Whether it's a big scale or small scale company, when it comes to branding, business owners really have to work hard and dig deep on the ground. However, most of them tend to do just the opposite. Instead of promoting the company, they tend to put it in a market less traveled.
Despite the efforts, some small business owners still seem to fail at taking care of the brand. Here are the 3 major branding mistakes that small business owners must avoid.
1. Failure to Grasp the True Power of Branding
According to Entrepreneur, brand building is empirical in two business perspectives - customer-relationship and SEO. When carving the brand of a business, one of the most important things that business owners forget is to build the connection between the company and its target customers. Even though the logo is made out of geometrical perspective, if it lacks the connection towards the target customers, it would be just a simple image instead of being a celebrated trademark.
In the SEO perspective, popular brand means more clicks. According to the same source, focusing on the brand building could generate website traffic and awareness benefits.
2. Failure to Understand Branding Guidelines
One of the major mistakes in brand building is that there are no defined set of guidelines that help build a strong brand. When making a brand identity, having a defined set of guidelines is a must. As per the report by the same source, the following must be used for brand building:
- Logo
- Brand Colors
- Tag Lines
- Fonts and Typography
- Imagery
- Spokespeople
3. Thinking They Own The Brand
Most business owners think that branding revolves around the company; that they own and define the brand. In one perspective, it's true. However, in a more sensible way, it's the customers who define and own the brand. Everything lies in their desires.
In an example given by Startup Grind, Tropicana suffered just did the same mistake. Tropicana once changed the entire packaging of their juice product. However, it seems that they failed to recognize that such a change would drastically affect their patronizers. After months or re-branding, Tropicana decided to go back in its old packaging.
Brand building is indeed a difficult part of any business and at some point, entrepreneurs fail to establish their identity in the market. However, by avoiding the major branding mistakes above, building an identity should be a lot easier. For more business tips, check out Jobs & Hire.
