Effective branding plays a huge role in how your business is perceived. We’ve come across a few queries about this in the past, so below are a few helpful hints and tips, and also what to avoid when it comes to branding.
1. Branding is NOT a quick fix
The mistake: When business is down, when customer interest ebbs, or when competition surges, otherwise cool-headed professionals begin to believe that a cosmetic fix will remedy all that ails the bottom line.
The remedy: Before you create or alter the face of your brand, be sure you’re creating an accurate reflection of what’s at the base of your brand. Otherwise, a credibility crisis looms large.
2. Don’t start with a weak brand identity
The mistake: Weak identities appear in the form of names that limit the scope and success of the brands they represent.
The remedy: Invest the time and money required to develop a strong name and logo when you first establish your brand.
3. The branding rule of one
The mistake: Businesses that barely have the budgets and staff required to build one brand try to build two or more.
The remedy: Unless you’re sure that you have the marketing budget and expertise required to build and support multiple brands, stick to the Rule of One: Build one brand for your business.
4. Differentiate your business
The mistake: If you can’t tell customers what you do best, they have no reason to choose your offering and good reason to opt for a different, more distinct solution.
The remedy: Find a distinguishing characteristic that causes your offering to excel over alternatives and build your brand around that point of difference.
5. The importance of what you do
The mistake: Brands suffer if they don’t live up to their promises.
The remedy: Realize that your brand is either made or broken not by what you say but by what you do.
6. Brand consistency
The mistake: Brand owners get bored. They get tired of their looks and messages, so they start improvising. Just like that, consistency goes out the window.
The remedy: Realize that to build and maintain a strong brand, you have to be consistent.
7. Keeping to your brand’s foundations
The mistake: A good brand extends its name to an iffy product or to a product that contradicts the brand message and promise, confusing customers and eroding the brand’s emotional connection with its loyal following.
The remedy: Extending your brand to a new offering is a smart, lucrative action only if you extend within your brand’s reach, either remaining in your established product category or moving into categories that are very compatible with your brand offerings.
Branding goes way beyond just a logo or graphic element. When you think about your brand, you really want to think about your entire customer experience…everything from your logo, your website, your social media experiences, the way you answer the phone, to the way your customers experience your staff. So hopefully these tips can assist you in creating and maintaining an effective brand strategy for your product. Use these tips to help steer yourself away from the improper use of branding which could damage your product’s image.
References:
www.dummies.com/how-to/content/10-branding-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them.html
