Biggest Branding Mistake is Backwards Marketing
The biggest branding mistake we see is clients who go about their marketing backward by not starting with branding first. We get it, it’s exciting to get out there, but without a solid branding and strategy, the marketing efforts might be doing more harm than good. Here are our 3 hot takes on how to fix that!
Branding is foundational
Branding flows into your leadership, marketing, sales, and, ultimately, your revenue. Branding will impact the success of other investments made into the business for years to come. But, so often, companies don’t strengthen their branding and instead, focus on other expenditures first.
Businesses try to grow — but they are going in reverse! This backward marketing approach happens all the time. Businesses are doing everything they can to increase their profit. So, they invest in social media, influencers, ads, SEO, PR, and their website. But they often do that without FIRST adequately investing in a brand that lays a strong foundation.
This means, no matter how structurally sound those marketing efforts are, the brand it's built on is compromised. It can be costly to go back and make structural changes to a brand after putting significant spending on building layers of marketing and business development on top.
Branding is exponential
Here’s what happens:
Businesses think about the ROI of future investments — often areas with metrics like cost per click or organic traffic that are easy to track. But, what businesses miss, is how those investments will be exponentially affected by past investments in branding.
Each business investment is multiplied by the power of branding. Sometimes that factor is adding minimal value. Worse, sometimes it’s adding exponential negative value.
If your brand is outdated or out of alignment with your goals and target audience, spending more on marketing won’t be a fix. While marketing can increase awareness, the question is, awareness of what? Make sure your brand is strong first before investing dollars into getting seen.
If your brand looks similar to your competition or isn’t compelling, marketing alone won’t distinguish your business. Make sure your brand really stands out before you increase the number of impressions you’ll be getting on that brand.
If your brand is all over the place, your marketing efforts won’t be cohesive or consistent. Or, at best, you will be leaning on someone to design a brand on the fly without the necessary information, strategy, or expertise. Make sure first you have a complete toolbox for your brand that can be applied to everything. You’ll empower the marketing specialist you hire by providing them with everything they need. You will BOTH get better results.
Get back to branding, first
If you’re serious about your business, you have to get serious about your branding. Branding gets a reputation for being a “pretty” part of business when it’s really about purpose and profit. The biggest mistake founders make is thinking branding is a small step that happens when they register their business and they ignore the long-term ROI branding has.
If you’re just starting a business, start with the branding. If you’ve been in business for a while but are ready to take it to the next level, go back to the branding. Ignoring the sales your current branding is causing you to lose won’t fix it. Make sure you have a strategic brand that helps you stand out. A custom brand that highlights your unique value proposition can not only make a great first impression when prospective customers see it — but it can help create and reinforce an experience for your customers for years to come.