Becoming the CEO of your own company can be both thrilling and equally as terrifying. Today even more so than a couple of decades ago. The business world is nothing like it used to be, and those who started their companies a dozen years ago would have no clue where to start were they to do so today.
However, setting up a company is in a way easier. If you turn to the right people to help you, you will not need to handle all the heavy lifting yourself. Find the right accounting services, the right legal team, and the right manager, and you can be well on your way to success.
Easier said than done. Even once you have the product, the services, and you begin your life as an SMB, there are certain things you need to achieve in order to stand out from the vast crowd that is doing what you are. One of them is creating a brand.
Branding is what can help people recognize you in a sea of others, and if executed correctly, can make your life a lot easier.
However, if executed poorly, the lack of a brand identity can stop you dead in your tracks. Here are the biggest branding mistakes to avoid.
Having no vision
Your goal is not to please everyone on the market. You are creating a brand that will target a very specific audience, the people who are most likely to buy your products, and who can actually benefit from them. You are not aiming to sell to anyone and everyone. You don’t want to design you brand image based on what you like. You are designing it to appeal to a certain type of people, not yourself. The aim is to connect with your target audience, not for you to like the colors of the logo.
Translation – you need to do a lot of research before you begin to come up with a brand. Learn everything you can about your target audience and where they hang out and how to appeal to them, and go from there.
A lack of identity
Integrity is a rare thing in the online world today. Your brand needs to be more than just a cute logo and a catchy marketing gimmick. You want the message you communicate to mean something to the people you are speaking to.
This means that the font, the colors, the logo you choose all need to be in tune with who you are as a business, and what you want to achieve with it. The tone of voice you use, the point of view you speak from all need to be clear about what you stand for, so your customers can distinguish you from the next guy.
A lack of a clear message
You also need to be able to communicate who you are and what it is that you are selling clearly. Don’t expect your customers to just read between the lines and get the picture. Be very clear, and communicate in the language of your target audience, be it words, video or images.
This is undoubtedly the more difficult part of the process. By no means is any of it easy, but when it comes to communication and crafting a clear and unique message, you are better off turning to the professionals, than trying to do everything yourself. An agency with years of marketing experience will help you out, and they will be able to do so without falling for any of the usual traps.
An inability to grow
Even after you have designed your brand, you should never stop evolving. As the market keeps growing and as new generations are storming it, you need to be able to ride the waves, and rebrand when you need to. Not change who you are completely, just grow with the times. A company which is unable to embrace upcoming trends is most likely doomed, as they will simply be left in the dust of their competitors, ready to reevaluate the way they do business, and follow the sign of the times.
We hope your brand will be a successful one, and that your logo will one day appear in one of those brand recognition games people play on the bus. Good luck!