Branding Mistake #1 – No clear understanding of what branding means
For many businesses, branding is limited to their name, logo, brand colours, and the fonts they use but it’s much more than that.
Branding refers to anything and everything you communicate about your business to everyone you come across. It’s a mix of your visual aesthetic, business values/goals, right down to your customer experience.
Make sure everything you do aligns with your brand and how your audience perceives you.
Branding Mistake #2 – Assuming branding and marketing are the same
Branding and marketing share overarching goals and are often used together that it’s understandable why many business owners—and even marketers—assume that they’re the same.
Simply put, marketing focuses on the processes and strategies you use to communicate something valuable to your target audience.
Branding, on the other hand, focuses on what message you want to share.
Branding Mistake #3 – Branding = Company Logo
It’s important to note that a logo is part of your branding and not the start of your branding. It is meant to be a visual representation of your brand that should tell the story behind your business.
Most people start with a logo design instead of their marketing plan which outlines their brand mission, vision and values they offer. Defining these first will shape your logo design.
More importantly, every single element that goes your logo should equate to something within your brand message.
Branding Mistake #4 – Not working with a professional to create your logo
This branding mistake results from many business owners and marketers not understanding the role a logo plays in your brand marketing strategy.
Your logo is the visual representation of your brand messaging. Therefore, it should be able to clearly convey who you are and what your brand stands for.
Nowadays, you can quickly design a logo without having to hire a professional Graphic Designer using platforms like Canva & Fiver but do these logo really represent your brand & your business? Have they been designed with your ideal target audience in mind? Or have you made them about you?
Branding Mistake #5 – Not using your brand style guide correctly
This branding mistake like a logo design results in people not understanding the role of a brand style guide. This document can help you save heaps of time & make your life a whole lot easier! A Brand Style Guide is a clearly defined set of rules & standards that communicates how your brand should be represented to the world. It’s made up of your logo, mission statement, colour palette, fonts, photography style, social media aesthetic & more. Its an organic document that will grow as your business does.
How to use your Brand Style Guide? Anyone working with your brand, i.e a VA, Signage company, Social Media Manager, uniform supplier, should have a copy of your Brand Style Guide. That way you can ensure a cohesive brand is created across the various marketing platforms for web, print and social media.
