Is your brand failing to live up to your expectations?
The great brands that we all know and admire find a way to rise above the craziness of the day-to-day.
Building brands is as complicated or simple as you want to make it.
After over two decades of working on brands (strategy through to operationalising brands (and we don't mean logos) we here at Affinity Brands have identified a few common areas where brands go wrong.
Here are five “brand mistakes” for you to be on guard against:
- Lack of Focus : Many brands are rudderless ship. Why does your brand exist? Who is its primary target audience? What is its personality and character?
- No Clear Differentiation : If your brand disappeared tomorrow, would anyone miss it? When your brand sits beside its competitive set, what distinguishes it from its peers? What makes it truly special and distinctive?
- Limited Relevance : Make sure your brand is one that people actually care about. And so: What does your target audience actually need, want, or desire? How does your brand deliver on that in a meaningful way?
- Lack of Consistency: Great brands consistently execute across every point of contact (touch-points) from advertising and social media to sales and customer service. Those who fail in even just a single area are only as good as their weakest link.
- No Values to guide your actions or behaviours: It’s not just about what you provide it’s also what you stand for. Every brand must have clearly defined values and must not just talk the talk, but walk the walk and be consistent in doing so.
These are just some of the basic mistakes: the failure to define the most basic elements about a brand, or to have the systems and discipline to consistently deliver on the brand’s promise and essence.
So, Ask yourself:
What is standing between your brand and greater meaning with your customers and prospects?
Where are you close to falling into a “brand mistake”?
And what are the distractions that are keeping these issues too far down on your priority list?
