6 Major Branding Mistakes to Avoid

Marisa Hochberg : https://nypost.com/2020/09/28/montauks-surf-lodge-pivots-to-wellness-amid-pandemic/

Branding is as essential for a company’s success as cash flow and investor capital. It’s what distinguishes a start-up from a small business; an established brand from an uninspiring competitor; and even your own company from the competition. Unfortunately, branding can also be one of the most challenging and error-prone areas of a company’s operations. To make things worse, making mistakes in this area is easier than you think. Here are six common brand management mistakes that any business or startup leader should avoid:

Hiring the wrong person for the job.
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of hiring the wrong person for the job. They assume that since the role is part-time, no one will notice. However, this overlooks the fact that brand management is a full-time job. When you’re managing a company’s brand, you’ll be responsible for everything from strategy to implementation. It’s important to remember that every aspect of your company’s branding — from your company name to your company logo and mascot — will have a significant bearing on the success or failure of your business. Every decision you make will have an impact on your team, your brand and your customers.

Failing to measure up to your brand expectations.
Although it’s important to measure up to your brand’s expectations, it’s also important to remember that not all brands are created equal. It’s not that one brand is more valuable than another. It’s that some brands have more potential to succeed than others. If you’re managing a startup, you’ll likely have an unproven brand. There’s a chance that your brand might fail, so you need to make sure that you have the right person for the job.

Too much hierarchy.
It’s human nature to want to centralize authority wherever possible, so when it comes to your company, this means putting the top person in charge. This means having one person who is responsible for managing your entire operation. Unfortunately, there’s no good way to delineate the duties between a brand manager and a business manager. It’s more of a timing issue because it’s often during the early stages of a startup that a business manager will have a large impact on the success of the brand. The best-case scenario is that your brand manager will be in charge of the brand’s strategy, messaging and implementation. However, you should probably err on the side of having too few people with authority rather than too many.

Over-reliance on your advertising and marketing.
Just because you have the best marketing campaign in the world doesn’t mean that people are going to buy your products. You need to use your marketing to get the conversation going, not just rely on one or two big wins to get your name out there. Assign specific responsibility for each of your marketing efforts and make sure that they are being properly managed. If you’re managing a startup, you should probably get your team to kickstart their efforts by managing one or two key marketing investments at a time. It shouldn’t be your job to master the entire marketing game, which is why you should probably delegate responsibility to your team members. When they make a decision that affects how your brand is perceived, you should be there to provide support and make sure that your decision doesn’t negatively impact your brand’s reputation.

Being overly specific with your brand messaging.
When you’re communicating with your customers or stakeholders, you should be using language that ranges from neutral to warm and fuzzy. You don’t want to be too specific because you’ll be limiting your messages to a smaller group of people. For example, you shouldn’t use the brand name ‘Brand A’ when communicating with a team of 1 or 2 people. You should instead use general language like ‘We sell coffee’ or ‘Our services/products range from $20 to $40’. It’s better to be over-general than under-specific.

Being overly inclusive with your brand messaging.
When you’re managing a brand, you want to make sure that it’s being inclusive and representing the full range of people and values that make up your organization. It’s fine to include your brand’s values in your marketing messages, but it’s a bad idea to include every value that your organization stands for. For example, your organization might have a strong focus on diversity and inclusion, but you don’t want to send all of your marketing messages with a bias toward those values. You want to be inclusive of your customers and stakeholders, but you don’t want to send an overt message of your diversity or inclusive values. Instead, you might use your company logo or mention them in your company name.

Conclusion
Your brand is what people remember about you and what they choose to do for your business. By choosing the right keywords and choosing your brand strategy carefully, you can ensure that your brand is remembered and chosen by potential customers.

Read More about Different Types of Brand Strategies: http://publish.lycos.com/customteez/2022/11/07/different-types-of-brand-strategies/