5 Branding Mistakes You are Making in 2022

Branding in 2022 DEMANDS being more HUMAN with our clients and customers.

“Brand Identity has been the single most important factor for increasing sales and ensuring growth since the dawn of capitalism. But a brand today is no longer just a symbol, logo, or tagline. A brand must include the promise of what the customer will experience emotionally and even politically.”
– Mark Schaefer

#1 You are addressing your business goals and NOT your customers’ NEEDS. 

What problem do you solve for your consumers? What do you want them to tell their friends, family, and clients about your company and products? How do you want them to feel about themselves because they use your products? These are all branding questions you need to answer before you can truly speak to your target audience’s hearts. Don’t let your algorithmic goals get in the way. Your customers are keen and easily irritated by content for content’s sake.

#2 YOU want to SAY it all and therefore are saying NOTHING.

You are confusing your market. I see this most often when it comes to brand identity design.The most successful brand identity concepts are simple, clever and emotionally impactful in some way. Just today I designed a new product logo for a manufacturing client. At first they wanted their new logo to convey the entire story of how the product actually works. It did not take long to convince them that scissors, a ruler, a cube, a pipe and the initials of the product all in one logo was not the message they wanted to send their clients.

Clarity is based on simplicity. Your competition is clear & concise and therefore they are reaching into the heart of your consumers and literally tattooing their brand on them. We have all seen it happening, customers display their favorite brands as a way of saying something about themselves to the world. Mark Schaefer explains this beautifully in his book Marketing Rebellion when he says “The best companies on earth don’t ‘own’ customers. They own a space and help customers belong there.”

#3 You are NOT being CONSISTENT. 

Your brand should reflect your company’s most important values. Your market needs to hear your most important values over and over again. Consistency leads to trust which leads to loyalty. In today’s market the loyal customer only makes up 13%! Sales funnels are being rebelled against and have proven inefficient in today’s world. Our focus needs to be on a cycle of “constant consideration.”

Mark Schaefer states “creating constant awareness that leads to consideration for those shop-around customers – and specifically, relying on our customers to help create that awareness.” The best way to stay part of the conversation is to be consistent and show your business’ humanity. 

#4 You are NOT DIFFERENTIATING your brand from your competition. 

The best companies know their market, they know what makes them different. They deeply understand what problems they solve that their competitors do not. They see what the world around them needs and fix it. Is your market oversaturated with solving the same consumer problems? 2022 branding finds the need and helps their consumers solve it in such a way that they can’t help but tell everyone they know about your fix. 

All four of the previous mistakes build up to the fifth and most detrimental brand mistake you are making in 2022.

#5 You DO NOT have a brand STRATEGY focused on your customer’s why. 

Again, quoting from Mark Schaefer’s book “making your customer a partner in how you build your brand and how you build your product, even shaping the future of your business, and that becomes the new customer journey.”  Your brand strategy needs to encompass your customer’s journey. Is your branding sufficiently reaching your audience? Is it speaking to their hearts?

Do you understand what they need, want and desire? Have you taken a friendly perspective look at their daily challenges? Get on my calendar and let’s chat about your brand strategy. 

Check out my other blog post(s) that will help you avoid some of these mistakes: Get real with PURPOSE or Brand Context starts with Consistency