Building a brand is like meeting new people. If you don’t nail that first impression you may not get that customer back. You need to have a branding strategy in place to avoid making some of these common mistakes.

To start off with, you need to make sure everyone is on the same page. A common mistake many companies do is assign their marketing and advertising teams with the task of branding strategies. No matter how good their ideas are, or how well their plan is laid out, it is bound to fail if the receptionist doesn’t know how to portray the business to the public.

In order to get to this point, you need to quickly establish your identity. Two of the biggest mistakes you can make with any branding strategy is not differentiating yourself from your competitors and confusing the consumer.

Don’t follow in a leaders footsteps and don’t be afraid to be bold and make a name for yourself. You don’t want potential customers to confuse you with your competitor. No matter what you may have in common with the other guy, be different.

Having said that, don’t confuse different with difficult by choosing a bad company name. This is an opportunity to stand out but remember, you want to develop a brand. Your name should be something that is not only easy to spell but easy to say. But they shouldn’t be too easy. Jane’s Design Studio is pretty boring and even less memorable.

Branding is how your customers recognize you from your competitors. Once you’ve established who you are, make sure every single employee gets the memo and executes it.

As a small business owner, you can’t afford to bail on your customers. Remember to keep your promises and cater to a wide consumer base. According to the Washington Post, people hold businesses accountable for any claims they have as part of their branding. Jimmy John’s, for example, has poised themselves as having “speedy, fast delivery”. A hungry customer will expect this and your customers will be no different if you brand yourself in a particular fashion.

It’s hard to come back once you’ve disappointed a single customer. This is why it is also important to cater to the masses. Fads and trends will fade so make sure your business isn’t thriving on just one of them and your brand isn’t reflecting that.

At Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions we can help you develop the branding strategies you need to avoid making these common mistakes.