Branding Mistakes To Avoid
Branding Blog By Brand Identity Guru:
1. It “sells itself.” I don’t need to market
Okay, you might have a solid product or service. You might even routinely satisfy your customers. They might even send their friends and family to you. But wait. Is that your product or service selling itself? No (that is, unless your widgets have learned to speak). That’s one of your customers playing out-of-the-goodness-of-my-heart salesperson for you. Yeah, word-of-mouth is nice, and if it’s happening for you, congratulations! It’s a sign of a great product or service. But relying on it exclusively can hurt you. Yes, six degrees of separation and all that, but counting on those connecting conversations to consistently mention you, especially down the line, is a bad gamble. Word of mouth needs help. A kick in the butt: a reminder to your customers of their good experience with you and an enticing offer to potential new customers to give you a try.
2. “One of these things… looks just like the other”
You might sell red cars, and Johnny Big Wheel down the street might sell a similar blue car. But what’s under the hood? Even better question: what’s under the hood that makes yours better than the blue car? This is the essence of differentiation in the marketplace, and if you’re not playing up the things about you that make you different-and better-than your competition, your marketing is driving nowhere.
3. Liar, liar, your business is on fire and up and smoke
If you think word-of-mouth is powerfully working for you, it’s just a fraction of the punch a bad buzz can pack. The best way to a bad buzz? Over promising and under delivering. It will kill you. That’s why it’s important to be truthful in your marketing. Say what you can do. Not what you wish you could do, or might be able to do. If you must err, do so on the side of under promising and over delivering.
4. One-trick marketing is like a no-trick magician
It won’t do anything, and people won’t pay to see your show. To get your message to resonate in today’s market, you need to make your appeal in every corner the market looks. Print advertising, direct mail, online, telemarketing, public relations, and in person. In every place, a consistent brand image and message.
5. Microsoft Word clipart is for junior high book reports, not corporate identities
A logo is the face of your company, so it must be unique and memorable. Not available for millions to place into whatever bake sale flyer they’re working on at the moment. But a corporate identity is more than a logo. It’s your company’s unique value proposition and its products and service…all instantly recognizable on sight of your logo, name and tagline.
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