Don’t Believe All the Branding Myths

• July 27, 2010
Steph

Many small business owners believe that branding is too difficult, and that they will never achieve the “effective” branding of Apple or Virgin. Contrary to popular belief branding can easily be done with a little bit of elbow grease and effort. Below are many popular myths that stop business owners from tackling the branding monster.

Myth No. 1: Branding Is Too Hard To Do

You do not need to understand Nuclear Physics to understand branding; you just simply need to know how to focus. You need to focus on what you want your business to represent, and who you want your audience to be. Once you have thought that through you need to work towards communicating that message in everything you do, both visually and verbally. You will never stop branding. You have to always make sure that every single aspect of your company, from your materials to your customer service and messaging, embodies your message. Miami Web Design Pro believes that branding can be made simple, as long as you know what you are doing.

Myth No. 2: You Need A Huge Budget To Brand

You do not need to refinance your home to brand effectively, what you need to do is make sure that you have set apart your ideal audience and that the message you are trying to sell comes across loud and clear. After your audience receives your message and you are satisfying their needs you can focus on the expensive aspects of branding, like your logo and website. Always remember that if you are consistent it will not matter how much money you spend, because you will still be successful.  You may not be able to afford expensive and extravagant ad campaigns, but you can carry your message through your policies, presentations, logos, signature, etc. The most important things to remember in branding are: clarity, consistency, and strength in your message.

Myth No. 3: You Don’t Need To Brand

Branding is in fact a necessary component of the well-oiled machine that should be your business. This can be seen in brands that are bought and sold for tremendous amounts of money, and it can also be seen in the fact that someone will pay 300 dollars more at Manolo Blahnik for the same style of shoes that could have been purchased at Payless Shoe Source. An effective and successful brand brings in more sales, and thus more profit.  And besides the added bonus of extra cash, branding also shapes your advertising, networking, and marketing, which are necessary when building a business.

Myth No. 4: It Doesn’t Matter Who Your Designer Is

Even though you will have a plan and strategy before you seek a design firm, you need to keep in mind that not all designers will understand your vision, and many will not be interested in the message you are trying to convey. If a designer does not ask in depth questions about you and your vision then that is not the designer for you, and you need to look elsewhere. Although you may want to cut corners in order to spare your budget, always remember that you’ll get what you paid for, and even though it may be more expensive you need a designer who is genuinely interested in your brand. Web Design Miami is the most hard-working business in the industry, and you will always receive more bang for your buck with them.

Myth No. 5: It Will Work In The Blink Of An Eye

Although you may think, and hope, that branding will work over night that is typically not the case. People need to see and become familiar with your brand before branding can successfully occur. Your brand needs to make an impact on a consumer, an impact so intense that they will remember it and its message. And in order for effective branding to take place you have to be consistent, and stick to your logo and message, even if you may feel like changing your mind.  Don’t get us wrong, small tweaks are possible, but a complete overthrow is not acceptable.