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How to Avoid Four Surefire Ways to Kill Your Brand
Copyright (c) 2010 Enzo F. Cesario
BrandSplat
http://www.Brandsplat.com/

There are no guarantees of success when developing a modern
brand. There is no switch that will pour out money, there are no
stunts that will automatically create attention, and there is no
how-to manual that, if assiduously followed, will assure your
brand’s place in the annals of the great Internet legends.
Brands are driven as much by the customer as they are by the
originator, and the customer doesn’t always want what’s being
sold.

That said there are certain behaviors and practices that are
guaranteed to kill a brand, virtually without fail. There are
always exceptions to the rule, but by and large you can at least
count on these ‘do nots’ as fairly ironclad rules. What follows
are four ways you can miss the point, and some advice for
avoiding them.

Misfire #1 – Number Chasing

This may feel like a complete turnaround from previous articles.
After all, we’ve discussed metrics and their usefulness in
measuring success, haven’t we? Surely the larger an audience the
better a brand is doing.

The problem with this logic is that it confuses the goal with the
measurement. Instead of focusing on satisfying customer demands
for particular content or a certain product quality, the company
focuses on making sure web traffic stays high. This kind of
thinking disconnects you from the actual cause-and-effect of
working on the product you’re pitching, and creates an
artificial reality that will do your brand no good.

As a rule of thumb for avoiding this behavior, consider the way
you set goals. If you find the goal focusing on increasing
audience numbers or some abstract figure instead of refining your
core product, it’s time to re-evaluate.

Misfire #2 – Going by Rote

Part of maintaining a modern brand is providing regular content.
Updating frequently enough to maintain viewer interest is vital
for any service, and making sure the physical product is
advertised for the public’s awareness is equally important if
sales are the goal.

That said, there is a problem inherent in a scheduled updating
system that can sneak into the provider’s routine. Specifically
we’re speaking of the tendency to update without purpose. You
see it frequently on twitter or certain blogs, where the provider
is strapped for ideas and just posts a bit of airy, fluffy filler
because ‘it’s time to post.’ While this does meet the
customer’s expectation, this can work against you, as it leaves
a bit of the ‘what was the point?’ question in their minds.

Instead, consider missing out a day if you genuinely don’t have
content to provide. It happens, there are slow days for everyone.
Missing the routine for a day will give you time to pull up some
new content, and when the audience chimes in and sees there
isn’t an update, they’ll be curious and more likely to check
back the next time.

Misfire #3 – Fadding Out

The difference between a movement and a fad is that a fad sits on
the surface of things, changing very little; whereas a movement
alters the very basics of how the world functions. ‘Virtual
Reality’ was a fad. People hyped it up, but there was no way the
majority of people were going to shell out thousands for VR
systems and their ten-pound headsets. Twitter is a movement,
having developed a broad appeal and fundamentally changed the way
people think about spreading information.

We have spoken of the need for innovation and the ability to take
risks in brand development, and these things are still true.
However, how innovative is it to jump on board something someone
else has created? Instead of following the trends, focus on what
your brand needs and how it functions. If adding in an element
makes sense, do so without hesitation. If you have to force it,
forget it.

Misfire #4 – Losing Focus

At this point it’s virtually ancient history, but there is a
lesson for modern brand development in the Video Game Crash of
the 1980s. The short of it is that every single company worth
mentioning decided video games were the future, and opened up a
video game division. They launched these efforts without any
serious dedication to the craft of game design, and some
succeeded while others failed. The most bizarre entrant was
Quaker Oats, the people that make oatmeal. The result was a
complete disaster.

What business would an oatmeal company have making games? On the
surface, any business they desired. Perhaps it was always their
secret passion, who knows? However, they lacked any serious
experience in the venture, and you probably can’t find ten
people out of a thousand who remember what game or games they put
out.

Focus on your message. This ties in with the idea of fads, but
warrants its own point. If you have to stretch yourself or come
up with a new department to accommodate a new idea, it’s time to
sit down and decide just how essential this idea is to your core
message.

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Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist
and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content
agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos
and social media in the “voice” of our client’s
brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more
recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to
http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at
http://www.iBrandCasting.com/