Branding Mistakes Businesses Shouldn't Make

Last updated on November 29th, 2022 at 03:04 pm

So you’re setting up a business and checking things off your list. You might think the financial, insurance, and regulatory stuff is the most challenging. You might think branding is not too important; it’s just the logo, right? Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. Many businesses come up short when it comes to their branding, costing them time, money, and customers. But what are these common branding mistakes, and what can you do to avoid them?

Branding Mistakes You Must Avoid

I will explain below the worst and most common mistakes businesses make when it comes to branding. By keeping these in mind when you’re setting up your business, you will be able to set up your branding plan expertly. This will result in your business being much better set up for success.

1. Not Understanding Branding

The mistake many businesses make when they start out is not fully understanding what branding is. Many think it’s just a logo.

Well, branding is essentially a plan for how you want your customer base to perceive your business. By taking time to understand this concept thoroughly and researching what good branding means, you will be able to create this plan for your business and do it well.

You will need to understand exactly what branding is and what it entails to do it well.

2. Merging Branding And Marketing

So many companies make this mistake, and it ends up costing their business a lot. Branding is defining your business and how it fits into the market.

Marketing is selling your business to others. They’re very closely related, and while there is a lot of overlap, you must be able to keep the concepts separate in your mind to do both of these well in your business.

Being aware of the differences will ensure that you do both well. Do your branding first and then your marketing after- this way, you will have a brand to market to others.

3. Not Consulting A Professional

Because many business owners misunderstand branding, they feel they can do it themselves. They do not consult branding professionals who will be able to set their business apart and up for success in the local market.

By looking into the branding agencies that will be aware of your market and how to brand for such a market, you will be able to create a branding plan that will solidify the foundations of your business’ brand.

Making sure you get local branding will help you market your business to the local area. When you search for a branding design agency, make sure that you include your business location in your search, for example, ‘Design Agency Sheffield.’

This will allow you to find a branding design agency that will be more able to cater your branding design plan to your local market, and your business will be able to prosper.

4. Being Too Edgy Or Too Safe

Your branding design can be a challenging balance to strike, which is why it’s often worth getting the help of experts.

Younger, more online brands try to differentiate themselves in the market and do so by being as edgy as possible with their branding strategy.

For example, some brands have used offensive words in their branding design to stand out as much as possible.

However, this has often been counterproductive and has led to boycotts and people not wanting to be seen with the product.

Meanwhile, playing too safe with your branding can also be a problem for your business. If there is nothing unusual or exciting about your brand, it will be hard to attract customers to your business.

Doing lots of competitor research, finding a niche, and making your brand stand out will help create your branding strategy.

Making sure you have a balance between these two extremes will help you when it comes to cultivating a good brand plan.

5. Lacking Brand Consistency

Once you’ve got your branding in place, it needs to be consistent amongst all the channels you use to market your business and all your collateral.

Firstly, ensuring your brand is the same in your social media channels, print, blog, and TV will create brand consistency. This will be important to the perception of your company’s brand.

Inconsistencies in branding send out mixed messages and can negatively impact your company, making potential customers decide against your brand.

It is easy to make sure your social media channels and adverts are consistent- but making sure that invoices and letters remain on brand will further solidify your brand consistency. Brand guidelines will help you to create better brand consistency.

6. Neglecting Brand Guidelines

Creating brand guidelines as part of your branding strategy will help you know your goals and aims when it comes to your branding strategy, and as aforementioned, help you stay on track when it comes to brand consistency.

Brand guidelines include everything such as logo shape and size, font shape and size, color schemes, tone of copywriting voice, brand history and vision, and much more.

These guidelines should help you stay on track when it comes to your branding strategy and help you project your brand out to the public.

Often people neglect these guidelines as they make the mistake that these things are ‘obvious’- and their branding falls to pieces as a result.

By making these guidelines, you will be able to solidify your business’ branding.

7. Being Trend-Obsessed

Many people make the mistake of basing their branding on what’s in trend that month.

However, as Frank Capra said,

Don’t follow trends, start trends.

Following trends can be dangerous when it comes to creating branding for your business, as trends can quickly change. This can leave your branding feeling old-fashioned and can date your business. Being off-trend will put customers off your business.

However, by creating new and innovative branding that reflects your business and is somewhat timeless, you will be able to reach your customer base for longer. Making sure your branding is new and original, rather than re-working what’s in trend that month, will massively increase positive perceptions of your company.

8. Stripping Your Business’ Personality

So many businesses make the mistake of following trends and what every other company in their market is doing that they neglect their identity. They make their branding strategy a copy of what is in trend or what they think will do well.

In doing so, they forget what makes their business unique. This makes them lose their place in the market, as they are identical to their competitors.

Don’t lose your business’ identity in all of the branding strategies.

9. Attempting to Appeal to Everyone

Your product or services simply cannot appeal to everybody- and you shouldn’t try. There would be no market if one company in each industry appealed to everybody.

Toning down certain parts of your brand but exaggerating others to appeal to everyone will not gain customers- this is because you will not appear authentic.

Make sure you appeal to your target market- the rest will sort itself out independently.

10. Forgetting Your Origins

If you’re trying a brand-new branding strategy, you mustn’t alienate your original customer base. By changing your branding too drastically, you could end up alienating the actual market which was loyal to you in the first place.

Even if you’re a company that’s been going a long time, you can stay loyal to original branding that has worked for you; you do not need to replace it with social media marketing.

However, you can take positives from both!

By honoring this original branding, while still keeping your branding strategy up-to-date and fresh, you will be able to both keep initial customers and attract new ones.

Final thoughts,

Now you are aware of these branding mistakes; you will be sure to avoid them with your business. Making sure your branding has a vision and a plan and is authentic will lead to success within your company. Branding is critical- take the steps to create a branding plan today.

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