COMMON BRANDING MISTAKES That Can Torpedo Your Company’s Image
The value of a strong brand cannot be overstated when it comes to growing your business. We call adhesive bandages Band-Aids and cotton swabs Q-Tips because those companies excel at creating memorable, trusted brands that consumers can rely on. There’s no recipe for creating a brand so strong that the name of your product becomes common vernacular, but developing a strong, consistent brand is within the reach of every business owner.
somebody else’s. The best brands stand out. Think about the iconic Nike swoosh, one of the greatest logos in business history. There was nothing like it at the time, and there’s little like it today. Sloppy Copy Branding is far more than just a cool logo and a flashy website. The words you use to convey your values — and the value you offer customers — are crucial. Bad grammar, weird word choice, and other linguistic faux pas can make you look silly. Make sure you have professional editors look over your copy to ensure it relays the message you want it to. Platform Inconsistency Have you ever logged onto a mobile version of a website and wondered if you were in the wrong place? When that happens, it’s because a company hasn’t made the effort to mirror their branding across all platforms. It’s one thing to have an irreverent online presence — look to MoonPie’s Twitter feed for an example — it’s another to have such disparate branding that you leave customers confused. A great brand synergizes all aspects to create one indelible image for consumers. Share your values, convey clear messages, and provide a professional image. Once you’ve done that, you’re on the road to building a brand that people want to support.
This is why it’s frustrating to see companies hurt their branding through easily avoidable mistakes.
Business owners often deprioritize branding in the early stages of their company, but that’s a dangerous mistake. If a potential customer interacts with your brand and it doesn’t resonate with them, it’s going to be hard to win them back. By avoiding these common errors, you can create a brand that people will support and interact with. Bland Branding “Branding is deliberate differentiation,” says author and consultant Debbie Millman. In other words, don’t create your brand by copying
Smarter Systems, Easier Solutions How Artificial Intelligence Will Soon Change the WayWe Do Business
As it stands, we’re living in the most advanced society that has ever existed. Even so, there are so many more exciting prospects on the horizon for the modern business owner. Assuming we don’t throw our business’ growth to the wind to do things “the old-fashioned way,” there are many ways technology will completely revolutionize our outlooks. One of the major changes we’re already seeing is the advent of artificial intelligence (AI). Although sci-fi movies tend to give sentient computer programs a bad reputation, the truth is that these programs will lend a helping hand to us in more ways than we can count. Here are some ways AI can help our businesses grow right now. Image and Facial Recognition Those of us with the latest smartphones may already be familiar with how facial recognition works. By analyzing and recognizing images, these programs will be able to offer their users massive security improvements. Although they’re still working out the kinks, this could mean a revolution in fraud prevention. A few decades ago, any hacker with enough time on their hands could navigate to your most important information by simply bypassing a few outdated documents. With facial
recognition software, it will be harder to gain access to documents you don’t have explicit permission to view. This will also allow for easier entry for those who do have permission as well, so tasks like entering secure areas of your business or opening important financial documents will be made that much safer. Say Goodbye to Static Intelligence Faceless market trends can only get you so far. For decades, companies have looked to business intelligence for gathering key information on their competitors. By analyzing past data trends, the business person was able to plan their mode of attack against their competitors. Eventually, as technology continued to grow, this has proven to be too unreliable to make informed decisions. The use of artificial intelligence will allow companies to view the outcomes of the past, present, and future so they can anticipate and plan for the coming trends. This will pave the way for useful business insights and analytics; the historical data will give the programs a look behind the curtain and allow them to accurately depict what might occur next, giving your business a distinct advantage.
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