A strong foundation is crucial for many things – education, buildings, relationships, and more.
Laying a good foundation for your business starts at the early stages of building a brand. This foundation not only ensures your brand’s success but helps you stay in trend and at the forefront of your customer’s minds.
Building a brand strategy from square one is not easy, and even the best of us can make mistakes. Fortunately, these mistakes are avoidable. Keep reading for the five branding pitfalls you can avoid while building or rebuilding your brand strategy.
Failure to research the competition.
The first step in branding your company should include researching and analyzing the competition while finding ways to stand out. You can win customers by being better, and you can reach more people by being different.
Researching your competitors can help you learn a lot about your business and the area. Some examples of what you will learn include:
- What established companies in your industry have done.
- Where they have succeeded
- And where they have failed.
Your research should include target demographics, products, services, websites, and social platforms.
Not implementing brand guidelines.
A company that lacks brand guidelines is going to look inconsistent. This will present your company as unprofessional and not credible. So, if you don’t have brand guidelines, make sure to develop them immediately. When you do, make sure to cover these areas:
- Tone, voice, and style
- Color schemes
- When, how, and where to use the logo
- Visuals and imagery
- Phraseology and taglines
- Fonts and typography
Brand guidelines make it easier to coordinate content assets across every platform your company is represented, such as your website, social media pages, ads, and more. With a pre-determined style guide, you can guarantee that your brand and its messaging are cohesive across all channels and communications. It also allows you to reinforce your brand identity and credibility.
Underestimating the significance of a quality logo.
A logo is the face of the company. It’s the most recognizable feature of your brand. If you don’t do it correctly from the start, changing it in the future may become a problem.
Understand that a great logo is immediately recognizable but creates a lasting impression. It’s synonymous with the brand itself and a glimpse into the brand’s identity.
[Check out some of Sage Island recent logo designs here!]
Not progressing with your business.
It is crucial that you grow along with your brand. When you are marketing a product, staying with stale messaging could do more harm than good.
Following the trends in marketing and sometimes changing up the product a bit, based on customer reviews, will be critical to your brand’s success.
Not getting help.
Branding is a constant work in progress but start laying the foundation for what you want your business brand to represent now. The most influential brands are created with patience, awareness, and some creativity, so it is something you can start to tackle on your own.
But as your company and universal branding strategies continue to evolve, there’s a likelihood that you could miss a crucial step. However, no matter what mistakes you make along the way, branding experts, like the crew at Sage Island, can help you in nearly all aspects of branding development.
When it comes to developing your brand’s identity, we don’t believe in skimming the surface. Instead, we dive deep to find the ideas and values that make your business different, then transform those facts into a captivating story for your audience.
If you are ready to take your company’s brand to another level, contact us today!