Many people have resorted to starting their own businesses in recent years. With more people doing better through the lockdown with business, it has given much false hope in the way they think that they are going to be making anything near how these brands in lockdown did. Newsflash for everyone, this was an anomaly and many businesses are wondering why they aren't doing well after the lockdown. One, it's because people can go to the shops now, and two, they have not spent any time branding and developing their business.
In the world we live in, branding is more important than ever in saturated markets as you need to differentiate and show why people should use you over your less expensive competitors. Branding is not a one-off setup and you just let it run, it should be constantly evolving and be a blueprint for how you run your business. In this article, we will go through some of the common branding mistakes that small and medium-sized businesses make and how to avoid this from happening.
Failing to understand the meaning of branding
Branding is a blueprint for how you run your business and how you want the world to see you. Many businesses focus on the growth of a business, but you can't grow if you have no followers or don't meet the needs of your customers. This is why a brand is so important, you need people to resonate with your brand in order to grow. To fully integrate branding into your business, you need to understand the concept.
Confusing marketing and branding
There is a common misconception when businesses start their business that marketing and branding are the same. Well, that is not true at all. Putting it simply, your branding is what resonates with people and portrays how you run your business, what you do, your core beliefs and basically something that defines your business. Marketing on the other hand is telling people about your brand and letting people know what you are about. If you are worrying about which one to do first, it's branding. Branding always comes before marketing as you need to define your business.
Skipping help and advice from professionals
Some people are lucky enough to be multiskilled and be able to do a lot of the business themselves, but there are others who don't. Branding can be difficult and has a lot of different components such as psychology, graphic design, copywriting and much more so it is vital to get help in the areas that you are struggling with. Hiring a design agency Manchester based will see some of the best talents you can work within the UK.
Targeting the wrong audience
Many businesses don't look into their business enough and believe that everyone will want their product. This is a very narrow-minded opinion for such a broad belief. No, not everyone is going to want your product, and fewer people are going to resonate with your brand, so it is essential that you are meeting your audience's needs with your branding and only market to them when you have a low budget. Targeting too many audiences can result in no profit, so define your audience and stick with that until you are able to grow and produce more products for different audiences. Here are some areas to consider when defining your audience:
- What is the interest of your audience?
- Where are they located?
- What are their age
- How much do they earn?
- What are their needs?
- What are their pain points?
Lacking consistency across channels
Once you have strong brand guidelines, it is essential to have your brand represented in the same way across all the different platforms that you are on such as hiring social media profiles, the blog, TV, PR and everything else you are on. Being inconsistent with branding can result in users becoming confused about what account is real which then in turn loses the trust and reliability that your brand is trying hard to build.
There are many mistakes to make when creating a brand, but this should not deter you as every mistake is a lesson. Avoid these mistakes, create a strong brand strategy and follow your guidelines to remain consistent and this will all help your business grow.
