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🥴Branding mistakes

🥴Branding mistakes

February 21, 2025

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🥴Branding mistakes

March is just one week away. So? That New Year smell is fading fast. Time to get going on things you wanna achieve in 2025 before it’s 2026.

Today’s quick marketing thought may help you with that as I break down a list of things that businesses often get wrong with branding. After that, you can inhale This Week’s Marketing Wrap-Up.

Appetizer: What’s Telephobia and how to manage it according to this shrink.

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Examples of Branding Mistakes

Branding can be a confusing topic. Luckily, a simple way to clear up the confusion is to look at examples of branding mistakes.

When you know what not to do, that’s a solid step in the right direction. Agreed?

Ok, let’s start with the most common misconception. Branding is more than the visual elements (colors, logos, fonts, and signage) a business uses. Sticking golden-colored arches on Happy Meal boxes and billboards did not build McDonald’s brand.

Next example of a branding mistake is lack of a clear strategy. Some businesses never even consider their core values and instead sit around thinking of slogans or designs they think are cool! Start with values.

The third common branding mistake is being inconsistent. Brand guidelines should be clear and easily accessible by all your team members regardless of their role. And you need to stay on top of how others use your brand.

Mimicking Your Competitors — Major Branding Mistake

This example of a branding mistake deserves more details. First off, why copycat another business when the point is to offer consumers something unique? Business owners who don’t have a unique selling proposition should’ve just applied for a job with the brand they’re mimicking.

Trying to look and feel like your competition looks and feels can lead to a negative domino effect. It could cause a business to…

Target the wrong audience
Rely on branding as a fix for other problems (i.e., poor customer service)
Create vague messaging that has zero emotional impact on an audience
Make the marketing messaging too complicated
Fail to adapt to evolving audience needs

Moving on to the next example of branding mistakes — being phony (aka inauthentic).

Customers don’t necessarily need flashy branding. Simple, consistent branding works wonders when your customer trusts your brand to meet the needs it promises to meet.

Also, loyal customers will appreciate companies that don’t base their branding tactics on outside influences. This goes back to core values.

And yep, it can get tricky when it comes to today’s political climate in the U.S. So, maybe shoe companies should just highlight athletics instead of trying to be Ghandi with a Swoosh? Might even avoid being called a hypocritical brand.

Three examples of epic branding mistakes by big brands are coming up. But just to clear up how to think about branding…

It’s like using GPS. Figure out where you want to end up and the best route to meet customer needs. Then punch in that destination. Note potential delays due to competitors or the economy. Be sure your messaging is clear and accurate, like turn-by-turn GPS directions, so your customers know where to go next on the customer journey.

Everyone in the car (on the team) should know the destination to avoid confusion, wrong turns, and wasted time.