Brand is the perceived image of the product you sell and brand promotion is the strategy to create that image. The better recall(positive association) a consumer has about a brand the better is the position of the brand as compared to its competitors. As the brand is related to the cognitive perspective that is why every company tries to have a good hold in the consumer’s mind and that’s the main objective behind a brand promotion.
As said by Walter Landor, “Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind”. Therefore, brand promotion is a marketing strategy used to increase companies’ product/service awareness, increase customers loyalty, and sales – and overall increase companies’ value. This strategy is used by businesses to showcase to their customers why and how they are different from their competitors. It usually focuses on elements that can stand the test of time, although businesses do adjust promotions based on what is happening in the market. The efforts required to be effective with these techniques require that marketers be passionate about what they’re doing.
Promotion plays a huge role in how your product is going to perform in the market. Without doing the right promotion, you might end up not having proper exposure to your product in the market.
Not just your people will don’t know about the product but you will not get an engaged audience too. It will affect the sales and eventually the growth of your business.
Since promotion is so crucial. It’s important to understand the points of using it.
Crucial Branding Mistakes You Should Avoid
1. Not Having Brand Guidelines
A survey performed by LucidPress (in partnership with Demand Metric) revealed that organizations with consistent branding experience three to four times better visibility than those that are inconsistent. Among the study’s 200 participants, 71 percent agreed that the creation of confusion in the market is the biggest negative impact of brand inconsistency.
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.
2. Tell A Story Instead Of Highlighting The Benefits And Features Of Your Brand
Most businesses forget the basic point of selling the product i.e. No one wants to buy a product in the first place.
No one is interested in buying anything until it’s not solving their problem. So instead of selling them a product, tell them a story, share your experiences, and show them how your product can help in solving their problem.
Instead of highlighting the benefits and features, Use the story for changing the game. It will cover the all needed points but also add emotional engagement with your audience.
3. Do What Others Can’t
There are lots of unsatisfied customers and that’s how the businesses are running even the competition is getting higher and higher.
The key point is what you are doing that no one other can do. If you are offering a product that is not possible for your competitor to make, you are already getting your audition ready.
Failing is not something you can ignore forever. However, trying new things and exploring the market will help you in gaining more perspective about what your customer needs.
Look out for places where customers are discussing their thoughts. In comments, you will get lots of people saying what they can’t find and that’s the goldmine for you. Therefore, instead of playing it safe, do something new, and be ready to fail.
4. Not Working With Influencers
80 % of impressions on the internet are driven by only 6% of its overall users. It’s not easy to promote your product in the market without having your audience. To get the new audience, you need to tap into more options that can lead you toward a larger audience. However, finding the channels like that is not simple either. And that’s why small businesses look for influencers.
Influencers marketing is a new trend and promoting your product through them can make dramatic changes. There is 59% of the customers base make their buying decisions based on whom they trust and know.
Influencers are a good option to reach those customers. You can get in touch with influencers in your niches. And ask them to share their reviews or recommend the products to the audience. Not working with influencers is not just stopping you from getting in touch with a whole new audience. Also, it’s limiting your reach and blocking you out from your potential audience.
5. Neglecting Customer Experiences And Their Needs
Smart marketers never stop trying to understand exactly what their customers need. You know who your customers are, so why would you ignore their needs? Don’t try to force an idea or product on someone when it’s useless to them. There’s no easier way to annoy and turn away potential clients than by targeting the wrong interests.
If you’re not sure what your consumers want, do your research. If you’re still in doubt, listen to what their complaints are. Ask them to share their opinions in your website’s comments section, or create a poll. And then — most importantly — give them what they’re asking for.
Enhancing the focus on customer experience also requires resolving customer service issues promptly. Implement a system that can prioritize the customers first, like responding to emails within 24 hours or having a live chat feature on your website.
6. Not Creating Promotional Video Of Product
Video marketing can engage the laziest buyers too. For creating a video, you don’t need a huge budget. You can simply start recording with a story behind your product.
Promotional videos are one of the eye-pleasing ways to attract more attention. You can simply shoot a video without working too much on it. But the video should be interesting, fun and something to tell. Value is key and with your promotional video, you can tell exactly what your product can do for the customers.
In creating a video for your product, you can use these ideas too –
You have a ‘ how-to’ video showing the guidance, benefits, features, and other important points. You can also add unboxing videos, showing the product’s overall look. You can show behind the scenes the history of the product.
7. Not Using New Brand Name
Sometimes your current brand is not efficient enough to promote your product. Especially when you have multiple products. Instead of using one brand name, you can start with a new one. The idea is to introduce your product with a new image so the customer can like it. As for you, choose the name that you think will fit your product and you feel confident that people will like it. Also, it will save you from wasting your money and time on something you feel won’t work.
8. Underestimating The Importance Of a Logo
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. 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.
9. Mistaking Spamming As Promotion
One of the biggest mistakes you can ever commit in marketing is – Spamming your customer.
Now when almost every business is using social media and all possible platforms to promote its products. The cases of spamming and bragging have become more prominent than before.
When you are promoting your products, make sure not to post automatic links, and spam your audience in the name of promotion. You are going to lose their trust and they will end up stopping following you.
10. Not Being Aware Of Your Uniqueness
At any given moment, several million people are selling billions of products, with new inventions coming about every day. Just because you’ve got a product to market does not make you unique. So, what does?
Be vitally aware of what sets you apart from the masses when you do your marketing. Hone in on your strengths and idiosyncrasies, and use them to your advantage. Embrace your uniqueness and put it on the bullhorn, making people remember you not only for what you sell but how you sell it.
11. Not Encouraging The Reviews
In today’s market where people are surrounded by products from all possible sides. It’s hard for them to choose something new. Because of this, the customers have lots of questions and doubts before they ask to try something new. Reviews are the most reliable option for them. It helps tell what to expect from the product. Also, it gives assurance and a clear idea about what sellers are offering.
There are 84% of customers who trust the reviews and check them before buying anything.
Being a seller, Reviews are one of the most effective, and the best way for promoting your products is to let your customer do that for you.
12. Not Tracking & Taking Records
No matter if you just started or are already established, if you are not tracking and keeping records you will not know what worked for you and whatnot.
Also keeping metrics and tracking the results of your market activities shows you the overall planning success rate. Tracking your records allows you to look back and see where things went wrong. You can learn from your mistakes and improve. Also, you can know how many plans and new strategies are working for you.
When you are promoting your product, make sure to keep everything on record. You can use the data for the next promotion too. Also at some level, it gives you ideas and predictions.
13. Forgetting What Works For Your Brand While Expanding
Most businesses have one common goal, and that is to expand. But to make sure this happens smoothly and according to plan, you must first maintain a healthy relationship with a loyal audience. And this involves staying true to your brand. People have a natural tendency to hate change, and if you take on a new one without guiding your customers through it, they may no longer be part of your journey to expansion. Growing businesses tend to focus more on profit and lose sight of quality. As a result, they lose customers who have stuck with them for the longest time. If you decide to pull the plug on your old brand, make sure to keep the things that made it work.
Conclusion
To be a successful brand, you want your customers to know you, but you also need to make them like and trust you. This holds particularly true as the marketplace grows increasingly more crowded and cutthroat.
A brand helps a business, a product, or a service better resonate with its intended target market the stronger the connection, the stronger the brand.
Keeping a positive, consistent, and effective brand is not an easy feat. Big businesses would spend millions on reinforcing their brand alone. But if you’re a start-up or small business, there are simple ways to make sure your identity and messaging are on point. It can be as easy as avoiding these branding mistakes.
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