Creating a consistent brand for your small business is a highly effective way to get more customers and clients, to increase awareness of your organization and to generally propel yourself to new heights. Having a strong brand will create many more opportunities for you and will mean that every aspect of your business helps to strengthen every other aspect.
But marketing a brand isn’t easy and that’s why there are so few sites online that have that strong presence and identity that they need. Here are some of the most common mistakes that companies and individuals will make when marketing their brand…
1.Lack of Consistency
This applies both to your visual consistency – in terms of the way your brand looks across various channels and your consistency in terms of the topic, industry and values you put out.
The point of a consistent brand is that it should represent a certain degree of quality and a certain predictability in terms of what users get. People should know that something with your logo on it will be something that they enjoy.
So if your website is talking about puppy dogs one week and programming the next, you’re going to lose people. Likewise, if you put out a brilliant product one month and the next thing you release is garbage, people won’t be able to trust you in future. Stay consistent and stay true to your vision and purpose.
2. Poor Visuals
Aesthetics are an important aspect of your branding and if you don’t have a strong logo and strong visuals through your advertising and web design, then your brand isn’t going to be memorable to your customers and users. If your logo is a grainy JPG that looks like something you made in college, then it might be time to hire a professional or rethink your visual branding altogether.
3. Missed Opportunities
Every business card, social media account, invoice and email is a chance to strengthen your brand. Make sure you include your logo everywhere and don’t miss an opportunity to show it off.
4. Lack of Self Awareness
When creating your branding, you are creating the way that people are going to see you. To do this effectively though, you need to be objective and realistic. If you’re a one-man-band tinkering in your free time, then don’t try and brand yourself as a global corporate enterprise. It will ring false and your brand will fail as a result.
5. Lack of Systems
When marketing your brand you need to make room for your brand and business to grow. This means taking on more customers and clients, being seen as an industry/niche authority, and ultimately the ability to handle more traffic to your platforms with the ability to convert it to sales and brand loyalty. The only way to accomplish this is to have systems in place that allow you to make every prospect and visitor feel like you are interacting with them personally. They need to get a feel of your personality and feel safe paying you for goods and services.
I know it seems impossible, but it is manageable when you have the proper systems in place to nurture prospects and leads, onboard new clients, and build ongoing relationships with your customers for repeat sales and brand loyalty. Moral of the story is without the right systems in place you become overwhelmed, overworked and lose money.
