Skip to main content

Top Ten Branding Mistakes – Series #3 of 10 – Mistake #3: "Brand Confusion"



Back in the 1990's when I went grocery shopping one thing that was often on my list was orange juice. I had purchased Tropicana orange juice many times before and enjoyed it, so that is the brand I always had on my list. I searched and searched and could not find it, so I ended up buying another brand. This happened many times until I found out that Tropicana has suddenly changed their branding. Everything had changed, starting with the logo, the fonts and the overall packaging. If you are wondering what happened to this new confusing branding, Tropicana has reversed the brand to its original, and you will only find the original design in stores today.

This is one crass example how you can confuse your brand audience. Brand confusion is maybe the biggest branding mistake of all. You should avoid the following to not confuse your audience:
Inconsistencies with the company or product logo
Inconsistencies with brand fonts
Inconsistencies with brand colors
Change of the company or product name
Inconsistencies with employees in how they handle the product or service

Changing the branding isn't necessarily a bad thing and one doesn't need to see it as a negative. However, it MUST be done properly. Maybe your business is changing due to the market. Maybe your target market has changed based on the needs of the community. Maybe you, yourself are looking for a change or refresher. Whatever the case may be, we provide a process that will clearly lay out the steps to take to rebrand properly.

And let's take a moment to tie in the employee portion of the inconsistency and confusion. Let's say that you are a small "mom and pop" restaurant in the heart of quiet and quaint Poulsbo, WA and your customers are used to a soft lighting with soothing music. One day you decide to hire and train a new employee in this same atmosphere but do not take the time to explain why the atmosphere is so important. Your employee is doing great and can be left alone for the day. All of a sudden your long time customers stop coming and your noticing this more and more. Why might that be? The employee has decided, without knowing the importance, to turn on all the lights, as bright as they can go. This employee also decided to change the station on the radio to very loud rock music. As you can imagine, this would deter the crowd that you are used to. Your regular customers may not understand this was done without you knowledge. Are you starting to see the big picture?

Now, having the right tools will help you in your branding efforts. What are you using now to capture your business ideas and information on a daily basis?

We have developed – what we believe – is an invaluable solution. We offer BrandBuilderBox™ template and an Audit Account – both are free and cloud-based allowing you to capture your thoughts about your brand on the go. You are welcome to create your account and start exploring the world of branding. If you get stuck or need assistance with some of the tasks, we are here to help. Our brand workshops and brand audits are powerful sessions that can push your team over the hump.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Branding vs. Brand

It is important to make a distinction between the term Brand and Branding. If we use the analogy of an iceberg, things underneath the waterline are represented by the term Brand. They are not immediately seen by the audience, like employees, suppliers, and even the company's products or services, customers and other partners represent the brand. In contrast, Branding is an activity that is visible and is considered the process of  designing brand identity .  Items that are the result of branding include all identifying artifacts like the logo, icons, avatars, taglines and the company name. The output of branding activities consists also of a style guide, employee guidelines, the vision and mission statement and a list of company core values. If we go one step further and create branded touchpoints like flyers, business cards, posters, etc., we consider this step Marketing. Marketing is illustrated as ships that come and go from the iceberg. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jumping The Curve

On October 6, 2011, the day after Steve Jobs died, Guy Kawasaki gave a talk at the Silicon Valley Bank’s CEO Summit. He talked about lessons he learned from Steven. And one lesson he mentioned was "jump the curve". What Steve meant by that statement is not really a new concept but it makes clear what entrepreneurs really need to do if they want to become and stay relevant.  You certainly have seen a typical product life cycle curve that every product runs through. The picture below illustrates this curve. What Steve is referring to is the fact that if companies, especially start-ups, want to avoid the harsh headwind from their competition, and if they like to grow their business, they need to be innovative and bring a new product onto the market, which is unique and valuable to the customers – they need to jump onto a new product lifecycle curve.   
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Deep Branding?

Do you want to know what's hidden deep down in your brand? Deep Branding is when you look carefully at both sides of your brand: Inside your business: dive deep into your own business vision, mission, and values. Outside of your business: look every possible touchpoint between your company and your potential audience.  Deep Branding is a relatively new term that describes activities performed by company owners, managers or third-parties that plan to look at more than just their logo and their website when branding a company, product or service. We have developed Brand Builder Box™ to provide a platform that allows deep branding. Our online-platform enables to run and document brand workshops and audits. You can create a free account here  Brand Audit Account .  I ngemar Anderson Schedule an Appointment Ingemar Anderson President   |  Reprospace, LLC Mobil:  +1-206-849-6855 Main...
Post a Comment
Read more