I regularly meet with business owners, at networking and social events, and i am often asked what is it that i do, and this is what i tell them ‘I am a Branding Consultant who helps clients to unleash their expertise on and offline create clarity on their offering, define their target market and create websites, logo and marketing materials that will attract their ideal clients. Then they say, that’s interesting,then they proceed to tell me, that they are not getting traffic to their website.

So as you do, after you collect business cards, you check out their website and social media and add their details to your CRM.  So as i am going through their website, i’m thinking there brand suck, no wonder their not getting any traffic.

 SO HERE ARE THE TOP 5 SHOCKING REASONS whyYOUR BRAND SUCKS

1: No Corporate Brand Identity:

Corporate Brand Identity is the consistent visual elements that are used in your marketing materials, which includes your  logo, business card, website, social media banners.  It even goes beyond this, i have noticed that some long established family businesses don’t even have a logo. Having a corporate brand identity is extremely important to your business’s success. However, many business owners don’t prioritise or are completely clueless when it comes to  brand identity and this can potentially damage their businesses.

2:Your cousin designed your logo

Leave graphic design to the professionals. First of all, while your cousin may have been great at art at college, doesn’t mean that he or she has the knowledge and expertise to graphically design a logo, business card, or Website.  A professional will ask you, who do you want your logo to attract and why, it must symbolic, unique and meaningful.  I remember i was with my brother and he introduced me to a new local restaurant, i was speaking to the owner and she told me her son designed her logo  i looked at it, and being a graphic designer, i knew that her son, totally copied it from google images, what did i say, absolutely nothing, she was so proud.

Another thing about having a professional designer, is that we will prioritise your project, work to a schedule and have a deadline.I have many potential clients whose project is put on hold or dragged out for months and out of frustration have to hire a professional and they get their project completed fast.

3: Powered by WordPress at the bottom of your website

I must admit this is a pet peeve of mine. Whilst many people have website designed on the WordPress platform, please for the love of God have your designer, remove it, and if you designed your website yourself, its time to upgrade and have your website professionally designed. If you are premium brand, charging top dollar for your services, that makes you look cheap.

4: Inconsistent Social Media brand colours  

Its a must to manage the way to look and act on social media,because this is major when it comes to the reputation of your brand. Firstly, a professional designer will issue you with a brand guide which sets out, your brands colours, fonts, and voice. If the theme of your website is serene with pastel blues and greens, then your Facebook banner has bold pinks and blacks this gives a message to your audience that you don’t care about your brand and you are given mixed signals, in  terms of your offering. Consumers like consistency, they like that when they visit your website or twitter page it will be the same, this reinforces your brand identity and builds trust 

5:Monitor social media

This is a biggy, by not responding to Tweets or Facebook messages,you will come across like  you are ignoring them and that your couldn’t care less, about people that could be your potential clients, Social Media is all about being social, as a business owner its important to listen and engage with you fans or followers, talk to them not at them.  Now we never want to think about this, but if you do get negative feedback on social media,respond, and deal with the situation there and then and aim to rectify the problem.

There you have it, my top 5 shocking reasons why your brand sucks.  These issues can be rectified, pretty quickly by a professional designer who will be able to turn your business into a premium brand.

Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to branding, i would love to hear them , please comment below.

If you would like to discuss your next big project, book a free 30 minute Brand Clarity Session here