Many biggest brands have made billion-dollar Branding mistakes. Actually, you can’t afford to ignore the fact that your product might be the best one, it would be a major flop without proper branding. And, obviously, you don’t want to just throw out your money on branding blunders! So, if you don’t want to ruin your business, you have to learn from these mistakes. Else, you might fail.

Let’s first consider the instance of the Gerber brand which had done its branding wrong.

Gerber, an American purveyor of baby food and baby products, decided that they should sell their baby food products in Central Africa. Their corporate identity is the smiling babyface which they feature on all their products. The majority of people in Central Africa are uneducated. That’s why they always put the product image on the cover so that the customers can understand what’s inside the container. And, here, Gerber’s brand management department made a mistake. They failed to take that into account that a child’s face on the product cover would seem weird.

Ultimately, the branding went wrong! If you’ve just started out, it’s recommended that you should repeat the same mistakes again.

5 Branding Mistakes That You Should Avoid

Here are the biggest Branding Mistakes that could ruin your business. Take them into account before creating your product branding strategy.

1. Being Insensitive of What You’re Talking About

Reebok had to withdraw its controversial ad campaign— Reebok; Cheat On Your Girlfriend Not On Your Workout. In this ad campaign, they were advising bodybuilders that cheating on their girlfriend won’t cost anything but cheating on their workout can. And, due to the consumer complaints, they had to take this ad out of circulation.

What we want to clear is that make sure you’re always being politically correct whenever you’re talking to your customers, whether in person, on phone, through your website, or on social media channels.

2. Making Changes To Your Brand Without Proper Communication

Rebranding can be done in many ways. You might want to change the name of your old brand or want to change its look and style. Whatever it is, make sure that you communicate those ahead of time to your customers.

One of the most recent and best rebranding examples is Vi, Vodafone and Idea Ltd. And, everyone is being aware of this integration. Because they are communicating it continuously through a TV ad campaign in the right way.

3. Being Inconsistent

Remember, your brand is a story and it must be told everywhere, in the same way, every time you tell it. Your design, your tone, the way you speak, and other brand elements are 100% consistent across all channels. That way, people will know exactly who you are and fosters a sense of trust among them.

Creating a brand style guide can help you make your brand consistent across all platforms.

4. Ignoring the Follow-up

Someone visits your shop and made a purchase. But, you didn’t get in contact with him further for upselling or cross-selling. If that’s the case with you too, you’re missing out on a big opportunity and that will definitely hurt your brand in the long run.

5. Branding Without Sincerity

Be sincere with your branding. Before making any purchase decision, people would explore everything about your business. Hence, make sure that you’re as sincere as possible. That means you should always try to be honest, and never try to hide something.

Words over to you!

The key takeaway is that whatever industry your brand belongs to, it must have a proper branding strategy that aligns with your branding goals. Then only you’ll be able to build a sustainable brand positioning.