To establish a brand requires a great deal of time and effort, along with some strategic thinking.

What if you put in all the work and your brand (and business) falls flat?

Here are the biggest mistakes people make with branding so you can avoid them.

1. Failing to Think Strategically

Branding is part of your overall business plan, so you need to think strategically about it.

It needs to connect to your “why” and your broader business goals.

Go back and review the reasons why you are running this business in the first place.

Take some time to clarify what you hope to achieve and how your branding will help you do this.

2. Your Brand Is Not Your Logo

Many businesses make the huge mistake of thinking a brand is a logo or a set of design features.

While consistent design is an important part of branding, what it’s really about is your messaging and the image you are creating in the minds of your target market.

This message tells people how your offerings uniquely benefit them.

3. Being Generic With Your Branding

The whole point of your brand is to differentiate your business from others in the market.

If you can do this successfully, you can compete with bigger companies that have more resources to spend on marketing and advertising.

Focus not only on what you do but what you do differently to your competition.

4. Assumptions Instead of Facts

Don’t make the mistake of building your brand based on assumptions.

You think you know how people see your company, but this isn’t good enough.

You need to conduct thorough marketing research and base your decisions on facts and feedback from your audience.

5. Inconsistency and Disconnect

If your branding is giving people mixed messages, it won’t work.

Your brand will fail to engender trust.

Your message needs to be consistent wherever you have communication with your audience.

The design features, the tone, and the unique benefits of using your products all need to be consistent.

6. Your Branding Is Clever But Not Clear

While it is nice to have a message that is unique and clever, the most important thing is for it to be clear.

Branding is a form of communication.

People should understand your message easily and at a glance.

Don’t fall into the trap of being so creative that your brand becomes hard to understand.

7. It’s All About You

While you are talking about your products and services, the real message of your branding should be what using your products does for your customers.

Focus on your customer’s needs and show how their lives will be improved by using your product.

8. Forgetting to Update your Branding

The needs of your market and the competitive landscape change over time.

Your business might also change, offering a new product line or reaching out to a new segment in the market.

When this happens, your branding needs to reflect these changes.

Sometimes, you need to assess and update.

Do you want to learn more about getting your branding right?

Over the next few weeks I will publishing a series of articles which will teach you the A to Z of creating a viable brand for your business.

Good branding, done right, can help you achieve your business goals.