5 Ways to Kill Your Brand Without Even Trying
Your brand can be defined as the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that come to mind when people think about your company or product. These factors are what make up its personality. The challenge for brands is to manage these factors so they work together in an appealing way. Businesses often struggle with this because there are many ways you can kill your brand without even trying! Let's explore 5 mistakes that could ruin your business by killing your brand!
What Is A Brand And Why Does It Matter?
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes one company's products from those of its rivals. Branding is the process of creating these distinguishing features. It helps to create initial awareness and interest in a product or service, and can also help to build customer loyalty by reinforcing positive associations with the brand.
But it's also more than that. A company's brand encompasses its entire corporate identity, which is typically created when company leadership decides upon a set of values and principles to govern their business. These decisions are then reflected in all aspects of the business including hiring practices, organization chart design, office layout, dress code rules, marketing messages, public relations messages, advertising messages, product development strategy and messaging (including packaging), and more.
Every time someone interacts with these activities, they form an opinion of the brand and whether or not it aligns with their own values and principles. That's why your branding should reflect your business mission and vision while appealing to your target audience.
The Challenge For Brands
The challenge for brands is how they structure their marketing budget to stand out from your competition, and so that it will resonate with your target audience.
There are a lot of ways to do this. For example, focusing on the "brand essence" that's unique to you, using an integrated brand approach that ties together all of the different aspects of what you do into a single cohesive message, and choosing a high-quality creative design.
You should also make sure you're following up on your online presence with strategic content marketing activities like blogging and social media marketing. These will help grow your visibility across those channels. Now, let’s look at the things that can kill your brand before it has a chance to live:
Brand Killer #1 - Not Having A Clear Vision Of Who You Are
One of the biggest mistakes a brand can make is not having a clear vision of who they are. Without this guiding principle, it's difficult to make decisions about anything else in the business, from marketing to product development. And it can be tough for customers to understand what your brand represents and stands for.
If you're not sure where to start, try developing a mission statement that captures what you do and why you do it. This will provide a framework for all of your branding decisions going forward.
Brand Killer #2 - Not Listening To Customers
Customers are the backbone of any business. They're why your brand exists, and they're what keep it alive. Ignoring this fact is a huge mistake that can lead to your downfall, because customers are always changing their opinions about brands that don't have an ear to the ground.
The best way to assure that you're paying attention to what customers want is by engaging them on social media. The single biggest strength of social media is also still the most overlooked: the ability to have back-and-forth conversations with your customers and prospects in real time.
There are also other ways to keep track of what people are saying about you, including monitoring reviews on retail sites like Amazon or Yelp, staying active on popular forums related to your industry, listening for insights at events that link to your brand values. You could also try surveying them periodically over time. This gives you insight into how they feel about your business—and will give you clues about what you need to do next if, say, your message needs updating or if certain products aren't living up to expectations.
Brand Killer #3 - Not Understanding The Power Of Storytelling
One of the most powerful tools in a brand's arsenal is storytelling. This is because stories are a way for customers to connect with a brand on an emotional level. And when customers feel emotionally connected, they're more likely to be loyal and return to buy again in the future.
But simply telling your story isn't enough—you need to make sure it's told in the right way. There are 3 things you need to do to make sure your storytelling is effective:
1. Make sure your story is authentic. Customers can see through fake stories, so make sure yours is rooted in reality.
2. Make sure it's relevant to your audience. The story you tell should be something that matters to them, otherwise why would they bother listening? In fact, the majority of your marketing messages should be about them. You don't get more relevant than that, and if you're listening to them it's super simple.
3. Make sure it's easy to tell people about. If your story is complex, you're going to lose customers' attention pretty quickly. Your customers shouldn't have to work too hard to envision how their life is going to be improved by your products or services.
Brand Killer #4 - Ignoring Social Media Marketing Opportunities
Another mistake that brands often make is not taking advantage of social media marketing opportunities. This can be a big mistake, because social media is a great way to connect with customers and build relationships.
The best way to use social media for marketing is by creating content that engages customers and encourages them to share it with their friends. This will help extend the reach of your brand and create more awareness.
You can also use social media to respond to customer feedback and complaints, which can help build trust and loyalty. And don't forget to use social media to keep track of what people are saying about your brand—this will give you valuable insights that you can use to improve your marketing strategy.
Brand Killer #5- Lacking In Creativity And Innovation
One of the biggest mistakes that brands can make is failing to be creative and innovative. This can lead to a lack of new ideas, which can cause customers to lose interest.
To stay creative and innovative, it's important to always be experimenting with new ideas. You also need to be willing to change things up when needed. And lastly, you need to be willing to take risks.
If you can do all of this, you'll be well on your way to keeping your brand fresh and exciting for customers.
The five mistakes listed above are the most vital to avoid if you want your brand to stay alive. If you do not pay attention to what customers want, ignore social media marketing opportunities, fail to understand storytelling power and use it in the right way, lack creativity or innovation for your business, or don't take advantage of all opportunities on social media—then there's a good chance that your brand will be at best lackluster and at worst, confusing. And in either case, you're not going to be winning any lifelong fans.
