Your brand says a lot about your company. It tells the story of your business, communicates your message to your target audience, and it visually represents you to the rest of the world. No pressure, but your branding is important!
The ultimate goal of branding is to get people to feel a certain way when they come across your business — whether it’s your website, social media or online content — and to associate those feelings with your brand down the road.
Here’s how to avoid the most common mistakes businesses make with their branding.
Inconsistency
When we think of branding, we usually consider logos, web design, fonts, and colors. These will all create a visual representation of what your brand stands for, so it’s important to maintain consistency across the board.
Your business card, website, social media, or anything else that represents your brand should use the same branding in order to create a strong, identifiable brand identity. Inconsistency across your website or social media will end up confusing people and make it harder for them to identify you among other brands.
Figure out which branding elements you want to use and then make sure to implement them across all of your products and marketing efforts.
You Don’t Know Your Audience
You’ve heard it time and time again, and that’s because it couldn’t be more important: know your audience. Every part of your business will thrive off of knowing who your target audience is.
Knowing what kind of customers you want can help you design the right product for them, figure out how they want to be sold to, and determine what kind of branding will appeal to them most. Your potential customer may be more drawn to colors, or maybe they prefer a minimalist style; maybe they’re more into words, or maybe they lean towards strong visuals.
It’s up to you to figure out who you’re targeting and what makes the most sense for your business. Once you’re determined who your audience is, you’ll be able to create a strong brand that they identify with.
No Messaging
You have a product, you have a website, and you have potential customers. But if you don’t have a clear message, your mission and purpose may get lost. While branding is thought to be an aspect of your business that’s focused on visuals, your brand’s messaging is equally as important.
The tone you use in your messaging, whether it’s your website copy, social media captions or blog posts, will translate into your brand voice.
So, for example, if you have a professional service and want to market it to high-level executives, you’d likely use a professional and knowledgeable tone to get through to them. Make sure your mission, goals, and target audience is clear so that you can properly communicate the right message to your audience.
Visuals
While your brand’s message is at the core of everything you do, the visuals are what really pull it all together. Humans are very visual creatures, so it’s only natural to be drawn to a brand because of their use of graphics or images.
Whether it’s through lifestyle shots, animated graphics, icons, or product shots, determine what best represents your business and the message you’re trying to get across and you’ll be able to figure out the direction you want to go. No matter how you choose to create visual features, make sure they’re high-quality and make sense for your brand.
