Ok, so we’re going to give it to you straight with this one!
I’ve been working with brands for a long time now (I won’t say exactly how long) 😬 During that time I have become very familiar with the pitfalls that can undermine your brand and reduce the trust that you want your audience to feel.
So, for those of you out there who are working on your brand, I’m hoping that today’s blog will help you avoid these pitfalls.
You are presenting your brand inconsistently
🎨 You use lots of colours across your marketing material. I’d always advise having a palette of 3 primary colours and possibly 3 tertiary to compliment. No more!
✍🏼 You have lots of different fonts, used in different styles and forms of capitalisation. 2 is optimum. A headline font and a complimentary.
🗣 You don't have brand or tone of voice guidelines so each person that designs or writes for you does so in their own way. Get those guidelines clear so that your content can be more consistent, no matter who is producing it.
Sound familiar?
If you are doing all three, I’m sorry to say it, you are building an inconsistent brand and your audience will notice, even on a subconscious level!
Most consumers are pretty savvy in this day and age – they are used to being able to instantly recognise the red from Coca Cola or the humorous tones of Brewdog.
If you want to be seen as credible and trustworthy, you need to infuse your professionalism into your branding. Help your audience to recognise and trust you by showing up with consistency no matter what the content happens to be.
Your brand photography is poor quality
Make sure you have the rights to the photos you are using if you aren’t producing them yourself. Contrary to popular believe, you can't just take images from Google and claim them as your own. Also be mindful of what type of image you are using from stock sites - there are different copywriting terms.
You are using the same stock photos as everybody else in your industry. Tools like Unsplash, Pexels, and Canva Premium are hugely popular, but beware - you could end up with a website or social feed full of photos that everybody elseis using too. This of course is a straight road to blending in. It also gives a “cheaper” vibe to your brand.
Use high resolution images. Google doesn't like low res images and your followers won't either! Make sure your images are large enough for the channel you are using them on. If your image isn't looking crisp and sharp, it’s a good sign that you’re uploading a photo that’s too small.
Your photos are messy to look at. We see this happen a lot with DIY photoshoots and honestly, sometimes it’s time to call the professionals in! Some people don't have a photographic eye and struggle to arrange a photo so that everything is nicely centred and tidy. A great photographer will plan a shoot thoroughly with you to ensure you come away with images you will definitely use.
Your web design is giving your audience a headache
- Your text is too small to read comfortably or so large it’s jarring to look at.
- You’re using colours that are very high contrast (two colours that are very different from each other) or very low contrast (two colours that are extremely similar). Both of which will again make your site difficult to read.
- You are using too many flashing or fast scrolling elements and it’s making your website unpleasant to use.
- There isn't a clear user journey – instead of visitors getting clearly directed to sales pages or to your booking form, you haven't considered where you want to direct your audience, which makes for a confusing user experience and ultimately, a high bounce rate.
So, if you are presenting your brand inconsistently, using poor quality photography, and not thinking about the UX of your website, chances are your brand isn’t going to develop with a strong foundation.
Food for thought…
If today’s blog has been helpful, it might be worth following us on LinkedIn, where we share little sound bites of advice more regularly. I mean, I say we, I leave the social media content to the youngsters in the team! 😂
I’ll stick to branding 👍🏼
