Saturday, April 25, 2009

5 Reasons Why Branding Won't Work.


They're never going to buy you're the expert.

Here's the thing, you really are an expert in your field, but here's the rub - YOU don't believe it. If you don't believe in yourself , don't expect customers to believe in you either. You have plenty of sales-worthy knowledge and a waiting audience. Roll up your sleeves and jump in. Failing isn't the problem, refusing to get back up is.

You've got a wild idea, but nobody's going to buy it.

Isn't it better to try your idea and fail KNOWING they don't like it, rather than presuming to know they don't like it and never really finding out?

The timing isn't right.

That's the same as giving me a dozen reasons why you CAN'T do something rather than reasons why you CAN.

Branding is expensive.

Ignoring your brand is the real money pit. Placing ad after ad saying nothing special or countering a competitor makes you a follower. The competitor is actually defining your brand and you're throwing money at defending yourself rather than leading with a strong positioning strategy, which gives your customer a compelling reason to buy from you.

I tried re-branding: I got me a new logo and tag line and guess what? Nothing changed!

What did you expect to happen? Your brand is your REPUTATION not your logo. All you did was spend some cash putting a new face on an old problem. If somebody tells you that re-branding is changing your logo - RUN as fast as you can - they have no idea what branding is!

As much fun as this post was to write, the honest truth is that all of us have to pay very close attention to our brands, how we sell ourselves and be open to new opportunities. Stop blaming the economy, stop blaming yourself and stop blaming finances. If you try and win - great! If you fail - so what? Keep moving, keep learning. You can't reach your goal by standing still and that I can guarantee you.

5 comments:

Judy Winslow said...

Hi Ed,
I love this! I wrote a similar article entitled 5 Myths about Branding that's available on my website (http://www.BrightPointeInfo.com). There are SO many misconceptions about working with Brand building and its effects on the bottom line. Glad you're out there educating too, as entrepreneurs can greatly benefit from this activity!

Ed Roach said...

Thank you Judy. It's a shame that many of the misconceptions come from the advertising industry. There is no benefit to getting it wrong.

Everybody loses.

Thanks for commenting and adding your wisdom here.

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