There is so much more to a company’s branding than just their name and logo. Branding is what helps set your startup apart from other businesses, big or small. What you want is to create a positive and memorable impression to customers that lasts. You won’t want your target audiences to perceive your brand in a way that makes you stand out. But then, new startup business owners often make mistakes that put their business in a tricky position.
If you’re a millennial planning to establish your own startup brand, you need to ensure your branding is on point. Let’s say you want to build your own line of liquor. It is not enough that you know what to name your brand, how your logo looks like, and what your liquor packaging is going to be. You may already know who your target audiences are, where they are online, and how to reach them locally. But if you still make the following rookie mistakes, then it will be extremely difficult for your brand to scale fast.
Failure to Define Your Brand’s Purpose
Almost all businesses were built to earn some profit. If you simply proceed in starting your brand without even defining what the purpose of your brand is, people will assume your brand just exists to take their money. Your only promise is to offer your products in exchange for their money and nothing else.
A brand purpose, on the other hand, allows you to connect with your target audience on an emotional level. This will help you give your company the distinction needed to entice consumers to choose your brand instead of the other companies in the market. Remember that aside from defining your brand purpose, you also need to make sure your target audiences know what your purpose is.
To define your purpose, ask yourself a series of questions like the following.
- What motivated you to start the business?
- Who are your target audiences and what problems do they have that I want to solve?
- What is the personality of your brand?
- What kind of emotions do you want your target audiences to feel about the company?
- What makes your brand unique?
- How does your business fit in the change you want to see in the world?
Being Inconsistent
Your brand should be consistent at all costs and without exceptions. If not, your customers can get confused. Your target audiences won’t even know what the difference is between an already existing brand’s product and your offers.
Make sure your message logo, brand name, and even colors are consistent in all channels. This will help avoid confusion and develop brand loyalty and trust. Create a brand guideline that every employee can use when using the logo, what fonts and colors to use, how to use taglines the right way, etc.
Making a Faux Pas on Social Media
Social media is the go-to platform of millennials. It only makes sense that you utilize this platform for your business. You may already know how to engage with customers on the site but that does not necessarily mean you already know the best practices when it comes to social media marketing.
You don’t want to make business mistakes on social media. The platform is too big and one wrong move can spread like wildfire in an instant. You need to be careful about what you post, what you share, and how you react.
Businesses should steer clear from making statements that go against your brand’s purpose. The last thing you want to experience is to make your brand look unprofessional, outdated, and inexperienced. Make sure that one in charge of your brand’s social media retains the company’s personality and branding all the way.
Using Exaggerated and Poor Quality Copywriting
Millennials often use exaggerated captions and content just to catch the attention of their followers. But as a startup business, you should avoid poor quality content and over-the-top copy. Your target audiences will get turned off if you fail to match the expectations they got from your copy.
As much as possible, be truthful, unique, and authentic. Avoid using words that are not true. You can always make great copies without being vague or using clickbait. Try to create compelling copies and it will eventually pay for itself in the long run.
Millennial entrepreneurs are the next generation of business owners. For your brand to take off, you will need to invest in the proper branding that will capture the attention of your target customers and can retain the interest of existing clients. Avoid these remorse triggers if you want your brand to experience more success in the near future.
