracted to your business over the competition.
Brand positioning is an important part of creating a space for your company and standing out from the competition. A right market positioning creates momentum, which means that every time you market a new product or service, you are building on the previous product.
Most of the time companies market their products without knowing or understanding how their brand is perceived. Hence, they have to iterate at every marketing campaign, which results in costs, time, money, and effort. To understand how consumers will respond to your marketing efforts, do your due diligence. You may need to develop multiple offers, prices, packages, and promotions, then see how potential customers react to each.
For instance, Amazon’s main differentiating factors include affordability, convenience, and a wide range of products.
- Assuming Your Brand Will Take Off Rapidly
Remember that branding is a gradual process that takes time, effort, and patience. You need to be consistent with your branding activities and the results will definitely show over time. Manage your budgets in such a way that you don’t just spend all of it on the launch of your brand.
Spread it over the course of six months or a year so that your customers get to see your brand often everywhere they go.
It’s natural to be lost sometimes during your brand’s inception and progress. That’s why it is best to hire a branding agency that can navigate the complexities of new brand challenges and help your brand take off in the market.
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon
