Branding is a tricky task, and it should come as no surprise to learn that brand owners continue to make the same mistakes over and over again when attempting to earn their new creation a degree of healthy exposure. Listed here are five common branding errors, all coupled with suggestions on how to avoid them.

1. Resistance To Change

Resisting change is arguably the biggest a mistake you can make with regards to your brand. The marketing world moves at a mind-boggling pace – a pace that entrepreneurs, business owners and designers are often reluctant to adjust to. Why? Because adjusting to this pace may mean drastically changing the creation they put so much work into. It may also mean having to learn about something new that they don’t understand.

For example, older brand designers may be extremely averse to entering the social media world – an area of the internet that they don’t fully comprehend. Problem is, if you’re not willing to change your brand, you may get left behind. Be honest with yourself about your brand, and if you think it may be going stale, perhaps it’s time for a rethink about your ideas and methods.

2. Attempting To Appeal To The Entire World

Why choose a specific audience when you can sell to absolutely everyone? Well, because it’s impossible – that’s why. It’s not unusual for an upcoming entrepreneur to expand their brand, in an attempt to incorporate as many potential customers as possible, but this demonstrates a distinct lack of knowledge about the world of marketing – and very often ends in tears. Don’t overcomplicate things. Pick an audience, reel them in, and keep your brand’s focus and aims nice and simple.

3. Indecisiveness & Inconsistency

A good brand changes when the time is right. A bad brand changes repeatedly for no good reason. The fast-moving modern marketing world will almost certainly require you to tweak things here and there from time to time, but changing your brand too frequently, or too dramatically, will alienate you from your audience. You need to be recognisable and familiar to your customers, otherwise you risk losing them forever.

4. Following The Herd

There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by the bigger brands to head in a particular direction. However, outright cloning will not only make you a laughing stock in the brand world, it’ll also get you into extreme difficulties with copyright law. When it comes to establishing your brand name, differentiation is key. Hat your business offers may have similarities to a highly familiar brand name, but you need to offer something new in order to attract your own audience. Think carefully about what your brand offers that absolutely no other creation does. Why would a customer pick you instead of another brand? Don’t follow the herd. Stand out from it.

5. Thinking That Your “Brand” Is All About Your Logo

A surprisingly common mistake made by entrepreneurs and business owners is assuming that the brand is synonymous with the logo. Yes, this is the image that represents your creation, but it doesn’t matter how intriguing it may be if you don’t reinforce some of your brand values elsewhere. Create a set of rules and guidelines for your brand, work on establishing a particular tone of voice, and integrate these ideas consistently across the board.