By Jamie Costello

No brand is perfect. Nearly every business – no matter its size – makes some mistakes along the way. To stop you from doing the same, here’s a look at silly branding mistakes you should try to avoid in 2019:

– Not establishing strong brand guidelines

When you first create your brand’s signature look, you do so in the belief that it will remain a strong and impactful image in years to come. This can only be the case if your brand guidelines are strictly followed and maintained. Whenever you work with an external company, you must ensure that they understand your strict brand guidelines. These should include pantone color, taglines, fonts, typography and logo.

– Overcomplicating your brand

When you get it right, there’s no telling what impact your brand will have. Sometimes, simple yet effective is the best way to go. Any design agency in Manchester and beyond will tell you that adding more variables than needed is a bad decision. Take Apple, for example. Their simple silver apple logo has transformed into an image recognized globally. Smaller businesses can learn a lot from a brand such as Apple. Clean, simple logos are more likely to be remembered by customers, so keep this in mind when designing your logo.

– Not monitoring your brand’s usage

You need to be active in monitoring how your brand is portrayed on your behalf. If not, you may see competitors creating a logo that looks similar, a blog site using your logo and not linking back, or a partner publishing an ad with the wrong colors. Though this may sound trivial, in some situations it may even be serious enough to pursue legal action if you’re being unfairly represented and your elements are being infringed upon.

– Poorly rebranding

Longevity is key with brand design, but if you feel like your brand isn’t being represented in the best way, then perhaps it’s time for change. There’s nothing wrong with rolling out new branding changes. However, it will undoubtedly mean you lose some of the rapport you’ve built with your customers. That’s why it’s important to only make changes when you feel it will benefit the business. When you do make alterations, you need to educate your followers as to why you’ve made the changes. Otherwise, the message becomes unclear and the customers will end up being confused.

– Copying other brands

Mimicking another brand isn’t just a sign of a weak marketing team, but it also often gets the wrong kind of attention. Social media users in particular often catch out brands seen to copy others. Consumers nowadays want authenticity and they’re attracted to innovative products and marketing. By copying another brand, you’re simply recognized as being lazy and unimaginative. It’s best to come up with your own original ideas to stand out from the crowd than to replicate others and face a lawsuit.

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Jamie Costello is an aspiring business and legal freelance writer. He’s previously graduated with a Business & Communications degree in the UK and uses his experiences working within many different industries to help conduct his articles.