Branding pt 3: your survival guide for sidestepping the (branding) pit of despair

Avoid being “inconceivable” with your brand—here are five ways to navigate common branding mistakes

Metafantasy may be the main genre of the seminal cult classic, The Princess Bride, but your brand doesn’t have to exist in a fictional city like Florin to achieve marketing success. As Inigo Montoya discovered, accomplishing your goals is a journey laced with many opportunities to communicate your wants and desires, to build a reputation and to help you accomplish what you set out to do—minus the sword fighting, of course.

With the global tech industry valued at $5.3 trillion in 2022, being unique is extremely important—but how? As we saw in part one, storytelling helps you stand out in the tech crowd because you want your audience to perceive you as authentic, says Jason Williams, creative director at Ingram Micro. Part two took us on a “super” tour to determine your origin story.

We have arrived at the third and final part of our series, which focuses on common branding mistakes anyone in the industry can make.

“I learned this from one of my college professors: ‘In advertising, the so-called Golden Rule is not “Treat others as you want to be treated.” It’s “Treat others how they want to be treated.” The other way is pure arrogance,’” said Williams. “This quickly illustrated to me the importance of fully understanding your target market.”

Here are some common branding mishaps and ways to keep your branding sword sharp:

1. Brand identity crisis:

When your brand adventure isn’t clearly defined, you may encounter mistakes of unusual size (we’ve confirmed they do exist).

How to avoid it:

• Define your origin story by creating a compelling narrative.

• Develop a brand brief that outlines your brand’s mission, vision, values and what makes your brand unique.

• Engage key stakeholders, such as your audience members, and get their buy-in to make sure your strategy is aligned with what they’re looking for.

  
  

2. Inconsistency across channels:

If you’re a farm boy in one town, but a masked hero in another, people (and princesses) may be confused, which would weaken your brand plan of attack.

How to avoid it:

• Train your team to ensure everyone is on board with the plan.

• Use your arsenal of brand management tools and knowledge, such as software and services available through Ingram Micro to amplify your brand.

  
  

3. Ignoring the customer perspective

If you focus solely on the vision without your customers’ needs, your brand may become disconnected from its original purpose.

“If brands want to portray a certain persona then they need to live it honestly,” said Williams. “And that means everything [they] do, including the tone of voice they use to communicate out, including inevitable complaints or feedback from customers, because a customer’s perception of a company is as real as it gets.”

How to avoid it:

• Surveys, focus groups and interviews are great ways to get an idea of your target audience’s pain points and expectations.

• Customer feedback can ultimately help you adjust your brand’s journey.

• Developing customer personas, or detailed profiles of your ideal customers, is a great way to exercise your brand’s message and offerings.

  
  

4. Overlooking the competition

Finding out what the competition is doing may help determine the path your brand should take to better address your customers’ needs.

“You look for the things that they’re not saying about themselves and [ask yourself] ‘how are we different from them?’ and focus on those things,” said Williams. “You mesh that with what the audience is looking for and address their needs the competition isn’t addressing.”

How to avoid it:

• Perform a competitive analysis.

• Mind the market gaps.

• Monitor trends.

  
  

5. Failing to adapt and evolve

If your brand stays static, it can become outdated over time. Eventually, sword fighters must evolve into infamous pirate captains to achieve their goals, of course.

Staying updated on the latest and greatest tech is important, but also keep in mind how it applies to your brand—is it serving your customers according to what your brand is trying to accomplish?

How to avoid it:

• Embrace innovation by always being open to new adventures and technologies.

• Use engagement metrics and key performance indicators like sentiment analyses and click-through rates to make data-driven decisions for improvements.

• Revisit your brand strategy to determine more or better adventures.

  
  

Your brand is your reputation, as Williams notes throughout, so to win over your audience and stay relevant you must address their needs with precision and care, always remembering the magic words: “as you wish.”

Learn how Ingram Micro’s marketing services can help you achieve your brand’s happily ever after.

Make your fantasy brand a reality

Jackie Connor is a writer with more than 15 years of experience contributing to news publications and marketing teams. Since joining Ingram Micro in 2022, she covers technology services, financial solutions, marketing services, sustainability and DEIB.