When it comes to your company’s reputation you don’t want to let bad branding mistakes affect your image. Your brand is very important for every aspect of your company. Good branding can make your company go far and look great for potential and current customers.
The problem is that many business owners either underestimate or neglect their brand when it comes to their image. If you have a great product but a bad brand, then, unfortunately, you may not find the success that you deserve.
Keep reading to find out seven mistakes that you should avoid when it comes to branding and your company’s image.
1. Not Listening to Your Audience
One of the biggest mistakes you can make for your brand is not listening to your audience. Your target audience is the people you want to sell your products to so they’re the ones you should be listening to. When it comes to your product you need to figure out who will be purchasing it.
Branding for your company is all about making connections and catering towards your target audience. You need to decide if your audience likes a brand that uses comedy or if they’re more straight forward.
For example, if your target audience is millennials, then they may be more attracted to your company if you use humor for your brand. But if you’re geared more towards the baby boomer generation, then they would prefer content that is precise and grammatically sound.
2. You Don’t Have a Brand Voice
Another huge mistake that you can make for your brand is not having a brand voice. This also goes along with finding your target audience. Your brand voice needs to be geared towards your audience and what they can relate to.
The language of your brand must be consistent across all of the platforms you use. Whether it is digital media, your website, social media or even printed marketing materials. Consistency is key and if not used correctly this is where brands fail.
A digital marketing consultant is a great resource that can help your brand find its voice. They can take your social media accounts to the next level and help them get recognized by your target audience.
3. Relying Too Much on Trends
Keeping up with trends is a great way to show that your company is fresh and modern. But if you rely too heavily on the next big trend, then this could be a huge mistake for your brand. You aren’t really creating your own identity if you’re using trends to market yourself.
Another thing to think about is that trends come and go, sometimes very quickly. If you rely too heavily on one trend, then your brand could look outdated very quick. To combat this mistake, you should try to gather inspiration from current trends while also remaining true to yourself and your brand’s core.
4. Don’t Make the Wrong Connections
Your brand is essentially the face of your company and everything it stands for so you don’t want to connect it to things that don’t make sense. Branding is very strategic and important when it comes to defining your company. If you’re geared towards one thing, then doing something completely out of the ordinary won’t look good for your brand.
For example, if your brand sells toothpaste and dental hygiene products then you probably wouldn’t partner with a soda or candy company. You don’t want to partner with a company that has different values than yours. Making the wrong connections just because it may make you money is a bad brand mistake that could cost you a lot of potential customers.
If you do decide to create a partnership or co-brand with another company, then you will want it to be successful. For example, Red Bull partnered with GoPro to help promote their products. These brands are both lifestyle brands that center around action, fearlessness and fun so it makes sense for them to team up.
5. Slacking On Customer Relationship
When you started off creating your brand you probably devoted a lot of time in building customer relationships. As your brand gets larger and more popular you need to keep up that same drive in making your customer relationships a success. Your customers are people too and if they feel recognized by you and your brand then they are more likely to give you more business.
Being friendly and having good customer service are two traits that will help to benefit any business no matter what niche you’re in. If you care about your brand’s image, then you will want to engage with customers on social media in a positive way or respond to emails about questions and concerns they may be having. You should make it a goal to respond to all customers within 24 hours of them initially reaching out.
6. Rebranding to Try and Fix Things
There are several occasions when rebranding your company works out for the better. But the majority of the time, rebranding is not going to fix the things that you think are going wrong within your company. Before jumping to rebranding, you should give it your best effort to work on the things that aren’t doing so well.
If you do decide that rebranding is your best strategy, then you need to plan out a way for it to be a smooth transition. Not having a solid brand plan is a huge mistake that can hurt your image. Rebranding whenever things go wrong will not help fix them unless you have a brand new plan.
7. Forgetting About Social Media
In the world we live in, people are glued to their phones and social media pretty much all day. So if your brand doesn’t have social media presents then this mistake could be detrimental. Social media is a huge outlet to present your brand and it is completely free.
You should make sure to devote time to build your brand on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or any other social media platform so you can stand out in your niche. It will be easier for your target audience to find you if you gear your social media towards them.
Avoid Bad Branding at All Costs
Your brand is what everyone thinks about when your company is brought up. Bad branding can ruin your image in more ways than one, especially if they’re silly mistakes that could have been avoided.
Contact me today to find out how I can help your brand stand out from the crowd.
