Small Business Branding: Common Mistakes

By now, we all understand that consistency is key when it comes to brand management. But don’t assume that if you just stay consistent, your brand will succeed. There is so much more to factor in when building your company’s brand.

You’ve got to also learn the common branding pitfalls and how to avoid them.

We’ve put together a list of common mistakes that small businesses make when building out their company’s brand:

1. Not Targeting a Defined Market

By strongly defining you target market, you can cost efficiently get your message to the right people simultaneously.

With the digital world dominating these days, you can easily target the right people by key demographic factors including age, gender, geography and lifestyle.

A common mistake that companies make is trying to be everything to everyone – they end up being nothing to anybody.

For example, instead of being just a local dentist, be a local dentist that specializes on families with young children. When someone in your community is searching for a new dentist, you’ll show up at the top of their list.

2. Sticking with only Advertising when Publicity is Powerful (and free)

Almost 70 percent of small to medium-sized businesses advertise online. Using blogs, pay-per-click or social media ads might be incredibly beneficial, but it’s typically all paid advertising.

Publicity is 100 percent free and incredibly important because it influences what other people say about your brand and its impact.

An article featuring your business is a lot more powerful than a three-page spread advertisement in your local publication.

Earned messages and media are much more respected and have a wider reach. If you aren’t able to build enough buzz around your business, partner with someone prominent in your community to help build your own credibility.

3. Weak Web Presence

Even though 70 percent of small businesses are advertising online, only about half of them have an actual website. How frustrating for the consumer who wants to learn more about the company after seeing the advertisements on the web.

It’s been found that most consumers want to visit the company’s website before finalizing a purchasing decision.

Also, consumers tend to go to their friends through social media networks for recommendations. Because of this, you should not only have a website, but also a presence on the top three social media networks: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

For more information about common branding mistakes that small businesses make, visit this article on Washingtonpost.com.