12 Ways You Could Be Destroying Your Brand

Are you destroying your brand? Are you having trouble getting your brand out there? You may want to re-evaluate your brand and consider if you are making any of these big mistakes.

11. Not re-evaluating your brand.

Let's start here. Developing a new brand is hard, so you don't want to do it on a whim. But sometimes you need to reevaluate things. Do your brand, customer base and product/service offerings still align? Do they need some tweaking?

10. Not writing content for humans - Key word stuffing, putting out poorly designed content, hiring bad writers, etc. Search engines are getting smarter. They have AI (Artificial Intelligence) behind them. In short order, we will teach these AI's to think like humans, not databases and algorithms.

This isn't science fiction. This is today's marketplace where we must compete. Tech like Google's Rankbrain and those that follow are evaluating what people ask for and want. They are learning quickly how to give it to us. These AI's have a better understanding of what human language looks and feels like. And they will make the decision about your content before a human ever lays eyes on it.

9. Putting all of your eggs in one basket.

Multi-channel marketing is key. Your target will see you in several places across the web. This is important. As a brand they need to see you in many locations to know you are real. A brand that is only on Twitter, only has a website, etc. seems of very low importance and in some ways maybe not even a brand at all these days.

8. Pretending "Your" Perfect

It is one thing to create the perfect brand. It is something else to seem fake. Real businesses have flaws. They make missteps. They have to apologize sometimes. They face challenges and overcome them. They own up to their failures. This is how real people relate to you. Don't try to make your brand seem too perfect.

7. Sharing Irrelevant or Obsolete Ideas on Social Media

Know your industry and be careful what you share in your content curation efforts. Sharing outdated ideas and things that just don't interest people any more can hurt your brand.

6. Not Practicing what you preach

If you say you're all about customer experience then you better follow through in every facet of your company. Every department, every post, every ad, every outreach is a part of your brand and consistency is key.

5. Lacking clarity about what you stand for.

Your brand should be clearly defined. Don't be ambiguous and don't try to ride the fence. Today's consumers support brands that make a strong statement about what they believe. In most cases, keeping politics and religion out of it are a good idea, because there is so much disagreement and discord. But most other topics can endear customers strongly to you, so take a stand on something, even if it's the rights of your customers. But always follow through.

4. Not Managing you online reputation

Not knowing what people are saying about you is much worse than people saying bad things about you. Read your reviews, google your brand and its leaders. Don't get caught off guard. You may need to take action against someone speaking lies. If you don't need to go that extreme, just know that awareness is 3/4 of the battle in managing your reputation. When you are aware you can decide how to respond in your favor.

Sorry to "low res" you. But If you've seen Black Mirror Season 3 Ep. 1, you will instantly get why this gif applies to this topic.

It's about Personal Branding on Steroids.

3. Lacking some branding consistency across Social Media, etc.

We read that it is important to customize our content/brand for different Social Media Channels, but your target customers still need to know it's you. Most people are on several channels. And failing to have something consistent that says "hey, it's me" means you just lost a touch opportunity. Remember that it can take 8-11 touches before a conversion, so losing a touch is a big deal.

2. Having no Branding Strategy

Too many begin developing their brand without any research. They don't do any market analysis. They don't examine their competitors. And they begin developing a brand through trial and error. Do your homework and design your branding strategy before you begin developing it.

1. No Brand Differentiation

You probably learned in school that trying to be like everyone else isn't really the key to success. It may earn you some temporary popularity. But once that rainy day hits, those fair weather friends are no where to be found. Know who you are and what you have to offer to customers and sell yourself as being as unique as they are.

Bonus: Talking At People. Today, people want a conversation. You need to relate to your audience and engage them. Encourage them to join the conversation and become a part of your brand. Talking at customers about what they need to do and buy is 20th century. What brand killers did I leave out? Do you disagree? Reach out on Twitter or Contact Us. We'd love to hear from you.

~Leigh

What do you think are the biggest brand killers? I'd love to add and attribute to you.