Deadly Mistake in branding
making one of the deadly most errors mentioned here would kill the brandEven large global brands are not immune to mistakes, but they can often away with mistakes, because their size gives them some buffer. Making one of the 14 fatal branding mistakes listed here could kill it altogether.
1) Branding is all aboutdifferentiating your product with your competitors. Branding originated 4,000 years ago as a way to differentiate owner's cows. A hot branding iron bearing the owner's initials is used to burn a mark in-to the rumps of the cows to differentiate them.
2) Middle-of-the-road approach
Many brand owners said :"We're 80 percent as good as the leading brand, but only 30 percent more expensive than the entry-level brand." "Life is difficult enough without having to think about fractions! deadly mistakes in branding If this middle-of-the-road approach, you're not here-nor-there kind of brand. You get fired from the bottom of the entry-level brands and the top of the premium brands.
3) Forgot what made them famous
Most mistakes many brands make when they are successful is that they forget what made them famous. Xerox line expanded the brand in computers. Not many people have purchased a Xerox computer because they never forgot what made Xerox famous even if Xerox did.
4) Powered by opportunities, not vision
The difference between a brand and a company that a company is driven by the opportunities while a brand is driven by vision. A company will jump into what makes them money now. A company wants to own 5 percent of the 10 categories instead of 50 percent of one, but does it mean you have to live with competition in 10 categories instead of one.
5) Right execution, wrong strategy
Many companies do not spend enough time developing their strategy. A flawed strategy, no matter how well made, will still not lead you to success. In this book, Trout on Strategy, famous positioning guru Jack Trout, the difference between successful companies and also-rans is often the right strategy.
6) Branding is the task of marketing
Branding is not the job of the marketing department. Branding is the job of CEO. If you look at successful brands that went from being small
Start-ups to large global brands you will find that they usually have a strong brand champion and leader. CEO must be a driving brand as head of marketing is not head of the company.
7) No brand ambassadors
The brand champion can not do alone. He will need to build an army of brand ambassadors to pro-mote the brand. The CEO must in-spire the rest of the company to be supporters of the brand to talk the talk and walk the walk. Many's local SMEs are brand ambassadors.
8) Advertising premature
Brands are built with public relations, not advertising. Public Relations or PR refers to what the media are saying about your brand. PR has credibility flour-because that's what a third party says about your brand. But each brand will eventually out of promotional angles to exploit. This is when advertising kicks in to maintain the brand, but do not advertise too early.
9) Too many brandOne brand, an idea that is the way strong brands are built. But sometimes, companies make the mistake of launching too much brands too soon. Launch new brands in new categories that you will enter, but only after your core brand has become a strong and dominant in its category.
10) Branding for big companies
Branding is not the reward for success. Big reason the brands got to be that way. They had brand strategy determined at the start. Planned their work and worked their plan. If you do not have brand strategy, you do not have a directions.
11) Branding is for B2C companies
One of the biggest mistakes that B21 (business to business) companies can make is to think that branding is only for B2C (business to customer) companies. Branding is even more important for B2B companies because a B2B purchase is usually a lot more ex pensive and a lot riskier. When there is risk, people buy from the strongest brand in their price range.
12) Challenger Brand not attack
Challenger brand, you have got to keep attacking. By attacking, you give credibility to you] brand. When people can see that you are taking on the leading brand, they see a legitimate reason for you] brand to exist. Otherwise, you will just have to sell cheap to get business BMW attacked Mercedes-Benz when it was a challenger brand. Duracell at-tacked Eveready. Komatsu attackec Caterpillar.
11) Business to Business Branding
Most mistakes that B21 (business to business) companies can make is to believe that branding is only for B2C (business to customer) companies. Branding is more important for B2B companies, because a B2B buy more often a lot more ex pensive and risky. When there is a risk, Buyer buy from the strongest brand in their price range.
12) Challenger brand not attacking
If you are a challenger brand, you have to keep attacking. By attacking, you give credibility to your brand. If people can see that you are taking over the leading brand, they see a legitimate reason for your brand to exist. Otherwise you will only sell cheap to get business.
13) Leader brand does not block
When is the leading brand, it is not a job to play defense. This is what the leading brand must do to protect its turf. And that means you have to block all competition promotion no matter how insignificant.
14) Convergence
Convergence basically refers to the merging of two completely different products. Convergence do not help you build a strong brand be because a brand must be associated with a category. A convergence product will never be as good as a single-function product, as a generalist will never come, as well as a specialist.
Author Oscar Wilde once wrote: "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." "You can not escape from wrong, but you can certainly learn from the mistakes others have made".
Deadly Mistake in branding
