5 Branding Mistakes You Need to Know
Article by J.C. Yee
Graphics Design by Ryan Rivera
Your company’s brand is the most important thing that you need to take care of. It’s key to ensuring that your business stays relevant in the industry. Without branding, your target audience will fail to recognize you and this could potentially cause your business’ downfall.
Unfortunately, despite the vast amount of information on branding out there, there are still many companies that are misguided when it comes to branding. Hence, they unknowingly commit some of the most notorious branding mistakes we could ever know.
In this article, we discuss the top 5 branding mistakes and misconceptions that you need to be aware of.
Branding Misconceptions You Need to Be Aware Of
1. The logo is your brand
If you’ve read enough articles about branding, you’re probably already tired of reading this piece of information. But many people still get it wrong. They are so fixated in improving or making their logo stand out, thinking that it’s what their brand is all about.
Regardless of what your business is, the logo you have is just an icon to represent your company. It doesn’t mean your brand. The brand is the feeling that people develop with your business. So, your logo can be as simple as a Times New Roman or Arial wordmark. Yet, it will have the potential to resonate with your audience with the right branding efforts.
2. Your brand’s colours represent your values
A lot of branding and design resources, whether they are articles, books, videos, or podcasts will tell you all about color psychology. Where yellow evokes kid-centricity, red represents passion, among others. Here, we will remind you that color psychology is not always accurate.
The truth is, colour is all about context and appropriation. If a person tells you that you should use yellow if your products are for children, then why is Ferrari’s logo yellow? Why is Lego’s logo red when the color symbolizes vanity and passion?
Given these circumstances, both Ferrari and Lego successfully appeal to their target audience. And they succeed because they don’t solely rely on the psychological representation that is deemed to be represented by these colors.
Colours will only represent what you want and not the preconceived representation that many believe. Use colours properly alongside the right fonts and tone, and the branding that you want to achieve shall take effect in no time.
3. Rebranding is always a good idea
We agree in the saying that if it isn’t broke, then don’t fix it. This is because a lot of companies rebrand just for the sake of having a fresh look. Sometimes they do it so that they can be relevant again. But too often you’ll see companies failing a rebrand because there wasn’t any problem with their previous branding at all.
Remember Gap’s failed rebrand? How about Tropicana’s failed packaging rebranding? These are just a few examples of unnecessary rebranding that anyone should learn from. If multinational companies commit these branding mistakes, then small companies may make the same as well.
Never rebrand just because your business isn’t resonating with your customers like it used to. Sit down with marketing experts first and know how you can solve it. Identify and research on the weaknesses of your marketing efforts. Because if your new branding fails, you are at the risk of losing tons of revenue which could’ve been prevented in the first place.
4. Your branding alone will make you successful
Branding alone is just what a user feels about your company. It doesn’t dictate consumer behaviour, industry trends, and other things that help make a company profit and thrive. For your company to succeed, you should still utilise marketing and advertising techniques. Branding will serve as your guide on how to market and advertise your brand. Once you find the sweet spot among these three, you’ll be able to thrive in no time.
Yes, there are already exceptions out there. But never emulate these exceptions. Why? Because they’ve already perfected marketing, branding, advertising and other business-related fields. You will only have the right to break every rule in the book once you’ve mastered them all. Otherwise, stick to the rules and use them as a guide to be a successful company.
5. Your brand is all about you or the company
Believing that your brand is all about your company is undoubtedly one of the most critical branding mistakes out there. Because If you want to succeed in building a strong brand, you also have to think about your target audience. How does your company inspire action? What will the people who’ll buy your products get from you?
Here’s an example. Apple’s slogan is Think Different. This slogan not only pertains to their employees who are responsible for innovating their products. It’s also about people who are bold enough to stand out and think differently. Now, you understand why Apple is the go-to brand of many creatives or designers out there.
Understand your company’s philosophy and determine why your brand will matter to your audience. While doing this, ask yourself questions like:
- Who am I trying to convince?
- What do they like?
- What do they need?
- What makes my product tick?
In a sea of options, your brand will stand out if your messaging is targeted to the right people. Here at Gotafflair, we believe that a brand becomes successful when it can go against the grain while entirely able to emphatize with their audience.
“Only dead fish swim with the stream.”
Need help with your branding online? Feel free to reach us at sales@gotafflair.com for a free consultation.
