The 8 Most Common Branding Mistakes

Are you making some of the most common branding mistakes? Sometimes it’s hard to see your own missteps and blunders — you’re so close to the brand, you hardly notice if something seems off. 

Hey, if you had kale in your teeth, or a square of toilet paper trailing your shoe, we would tell you. The same goes for your brand. Even if it’s a little embarrassing to hear the truth, it’s much more embarrassing not to know what you may be doing wrong.  

When you know the mistakes to avoid, you can go forth without chasing fads or making flops. We’ve rounded up some of the most common branding mistakes from 2022, so that you can enter next year confidently and set your business up for success.

The Look & The Feel’s List of Top 8 Mistakes in Brand Strategy

1. Failing to Refresh Brand Strategy at Critical Pivot Points.
   
   Perhaps you’ve noticed the amount of pivots and transitions increasing, along with an accelerated rate of change in business. It’s not just your imagination. Changes will only continue to accelerate. It’s helpful to know your customer journey. Learn what changes are happening beyond your own category or industry. Use data to make decisions about marketing and branding.

   For those reasons, not refreshing brand strategy is one of the biggest brand mistakes we’ve noticed. Hiring a brand strategist and using business coaching can help you adjust with agility, and become stronger for it. When marketing and branding evolve in concert, your brand becomes unstoppable.  For an explanation of how marketing and branding work together, where to start, and how to optimize your efforts, check out our blog, “How does marketing differ from branding?”

2. Misguided Application of Logo & Brand Identity.
   
   Is your logo stiff, clunky, or hard to fit across platforms? The biggest trend in logo design is “Shape-shifting” or making logos adaptable and dynamic. Logos must work harder than ever before to look good cross-platform, across all media. Logos and submarks now must perform visually not only in large and small, horizontal and vertical formats, but in repeated patterns and against an extended color palette, perhaps interacting with dynamic imagery, animations, or video. Logos have to adapt for multiple social media channels and look good on responsive and mobile-friendly websites, in printed collateral, and on packaging. As a result, logo design is reaching new heights of creativity.

   Many marks are becoming "hyper bland”— getting minimal simple black and white, sans-serif type treatments. Others are using type-only identities. This makes typography more important than ever.  At the same time, brands are also playing with geometry, incorporating unusual geometric shapes and pairing them with vivid and bright colors. Hand-drawn, sketch or script logos and marks also persist for brands promoting hand-hewn aspects.
   

3. Lack of Brand Voice and Message Guidance.
   
   Many brands have their overarching Brand Identity completely dialed in. They have brand guidelines complete with strict instructions for logos, type treatments, color palettes and textures — but they fail to have the same high standards for written materials, in terms of voice and messaging.
   
   Brand messaging should be clear, consistent, cohesive and aligned with the brand identity. Our clients and their customers notice whether a voice rings authentic to a business. Make sure your brand voice carries through in all your taglines, headlines, subheads, crossheads, buttons and calls to action (CTAs).  Not to mention the brand name itself.
   
   Remember, you don’t have to do it yourself. You can hire a copywriter — it’s good for business.
   

4. Not Using Inclusive Language or Imagery.
   
   The world is changing, and brands and advertising are changing with it. While nostalgia still exists, today’s consumers demand brands embrace themes like social responsibility, sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and body positivity.
   
   It's important to recognize that oft-used words and phrases may have hidden meanings. Take a moment to audit the trends and adjust according to your brand values so you are communicating with purpose and intentionality. No one wants to make inadvertent micro-aggressions. It's worth your time to get an unbiased, third-party assessment of how your brand is coming across.
   

5. Inconsistency, a.k.a., “One of these things is not like the other.”
   
   In some cases, we’ve noticed that brands with highly polished and refined collateral don’t uphold those same high standards across all sales and marketing materials. While corporate headquarters presents a distinguished face other parts of the business are making wild discounts, undercutting other branding and positioning efforts.
   
   Today’s highly attuned consumers readily sense inconsistencies. They intuitively interpret the brand with mixed messaging and a scattered identity as “confusing.” They will instinctively turn elsewhere for the product or service they seek.
   

6. Letting UX Design Issues Linger.
   
   Synchronization of devices, mobile-first design, and cross-application design are driving the trends in user experience (known as UX/UI). Motion design, 3D imagery, gradient styles, and scrolling techniques are evolving. We’re always tracking trends in messaging, color resonance, and cohesion across all brand elements. Beyond that, more changes emerge every day — in virtual, mixed, and augmented realities, animations, and even design for wearables.
   
   Interestingly, in our increasingly high-tech environment, emotional designs attract more attention and help brands get traction. Accessibility is becoming the standard. Brands are looking to make not merely a minimum viable product (MVP) but a minimum lovable product (MLP). We love that! 

7. Ignoring Marketplace Changes and Trends.
   
   Ignoring industry trends, competitive positioning, and customer feedback leads to branding that feels stuffy and stodgy, and a brand voice and messaging that simply doesn’t sell.
   
   We use mood boards to help convey how brand elements communicate visual tone and direction at a glance. We recommend our clients similarly streamline processes and automate routine tasks with productivity tools and new ways of communicating, freeing up time to personalize human interactions and give an unparalleled quality of personal service where it matters most.
   

8. Not Getting a Regular Brand Audit.
   
   While the most persistent brands are timeless in many ways, businesses should now take a fresh look at their brand every 2 years, if not every year. Customers change. Interests and language evolve regularly. Are you the same person you were 2 years ago? Likely not, but even if you’re not changing, the marketplace is. 

A brand is a relationship. While your brand essence may stay more or less consistent, your brand will benefit from a regular assessment of brand use and vocabulary.

Know how your brand looks to fresh eyes. If you’re wondering about the signs it’s time to rebrand, we’ve got you covered.

So, what will make your branding most effective in 2023?

We see one theme throughout the most common branding mistakes above: Brands not noticing something important — changes in customer preferences, changes in the marketplace, changes in technology. 

A good agency can help you track changes and adapt to them. It’s our job to notice these things, and discreetly point them out to you (like a good friend would do). 

Additionally, we can help you sort out the long-term trends from the shiny new objects. That’s good brand strategy. And good brand strategy is good for business.

Looking for support? Contact our brand experts for a free consultation.