We tend to get over-enthusiastic about our branding sometimes as small business owners and at times maybe make some blunders in the process. Ideally a brand should have planned and tested out the branding just as much as what the brand is selling before embarking on launching. Here are some typical blunders that businesses tend to make when they have a top notch product or service and attempt to market it either inadvertently or unknowingly:
1. Sometimes the brand name has no relevance to the product or service being sold and as a result the memorability of the brand will automatically be minimal.
2. This blunder isn’t necessarily limited to the brand name – it extends to the logo, colours, tagline and other core elements that make a brand what it is. If there is no continual relevance to the main markers for your brand, it is irrelevant how good your product or service is because it is being poorly branded and marketed.
3. Another common mistake is the tendency to have inconsistent branding across the various touch points both digitally and physically. You can avoid this by starting with the creation of clear brand guidelines before attempting to design the branding for relevant touch points.
4. Does your sales manager have a different business card design to your finance manager? While they deal with different aspects of your business, it does not mean the branding you place in their hands can be different. As such you need to be able to have a consistent design for all your employees.
5. What about your PowerPoint templates? If you are making presentations in relation to your company, you need to ensure that you have created a working template on PowerPoint that again is consistent with your branding guidelines.
6. Maybe you don’t have a consistent tone of voice in relation to your brand personality and this could also cause confusion and reduce the memorability factor of your brand. Think on this – what is your brand personality, who is he or she and what tone and manner would they address someone in?
7. You could be claiming to be one thing in terms of your brand offering and not being it. Take the convenience factor for instance – many brands claim it but very few actually live by it. If you position yourself as convenient you also need to ensure that you bring in all the added services that actually do make your brand a convenient one to engage with.
