In this article Dallas SEO expert Angie Art will discuss five of these commonly made mistakes so that you can avoid them.
Developing a unique and easily recognizable brand for your business is not an easy process. It requires a significant investment of money, time, and energy. This being said, the hard work you put into it will pay off over time, because an easily recognizable brand can do wonders for your business. Just think about brands such as Coca Cola, Apple, Nestle, and Google that are recognized at a glance by billions of people across the globe.
Branding is a delicate process because of all the intangible factors you are dealing with in creating an identity for your business. Most people make some mistakes while creating a brand for their business, and in this article, we will discuss five of these commonly made mistakes so that you can avoid them.
1. Not clearly defining your brand guidelines
Before creating a brand for your company, you need to define some clear brand guidelines by asking yourself the following questions:
What type of brand do you want to create, exactly?
What message do you want to convey to consumers via your brand?
What kind of voice do you want to use for your brand?
Additionally, you should think about some of the tangible essential elements that are essential for every brand to have:
Logo
Taglines
Brand Colors
“Voice” used in your branding materials
Mascots
Imagery
This is not a comprehensive list, and you can use these characteristics in combination with others however you feel best fits your brand.
2. Overcomplicating your brand
The instantly recognizable brands mentioned earlier — Coca Cola, Google, Apple, or Nike — stand out from the competition due to their inherent simplicity. Coca Cola’s logo is an excellent example of this. The logo has retained its original look, despite going through several minor changes in the last 127 years.
In the above images, you can compare Coca-Cola’s current logo to its original one: despite updates in typography and color, it is still easily identifiable as belonging to the same brand.
3. Poor Rebranding
Poor attempts at rebranding are the number one venture to destroy a good brand. You need to consider all the factors before embarking on a rebranding exercise.
Consumers identify with brands on a subconscious level, and any changes which you make will reduce the connections you’ve already built with your target audience. Before making any changes to existing branding, be sure that the benefits will outweigh the costs.
4. Not monitoring your brand usage
You also need to actively monitor how others use your logo or branding material to attempt to represent you.
Of course, you should keep an eye on competitors who may attempt to copy or tarnish your brand or logo, but those with good intentions can be harmful, too. Often, employees and fans can confuse a brand’s identity by using an inaccurately colored or otherwise incorrect version of the design. To combat this, you should develop a clear set of guidelines that contain the information needed by those who want to use your logo on your behalf.
5. Using a voice that your customers can’t relate to
A brand’s voice is perhaps the next most important factor after the visual imagery and logo.
You need to consider your target audience, their interests, and how they would like to be communicated to before deciding on what kind of brand voice you will use. Ideally, you must try to communicate with your prospects and customers in a voice that they can immediately relate to. This can help you build instant connections and higher brand recall.
Conclusion
Branding is an ongoing exercise that continues even when the initial process of developing a branding identity is over. Above, we laid out some of the mistakes in this area that occur across all companies, regardless of size.
The basic idea is to keep branding simple, use a voice that resonates with your customers, avoid overcomplicating things, have clear branding guidelines, and monitor the usage of your branding materials. As long as you continually follow these steps, you’re good to go.
If you need help in creating a brand for your business, don’t hesitate in contacting the branding experts at KISS PR.com. For over a decade, they’ve been helping entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through cost-effective branding strategies. Contact their team at 972-437-89 or fill in this contact form to schedule a free consultation.
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