Branding a company can be a confusing and frustrating process. This is especially true for a small business in the marketplace. Defining who your company is and why your company is important to customers can be difficult. Mistakes can easily occur when you are communicating your brand. These mistakes have a negative impact on the way your company is perceived by customers, clients, and competitors. Below is a list of tips to help you avoid some of the most common branding mistakes and to help you cultivate a positive brand image:
- Don’t pick a bad name – Choosing a name for your company, service, or product that is difficult to spell or pronounce is a problem that customers won’t be able to get over easily. If people have to think for too long about how to say the name of your establishment, they’ll probably just visit a competitor with a more customer-friendly name. Your brand should be welcoming and user-friendly, in other words customers should easily be able to discuss your company with friends.
- Being offensive – Most businesses don’t set out to be offensive with their branding, however, messages containing offensive or condescending elements often make their way to the marketplace. Avoid offending customers based on race, gender, religion, or any other criteria by releasing your branding materials to a small group of a variety of people. Use this group as a test and take their input into consideration before releasing branding materials to the masses.
- Nondescript logo – A logo that is ill-fitting and doesn’t match up with your brand is a huge mistake that can confuse potential customers or compel them to do business with competitors. Pick a logo that represents your small business and the environment (fun, serious, etc.) you wish to portray to your customers. If you’re not sure about the logo you have created for your business, show test logos to people who don’t know your company. Then, based on your logo, ask them what kind of business they think it matches. Meeting customer expectations while representing your brand in a genuine way is important. If all else fails, pick something clean, neutral, and well-designed.
These tips can help your small business dodge common branding mistakes and better help you to attract new clients.
As a full service marketing agency, The Belford Group creates branding, websites, marketing, social media and search engine optimization solutions to assist our clients in finding and reaching their ideal audience.
Call us or email us. We’d love to hear from you.
479-443-9945
info@dev.thebelfordgroup.com