Nike’s swoosh, McDonald’s Golden Arches and Adidas’s three stripes likely resonate in your mind when you think about great branding. As a small business, taking on your own branding efforts can seem like a daunting task. In a previous blog (link to the How Important is Brand Identity blog) we touched on the fact that your brand is what sets you apart from others in the industry. It’s the way that people can identify your products and services.
Today we want to show you five branding mistakes that businesses often make so that when it comes time for you to work on creating your business’ brand, you can avoid these faux pas.
Brand guidelines – Don’t forget to establish a defined set of guidelines. If you forget this initial step, you’ll surely forget important pieces to the branding puzzle. With that being said, here are just a few to consider:
- Logos – Don’t forget that you’ll likely have more than one logo: an overarching logo and any other logos that your company may use including logos for individual product lines.
- Brand colors – Just like Pepsi uses red, white and blue, it’s important to decide on what colors you’ll use and stick to them. These colors will then be used when creating other brand materials in the future, so choose wisely.
- Tag line – An example of a brand’s tagline is Subway’s “Eat Fresh.” Their tagline is short, sweet and to the point and clearly connects the overall brand to the words. When creating a tagline, you want to avoid wordiness and create something that ties your overall brand message into one sentence.
Keep it simple – As a small business, it can be enticing to keep adding to your brand. However, it’s important to keep it simple. Your logo doesn’t need 15 different colors to represent your company. Keeping your logos clean and simple will help you to be recognized and remembered better than overcomplicated brand elements.
Be consistent – Consistency across every channel is essential when growing your brand. Inconsistency can put your credibility at risk. Picture your brand as a politician. If a politician says one thing during a speech and tweets out a contradictory remark on social media, he/she is conveying an inconsistent message. This notion holds true to your brand in that it’s important to keep your branding consistent across all channels of communication to your consumers.
Stand out – Don’t get stuck in a rut. Avoid the mistake of lacking creativity and setting yourself apart from your competitors. To do so, you don’t want to use the same theme and logo ideas because that puts you on the same level as your competition, not ahead of the curve like you should be. Use your imagination and think outside of the box when creating your brand elements. In the end, be creative and appropriate for your industry!
You are your brand – And finally, perhaps we saved the best for last, it’s imperative to remember that your employees are your brand. Successful branding starts within your company. Some companies forget that it’s up to the staff to consistently deliver the company’s message to consumers. So, talk to your employees often and make sure that they are accurately articulating your brand’s message, logo and tag line. What you do inside of your company is what your consumers will see on the outside so make sure that your employees clearly communicate your brand to the masses.
