Brand Building Mistakes to avoid if you want to grow your business

If there is no difference between what you say about your firm and what competitors say about their firms, you have a weak brand. Unfortunately, this can have a negative impact on your firm’s growth and profitability. High-growth firms are 3X more likely to have a strong, easy-to-understand differentiator.
Here is a quick test to see if you have a true differentiator. Think of some way you believe your firm is different. Then ask if a potential competitor could ever say the opposite. If the answer is “no,” it is probably not a good differentiator. By the way, having great people and offering great client service don’t pass this test.

This typically results in being nothing special to anyone. Many firms head in this direction because they believe that offering more services creates more opportunities. In fact, they are making it much more difficult to attract new business. Having a clear focus or specialization is another attribute of high-growth firms.

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It is clear that organizations with consistent branding will always experience three to four times better visibility than those that are inconsistent. Brand inconsistency creates confusion in the market.
A company that lacks brand guidelines is bound to appear inconsistent. In turn, this presents your company as unprofessional and untrustworthy. So if you don’t have brand guidelines, make sure to develop them immediately. Make sure to cover the following areas:
How, when, and where to use the logo
Tone, voice, and writing style
Color schemes
Visuals and imagery
Fonts and typography
Brand guidelines make it easier for you to coordinate your content assets across every platform your company is represented, such as your website, social media pages, ads, and more. With a style guide, you can guarantee that your messaging is cohesive and consistent across all channels and communications. It also allows you to reinforce your brand identity and credibility.

The logo is the face of the company. It’s the most recognizable feature of your brand. If you don’t do it properly in the beginning, changing it in the future may become a problem, especially when you haven’t fully established your presence in the market yet.
It’s also important to stick to a logo when your brand has already laid down its roots. In 2010, American clothing retailer giant Gap committed this mistake when they launched their newly designed logo, which received backlash. As the saying goes, “why fix something that isn’t broken?”
Understand that a great logo is immediately recognizable but creates a lasting impression. It’s synonymous with the brand itself and a glimpse of the brand’s identity.

With a strong brand (great reputation for expertise and high visibility in your target audience), a firm can replace people, modify service offerings or even change client segments with the full expectation that they can continue to enjoy success. The firm can be bought and sold on the strength of its brand in the marketplace. A professional and well-known brand can be a tremendously valuable asset and should be treated as such. Failing to understand and invest in your brand is shortsighted and costly in the long run.

Let’s face it, we all think we understand our clients and competitors. But we’re usually wrong — dangerously wrong. When we research most firms, we almost always find that internal staff and partners have a distorted view of what their clients really think. Firms that conduct systematic research on their target clients grow faster and are more profitable.

Sadly, many firms turn brand building into a battleground over the future of the firm. For instance, a simple logo decision can become a protracted battle over unresolved control issue. Brand development is difficult enough in its own right. Don’t burden it with unresolved issues around firm direction or control.

Good brands are both real and aspirational. They stand for something that people can get behind and support. Try to be a leader in something. Otherwise, you offer little reason for a prospect to choose your firm over another. Standing for something helps you build a strong brand.

The flip side of aiming too low is making a brand promise that you can’t keep. Overpromising will cost you credibility and trust. There is a fine line between being aspirational and being unrealistic. People will forgive you for aiming high and falling short of perfection — if you are still better than others. But if you aim high and deliver a mediocre product, don’t expect much understanding.

The world of business is changing. People are learning about your firm in ways they never did before. Don’t make the mistake of focusing on traditional approaches to branding while ignoring digital marketing’s growing role in brand building. The future of branding is digital, so plan for it in your strategy, brand building and rollout.

Fitting in with the rest of your competitors is not a sound strategy: “They use blue, I’ll use blue.” “Every government contractor uses pictures of a flag and a capitol dome, so I should too.”

While adopting attributes of your competitors may feel safer, it is actually playing with fire. It’s hard enough to tell most professional services firms apart. Don’t make it more difficult on your prospective clients. If you can’t be completely different, at least try to look and sound a different. It won’t hurt, and it will probably make your firm easier to recognize and remember.