Fatal Branding Mistakes for Your Small Business

We already know the importance of branding even in our small business. In fact, I have shared some tips about online branding, building brand identity, and several offline branding strategies.

The essence of branding is to create a resounding personality about your brand. Check out the romantically funny Nokia advertisement about a wedding proposal. What makes this branding initiative very effective is its consistency towards Nokia's overall marketing campaign of "connecting people" anywhere in the world. Now you know why Nokia is the 5th most powerful brand in the world, based on rankings by Interbrand.

However, do not mistake branding simply as good advertising. It is a whole more lot than captivating, relevant TV, newspaper, radio, and online advertisements. It is a combination of communication, customer experience, public relations, efficient execution, and even financial performance.

On the other hand, take a look at United Airlines, voted by AOL Money & Finance as the 2nd worst brand in 2006. This company is next only to Britney Spears! It is no question that United can afford to pay big advertisers and public relations consultant to come up with a very powerful marketing campaign. Yet, it failed because of poor customer service, lack of vision, inconsistency, and inadequate understanding of their target market.

Now, it is time to introduce to you the 4 dreaded mistakes in branding:

No Target Market

In the movie Jerry Maguire, business mentor Dicky Fox said, "Unless you love everybody, you can't sell anybody." This is very true not only selling but also in branding. You must learn to focus your branding efforts to specific niche markets and avoid mass marketing.

This is one of the biggest mistakes made my United Airlines. They targeted all airline passengers so they made several programs, different pricing schemes, various fleet configurations, and added more destinations. Instead of getting everybody on board, it created confusion and apathy even among long-time passengers of this airline.

On the other, JetBlue has kept its focus in one specific niche. According to BrandChannel, the target market of this low-cost airline is those "people who would otherwise find themselves driving or taking a coach. The passenger in search of a cheap fare is a given, so they concentrated their efforts on attracting business professionals and New York travelers who could pay more, but would be pleased to pay less without compromise to their own standards."

Lack of Marketing Plan

Building a brand requires patience and consistency over a long period of time. You cannot promote "excellent customer service" this year and "low-cost alternative" next time. You have to make up your mind on what aspect you must promote and make sure this aspect what customers are after.

You cannot do that if you do not have a concrete short-term and long-term marketing plan to serve as your guide. It outlines the things you must do, words you must say, and price you must set to appeal to your target customers. It also signals to you the appropriate timing to change your strategy or even offer a new line extension.

More importantly, it provides financial estimates or how much money is needed to establish your brand image in the market and where specifically you will put your money. To make sure you are not overshooting your marketing budget, compare it with your financial projections in your business plan.

No Commitment

Some entrepreneurs see marketing as cost and they will do everything they can to minimize these "expenses". Some even regard branding as a separate function from sales, strategic planning, and overall operations. At the end of the day, these small business owners are not committed on building a great brand.

If you have this same belief, it is time to unlearn and embrace a different perspective. If you like to be one of the popular household names like Coke, Nike, iPod, Microsoft, or Nokia you must put branding on top of your priorities. Taking a companywide branding initiative is necessary for your survival.

When Wal-Mart started its brand campaign with the classic tag line "Always Low Prices", it is not just a lip service or mere advertisement. To maintain its low prices every single day, the owner Sam Walton and all departments worked together to develop strategies to achieve this brand promise.

Commitment starts from you, the small business owner. Tweak your company to be marketing-oriented not product-oriented by sharing with them our plans and soliciting their insights to improve the business operations.

Knowing When to Stop

While consistency is vital to your branding efforts, you must learn when to stop and when to change your strategy. Know your status in the market and make a decision when to stop massive branding campaign. To do this, you must commission a market research to monitor the strength of your brand in comparison with your competitors in the market. If you are already a brand leader, it is time to slow down a bit on your branding and start reaping some profits. Moreover, your strategies will now be different compared when you are just starting up.

There are also situations where a new trend or technology advancement has altered the way we do business. Not matter how effective your branding is today, it must stop at some point and you come up with more relevant approach.

Do you think running a Kodak ad (below) about photo films will be as effective as it was during the late 80s and early 90s? Not with digital cameras around!