₦airaland Forum

Branding is chronically misunderstood.

From people operating under the impression that branding is something that can be “done” in an afternoon to companies ignoring it altogether, it’s a key area that can make or break your business, especially in the long run.

Today, we’ve gathered together 20 of the biggest and most common branding mistakes made by small and medium businesses like yours. The intention isn’t to scare or depress you – it’s to let you know where the potholes are and show you how you to avoid them.

Do you know what the biggest branding mistake of all is, though? Doing nothing!

Branding doesn’t evolve by itself. It’s a blueprint for how you want the world to see your business and blueprints are planned and researched documents. Brand yourself and then show the world, and don’t let the world do the branding!


1. Failing to grasp the meaning of branding

What is branding? We mentioned it above – it’s a blueprint for how you want the world to see your business. Take time to really understand the concept and find an explanation or understanding that suits you and what you do. You need to wholly understand what branding is to apply it to your business, so don’t skimp on your own education.

“Your brand is the set of perceptions people have about your company.
But branding is the set of actions you take to cultivate that brand.”
Deanna DeBara

2. Confusing marketing and branding

Ooh, this one’s a doozy. Branding is defining who or what your brand is – and marketing is making other people aware of it. They’re closely related and there’s a lot of crossover, but not being clear on the differences means you can’t do either effectively. Still confused? Here’s a pro tip: take care of branding first, then tackle marketing second.

3. Skipping professional help

Sure, some of us lucky entrepreneurs have a solid understanding of psychology, graphic design, fonts, and copywriting, but even more of us don’t. Branding is significantly more complicated than it first seems, which is why we think you should always hire a professional.

4. Equating branding to a logo

There is a lot more to branding than the design, even though sometimes people equate the two. Branding is bigger than one or two brand assets, like business cards or even a logo (and don’t get us wrong – logos are important), but branding is the conceptual act of defining your business, not just making some pretty designs in the company colors.

5. Being too edgy

Some businesses, especially younger, more digital brands, try hard to differentiate themselves from the competition. This is a good thing – it’s hard to stand out if the public can’t distinguish your brand of beard oil from the next. More than one company, however, has crossed a line in their quest for uniqueness and it’s ended badly. Interesting is fine or even positive – just don’t accidentally stray into questionable. It can take quite a bit of legwork to return to the land of the respectable!

6. Playing too safe

On the other end of this spectrum is the business that plays it too safe when it comes to branding. If there’s nothing interesting, unusual, or unique about your brand, it’s going to be really hard to carve out market share. You can combat this with lots of competitor research – it will help you find a niche and root out gaps in your competitor’s offering that perhaps you can fill. Don’t swing too far the other way in this search for a differentiator, but at the same try, do try to find something that will allow you to stand on your own two feet.

7. Forgetting brand guidelines

Once you’ve passed the major milestone of creating your brand, make sure you take out the insurance that is your brand guidelines. As well as helping ensure consistency and authenticity across people, departments, channels, and material in-house, they’ll be a major help to any 3rd party professionals you employ to help with marketing, content, graphic design, product design, and more.

8. Lacking consistency across channels

Once you’ve got branding in place, you really need to ensure that it is represented similarly across all the channels your business is present on – print, the company blog, TV, video, social media, events, PR, etc. Being inconsistent sends a mixed message to the public, and the one place you really need to hold fast is your brand. Your brand guidelines, if you create them effectively, will help with this.

9. Lacking consistency across collateral

It can be surprisingly easy to ensure consistency in the really obvious places and forget about it in situations or events that happen less frequently. Make sure anything that is issued by your business – from compliment slips to invoices – is just on-brand as your Instagram account. As well as those brand guidelines (see how useful they are?), take steps to ensure that a culture of brand loyalty and awareness is present in all employees, from c-level to mailing room.

10. Refusing to admit mistakes

Branding mistakes? Yup, we’ve seen a few and so has pretty much everyone else on the internet. Even the most experienced brands mess up sometimes, but if you do, the only way to claw yourself back some reputation is by owning up to the error, apologizing, and looking contrite. Admit your mistake early and you’ll hopefully be in with a chance to remedy it. Even some of the most heinous brand faux pas can fade into the background if they are graciously handled.

For example, Ikea once removed all the women from its catalog in Saudi Arabia. It caused outrage at the time, but an apology soon followed and, 7 years later, most people would be hard-pressed to even remember the event.

11. Being too trend-driven

Becoming a fashion victim can happen to both new brands and old hands, so everyone needs to stay aware. Every year brings hot new trends in design and, while it’s ok to use them for inspiration or as a base, copying them verbatim or going all-in can look desperate and age fast. Jumping from trend to trend is also a no-no – it’s a type of inconsistency like we discussed above. Better to find a happy medium that will last the distance because, hopefully, your brand will be around for quite some time to come.

12. Alienating your origins

Here’s a tip for the well-established brands. It can be hard to get the balance between old and new just right, but if your brand has been around for a while, at least consider that you may have plenty of fans who love you for your traditional, familiar, and comforting brand. Updates that stray too far from origins like this can sometimes fall flat, so tread carefully and do lots of research before you refresh your classic brand. Most rebranding fails can be rescued eventually, but it tends to cost lots (and lots) of money!

13. Thinking too small

Local company? Possibly not as much as you think. Sure, some online businesses are very local, but an increasing number of companies have a global reach, even without trying. Make sure your branding doesn’t offend any of your international clients by employing a professional and doing your due diligence before making any changes. Even if you don’t make any terrible faux pas, sometimes tiny details can make the difference between international clients feeling fine – or just slightly uncomfortable.

14. Attaching your brand to the wrong things

Even though the result of this can be both baffling and hilarious, be really careful about what you allow your brand name to be attached too. For every association that brings in new business and extra revenue, there are 10 more that just leave customers scratching their heads, which is never a good sign for business.

15. Forgetting about copy

Branding is a very visual endeavor, but don’t make the mistake of forgetting about the text when you concentrate on graphic design. Even though copywriting may play a lesser role in your branding, it’s hugely important and worth examining professionally. Core messages, mission statements, tag lines, and content are all essential brand elements – and they all rest on the written word. Great copywriting not only increases sales and conversions, but it also has a major impact on how people view your brand in terms of authenticity, reputation, and trustworthiness.

16. Stripping all personality

We’ve extolled the virtues of consistency and we stick by that, but never varying from the strictest confines of your brand guidelines can make for a very boring brand. Once you are intimately familiar with your company’s branding, use that familiarity to inject a little personality and character into your brand actions. Adding personality through humor is for experts, but even brand noobs can add a little character by telling stories or adding a touch of nostalgia to their (on-brand) content. This article is aimed at personal brands on Instagram, but the advice holds true for all kinds of businesses.

17. Neglecting the update

If you’ve already got your branding done and dusted, set a reminder to take a look at it on an annual or bi-annual basis. Sure, we don’t want our brand to be molded by every passing trend, but we also want to avoid it looking tired, old fashioned, or irrelevant. Getting the balance right can be hard, but it’s a balance you’re going to need to perfect.

18. Trying too hard

Trying too hard looks desperate. Unfortunately, it’s a problem that comes across loud and clear when it contaminates branding. Aim to let your brand develop naturally and organically, and avoid the temptation to shoehorn it into a cool trend, ready-made identity, or newsworthy role. The same goes for trying to be clever, or attempting to get involved in too many things – the public can smell inauthenticity a mile away, and it never turns out well.

19. Attempting to appeal to everyone

Today we’re talking branding, but the concept stands in lots of circumstances – you cannot be all things to all people and neither should you try. Attempting to appeal to more people by toning down certain elements of your brand or ramping up others won’t help you attract more customers – it will leave your existing customers confused and repel new ones who are finding it hard to identify with your wishy-washy brand. Embrace your brand and walk the walk – this clarity will help your people find you.

20. Skipping the branding deadline

For many businesses, branding is still a work – or a refresh – in progress. That’s ok – solid branding takes a bit of effort and isn’t something you can finish in a weekend. That said, always set yourself an end goal and a deadline to wrap everything up. Some companies are never quite happy and continue poking their brand to “get it just right”. A brand that’s always in motion can never grow roots, and it’s those roots that are key to your brand being the foundation your business is built on. Think of them like the foundations of a house – if they’re missing, everything else you build will be shaky.


Conclusion

So there you have it. 20 common – but avoidable – ways that businesses mess up branding and hinder their growth. Some of them are riskiest in the planning stages, but many can steer your brand off course after years or even decades in existence. Keeping these mistakes at the forefront of your mind should keep your brand safe now and for many years to come.

When you employ a branding professional, the person or agency will be the ones looking out for these possible pitfalls. If you’ve decided to take care of branding yourself, well, you’ll have to personally remain alert. Branding already involves juggling many balls, which is why we recommend getting help, but if you’re determined to go it alone you should, at the very least, know what you’re facing.

Branding isn’t easy and it’s often not quick, but if you keep your eyes open and your head down, you should emerge victorious on the other side of the branding process with a strong brand that can pilot your company well into the future.


Author Bio:
Claire is a marketing executive with Design Wizard.
When she’s not at work you can find her keeping up with social media and walking her dog Storm.


Source:
https://justcreative.com/2019/11/16/20-common-branding-mistakes

See also Nairaland Portfolio For Logo Designers:
https://www.nairaland.com/5650151/nairaland-portfolio-logo-designers-2020

Olodonairaland:
Hopefully this post make it to front-page

Hopefully my brother...

It's a set of very simple yet extraordinary images.

You can only upload jpeg and png to nairaland.

The race is on...

Tidy up the post please and let's see if it can make frontpage.

This story is becoming more and more senseless...

Fine she was trying to plug in her phone,
She was sweaty,
She was probably standing at that point...
Let's assume people choose to overlook every other inaccuracies in the story...

How exactly does someone charging her phone end up on the floor with the phone on her chest and still plugged in?

Is that how long the charging cable was?
Is that how precious the phone was that the initial shock wasn't enough to make her drop her phone but was enough to electrocute her?

Too many inconsistencies in my opinion.

Obviously my opinion doesn't count.

Cool...

Please start making mockups.
There's a large market for it especially among designers.

"best work" is pretty ambiguous.

In what category/categories?

OfficialMrOt:
I need 2 graphic work and also a short Video Advert , please drop some of your design and your WhatsApp number here , I will contact you myself.

I can help with the graphic work,
not into video.

Please open a single thread and post your works there. You don't have to open a new thread for every design.

ejibaba:
You are bigger hypocrite.... Stop your generalisation of a few cases to make a senseless post. 1. The issue is government have BVN and should use it if they wish don't ask people to send it to them, it's diversionary.... 2. What is the rush in IPPIS implementation when it contravenes the law of Universities? That's the bottom line...Your deviation from the topic shows your lack of understanding of the issues at hand...ASUU is not complaining of condition of service, I only ask a question and if you're sensible you will know it core of my argument but since that's the only part your brain can pick, it's not worth arguing with you.

I wasn't expecting any sensible response from you and you definitely didn't disappoint me.

Keep wallowing in your hate and ignorance.

jolyment:
The reason why lecturers said they won't submit bvn is because FG can use it to migrate them to IPPIS. Mind you, ASUU has told FG to ensure their peculiarities are captured in IPPIS but government said no.

There is a flaw in this argument.

A government that has refused to illegally access your BVN without your permission, is it the same government that will illegally deceive you to join a plan you are clearly against?

If the government wanted to do that, why not just go all the way and dig out their BVNs without their permission as well.

That's what propaganda looks like, it's never rational.

jolyment:
CBN is the custodian of BVN and FG owns CBN. That's why people are saying they should access their bvn from their account numbers.

It doesn't work that way.

People should stop trying to have any opinion about things they
know nothing about.

It's like saying people looking for government jobs shouldn't submit their CV since NYSC has their details and the government owns NYSC.

Does that make sense?
Protocols exist for a reason.

ejibaba:
They are not complaining of excess workload from other schools stop this crap. It's well... you guys are paid 30k to run down other people's life...keep it up...

This is not an issue of excess workload...it's about a policy that will affect the university system...how much do you think University lecturers earn?? How much?? That will warrant unnecessary frustration from government...

A school in UK and even SA will employ a supervisor for you for the 2 or more years period of your thesis and dissertation. There is
exchange program and a host of other programs that allows a lecturer learn salary from her school and other schools that their services are rendered temporarily.

Don't join this government destroy the public universities because the government will come and go but Nigeria will remain and when your children complain of the terrible state of our Universities be so sure you will be bold to tell them you collected 30k to through social media destroy the university system.

You really thought you made sense... SMH.

@ the bolded...
Is anyone forcing them to stay?
If the conditions of your employment are not favorable, then leave the job.
Teaching never used to be about money, it was about passion.
Facts be told, tertiary education in Nigeria is the most fraudulent.
Lecturers shortchanging students while at the same time frustrating them.

It's not every right thinking person that is a stooge.
It's sad your understanding is not beyond what it is and I definitely can't help you now.
But always trying to twist the narrative to suite your biases will only do more damage to your already unimpressive thought level.

Millions of students are shortchanged yearly by these same lecturers but I guess they don't matter.

F**king hypocrite.

omonnakoda:
We make one mistake in Nigeria .
We assume government is not subject to law or if government does or says something it has become law.

The issue here is between employer and employee. It makes no difference that the employer is goverment.
The relationship is governed by THE SAME LAWS that govern all such relationships whether the employer is goverment or MTN unless specific legislation exists to state otherwise

Thank you very much.

See ignorant people up there saying rubbish about the government having their bvn without realizing that just because they have it does not make it legal for them to access it.

If the government decides to extract the bvn without the lecturers permission, it's the same simpletons that will shout tyranny.

Nigerians always think they know all, when they know absolutely nothing.

I'm waiting for the day Nigerians will start approaching issues from a position of objectivity and no through personal/political sentiments and bias.

ValCon888:
An excellent thread and well-written.
Every single thing you said made sense.

Thank you.

https://d26oc3sg82pgk3.cloudfront.net/files/media/edit/image/13161/square_thumb%402x.jpg

This is a very trying period for most of us. Having to deal with a limit to our freedom of movement and also the loss of income due to closed places of business. It is truly a very trying time for humanity.
But even with these very sad realities, a number of people have made it their duty to add to the pains of others through various fraudulent opportunities and schemes.

I've come up with 3(Three) of such schemes I know about, I hope others will lend a voice to help expose others.


1. PYRAMID SCHEMES(loom)...

Honestly I still find it very very shocking that people are falling for this scheme. MMM was just yesterday, is that how short our memory is?
Loom like every other pyramid scheme before it works in one way and one way only, lure you in with little gains and disappear with your bigger commitment and the commitment of others you drag in. If it looks too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.

2. SUBSIDIZED SHORT-TERM ONLINE TUTORIALS...

This is like the funniest I've seen.

"BECOME A PRO IN A WEEK"

Looks very innocent but deeply mischievous especially when it's pretty obvious your so called tutor is not even successful at what they want to teach you. Imagine a designer telling you that you can make N100,000 or more monthly by being a designer and they can teach you what you need to know in a week at a subsidized rate. Really?

If it was that lucrative, why do you have to charge to teach others?
Why have you not taught the jobless members of your family so you'll have lesser dependents and more money in the family?

Anything you are hoping to learn in just a week will definitely only be a waste of your precious time and money. The only kind of pro you will be in a week is a professional maga.
But seriously, what were you expecting?

3. GET PAID TO USE A WEBSITE...

I don't know if there are any genuine ones out there but I'm very sure there are a lot of fraudulent ones. And I see some even asking particular amounts for registration fee so you can start earning 'millions'.

Hahahahahahahaha.

The first question is why do I need to pay to get a job?
The second question is since you are sure I will earn so much, why not let me start working and remove your registration fee from my first payout?

I know there was one I did a while back and I made so much money on the site.
I could almost swear that banana island will receive a new visitor after my six month earnings, with the rate I was going.
The problem came when it was time to withdraw my earnings. That's when the requirements started. As you are meeting one, another arises, and it goes on and on until you slowly come to the realization of how much time you've wasted building castles in the air.

There is only one reason these sort of scams are still effective against people, plain old GREED.

If I was making so much money online, the last thing I will want to do is teach you or tell you about it since the lesser people that know about it, the more my own earnings will be. A typical Nigerian does not share especially when it comes to their source(s) of income, so whatever is making him/her so magnanimous means there is an ulterior motive.
Don't be blinded by the destiny to overlook the journey.
Nothing good comes easy.

If you have a neighbor who robs every other house on the street but you always dismiss the dangers because you feel it's not affecting you or that you are covered since you live in the same house, a day is coming when everyone on the street will either move out or improve their security. Where do you think will be the next place your neighbor will rob?

We kept quiet for so long and watched yahoo boiz unleash hell on foreigners, we justified it in every mundane way possible, we said they deserved it for what they did to our forefathers, we looked the other way.
Now... the bird has come home to roost.

You don't have to protect your neighbor, at least protect yourself.


See also Nairaland Portfolio For Logo Designers:
https://www.nairaland.com/5650151/nairaland-portfolio-logo-designers-2020

Seun
lalasticlala
mynd44

statartngr01:
Are you a good artist with high knowledge of illustrator and art-info programs.

Kindly contact us via email: statartnigeria@gmail.com with samples of previous works.

Adobe illustrator can be used for a wide range of designs.
Just because a designer can design logos on illustrator does not mean they can accomplish character illustrations and vice versa.

Be specific with what you need to be done on adobe illustrator to avoid wasting yours and the designer(s) time.

Thank you.

GabinoMarket:
Hello Guys

Please I need a logo designer who can do an illustrated logo at a friendly price.

If you can please drop your phone number and I’ll call you.

Thanks.

Why not post a sample of what you are talking about to reduce the number of time wasters you'll have on your hands?

Why are you addressing yourself in the 3rd person?

Hmmm...

Would have loved to point some things out but I guess the job has been delivered already and the client loved it.

All the best.