Great branding can be a good way to attract customers, encourage them to buy and even turn them into long-term advocates for your company. But bad branding? Well, that can do the exact opposite, pushing customers into the arms of your competitors and eating into your profits and sales.
Sadly, most companies fall into the latter camp, making small but dangerous branding mistakes that threaten their sales and the overall health of their organization.
Want to make sure you don’t do the same? Take steps to avoid these 5 big branding no-nos:
1. Being confusing or vague. The whole point of branding is to establish a persona for your company – a clear-cut who, what, why and how for your organization. Good branding should tell customers what you stand for, what your values are and what you have to offer. If your branding is confusing, overcomplicated or, even worse, too vague, and these points don’t come across, then you may as well just hand the sale over to your biggest competitor.
2. Looking outdated. You definitely want your branding to stay consistent, but that doesn’t mean your logos, website and marketing materials should stay the same for decades. In fact, in today’s high-tech age, there’s no bigger turn-off than an old, out-of-touch-looking brand! Branding should be updated every few years for every company (no matter what!), so that it still resonates with the target demo as well as industry trends and expectations. Don’t ever let your branding get stale or tired!
3. Doing too much. The best brands are simple and easy to take in and understand. You might think it is clever to have a different slogan for every commercial you run or ad you place, but in reality it just muddles the brand and overwhelms the customer. Stick to driving home one logo, one slogan, one motto and one brand persona, and don’t try to do too much. Branding is about making the right moves, not making more moves.
4. Not knowing your audience. I talked about being out of touch on graphics, logos and your website, but being out of touch with your audience is even worse. You don’t want your latest campaign to illicit eye-rolls from the very people you’re looking to connect with, so make sure you always know who your audience is, what they’re looking for and what’s important to them at that very moment. This goes for big-scale marketing and advertising campaigns, as well as for simple things like social media posts, email newsletters or even your latest sale.
5. Being too jargon-y. This is a big one for B2B brands who often think that the more industry lingo and mumbo-jumbo they throw in, the more their customers will want to buy from them. The fact is, jargon is a turn-off. Even if your customers know and understand the terms you’re using, it makes your brand feel less accessible – less human. And in the end, people want to buy from people – not cold, faceless entities!
Are you making any of these big branding mistakes? If so, we can help. The branding experts here at Haley Aerospace have helped dozens of B2B brands get back on track and connect with their audiences. Want to do the same? Contact us today to get started.
