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Guest Post by Kristin Pruis
Whether we admit it or not, we all want to be admired, one of the cool kids; That stands both personally and professionally. It just feels good when others look up to us, especially in our businesses.
Being in the limelight can bring all sorts of benefits to your business like increased visibility and perceived value. That’s why when you put effort into building your brand and someone notices, it is HUGE.
But what if you make the wrong kind of impact or fail to make an impact at all? I’m talking about the kind of attention you don’t want for your business or just plain being overlooked? When your brand garners negative attention, or worse, no attention whatsoever, it’s easy to see how that can have a negative impact on your business in more ways than one.
That’s why it’s important to avoid or get ahead of these mishaps before they even occur. Here are five branding mishaps getting in the way of your business’s growth.
Brand Stategy : Mistakes to Avoid
Branding Mistake 01: Not Being Present
Did you know it takes approximately five to seven impressions of your brand before someone can even recall it? The fewer and far between those impressions are, the less impact they make and the less likely people will be to buy from you.
If you aren’t showing up with your brand consistently and frequently you are seriously missing out. How can you buy from a brand you can’t even remember the name of? News flash: You can’t! Show up for your customers if you want to be seen and remembered.
> How to Avoid it: Whether this means creating an email, promoting your brand on social media or writing a blog, take the time to map out a strategic content plan you can implement on a regular basis that keeps you in front of your customers and top of mind.
Branding Mistake 02. Sending the Wrong Message
When it comes to your brand, your messaging is everything. If you don’t spend the time to craft a target brand message to your ideal client, you’ll end up pushing away the people you are trying to attract.
Obviously, this can have detrimental effects to your business growth because you can’t create that connection you need to get customers to buy from you or even worse, you target the wrong customer that don’t align with your offerings. That’s why it is so important to be extremely in tune with your client’s needs, wants and desires and what language will resonate with them most.
> How to Avoid it: Poll your followers, fans and subscribers to find out their biggest pain points and struggles. Incorporate this language into all your messaging and explain how you can help with their specific challenges for a fool-proof way to catch their attention.
Branding Mistake 03. Being Too Self-centered
Want to know a secret? You are audience doesn’t really care all that much about your business or your brand. What they really care about is how you can help them – What can you provide them, how can you inspire them and how can you help them grow?
So, if your brand is only all about you, you, you – it’s going to be difficult to keep people engaged and coming back for more.
> How to Avoid it: One trick for combating being too self-centered is to find out what you and your audience have in common and share a story they can relate to. Tell them how you have overcome your challenges and provide insight that they can benefit from.
Branding Mistake 04. Getting Lost in the Crowd
How do you stand-out when there are 1000’s of other brands who provide the same service as you or sell the same product? You have to differentiate yourself. This can be tricky to do, but it’s not impossible. Setting yourself apart gives you a competitive edge on everyone else and makes your target customer more likely to purchase from you.
So, next time you think about just copying someone else or going the cheap route with an investment in your business, you may want to think twice. Going against the grain can have a big pay-off.
> How to Avoid it: To help you stand out in a sea of other businesses, a gorgeous brand is a must! Invest in a professional logo design or website redesign to distinguish your business from everyone else. When you create a beautiful and unique brand aesthetic, you can attract an even higher profile audience.
Branding Mistake 05. Forgetting to Ask for the Sale
OK, so this one is a little more business-related than brand-related, but because it can have such a huge impact on your bottom line, I thought it was worth the mention. It’s also one that I’m personally guilty of so I know how easy it is to fall into this trap.
When you are creating content you can easily get wrapped up in pushing out on-brand messaging and making sure you posts provide value, but sometimes we forget that we have to also explicitly ask when we want people to buy from us. Don’t make people read between the lines; Make it as easy for them to buy from you as possible.
Of course, you don’t want all of your communications to be centered around buying, but you should approach the topic strategically and frequently enough that people know when they want to buy __________, you are the one to go to.
How to Avoid it: This one’s pretty simple. Incorporate your service(s) or product(s) into your brand messaging in a natural way and ensure you have a clear call to action. You can still provide value AND ask for the sale without coming off spammy or desperate.
If your business has been struggling lately to maintain customers or find new ones, you could be suffering due to one of these branding mishaps.
How about you? Have you run into any of these unfortunate branding mishaps in your business or do you have other challenges when it comes to your brand? Share it in the comments and let’s continue the conversation!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meet Kristin Pruis – Brand Strategist & Design Consultant
I help female entrepreneurs and business owners create brands that command the spotlight. I love working with women to help them create beautiful, one-of-a-kind brands that give them the confidence to take their business to the next level and get them seriously noticed. I’ve spent the past 8 years working as a brand and web designer with salons, boutiques, coaches, authors, agencies, influencers… you name it, and I bet I can help you too. Let’s connect on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest and talk about how we can grow your brand into an empire.
Love these tips ❤️ thanks for sharing!
You are so welcome, Danielle! I’m glad this post on branding could help you! Cheers! 🙂
Great article Kristen! Your suggestion about making communication more about solving our audiences problem and not so much about our own business is so important!
Absolutely, Kate! It is so often overlooked but such an important part of building our brands! Thank you for checking it out and the kind comments – Kristin has some amazing insight on branding.
These are such great tips!! Thanks for sharing
Thanks, Amy! Kristin had some amazing points to offer in this article on branding. I’m glad that you found them helpful for you! 🙂
My blog is fairly new so branding is still foreign to me – but this post really helps me know what to avoid. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Lorelie! Branding is such and important part of blogging. There is so much content out there, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. Think about how you want your audience to see you and build from there. The rest will come in time. 🙂
Our presence has a great contribution to the success of our business. I must admit I lack on this aspect because of other equally important things which I needed to attend to. This article serves as a great reminder. Thank you for sharing.
You are so welcome, Sharon! I’m so glad this article helped you out. Branding is such an important aspect of our business. It’s always good to go back and see if we are where we want to be.
Getting lost in the crowd is pretty common in Blogosphere. It think it could be a fatal mistake if you are trying to build a brand.
Absolutely, Nadia! It is so important to have your own voice and stand out from the crowd.
So many great tips and it has me rethinking some of my social media outlets. Like Instagram for example I guess I should be making sure my blog name is present in my pictures I share. Thanks for sharing this is a great article!