7 Branding Blunders That Will Cost You Time, Money and Lost Opportunity

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

Branding (or re-branding) your professional services firm can be tricky. After all, your people are your product and they are not subject to “brand control” in the same way a box of breakfast cereal is. Further, most professional services firms are run by technical experts, not marketing mavens. So, it’s not surprising that professional services firms are prone to branding missteps.

Our experience and research have uncovered seven common issues that we have documented in a white paper. These common missteps can derail firms: costing them new clients, eating into profitability, and adding countless headaches. Fortunately, they are all avoidable if you know what to look for.

Here is a rundowb of the 7 biggest branding blunders (love that alliteration!):

1. Your logo is not your brand. Don’t assume that your brand is your logo or your firm’s identity. Big mistake. Those identity elements, along with your website and marketing materials, can help communicate and amplify your brand, but they are not the brand.
   
   The brand is better thought of as the totality of the customer experience and the associated emotional reactions. As such, your brand can be a tough and amorphous concept to wrap your arms around.
   
   Here’s a simple way to think about it. Your professional services brand is your firm’s ‘reputation’ X ‘visibility.’ A firm with a great reputation but little visibility in their target market has a weak brand. Your identity and communication materials enhance or detract from that reputation and increase or decrease visibility. But the brand is much more.
2. Your brand is not true. It seems like it is incredibly easy to over-promise on a professional services brand. At some point it becomes meaningless. I’ve written a previous post on this issue, so I’ll just say this: don’t promise — either directly or by implication — what you can’t deliver. It will cost you. For example, don’t imply that your service is exceptional if it is merely good. Don’t promise an outcome you can’t deliver.
3. You sell yourself short. Just as damaging as overpromising is failing to recognize a true strength. It’s hard to be objective about yourself or your firm. Some things you take for granted may be exceptional strengths that should be an integral part of your brand promise. In a very real sense, these hidden strengths are under-utilized assets.
4. Antique identity. Many firms start with a quickly-implemented "temporary brand" to get them started. They enjoy some success, and time flies by. Client work takes priority and, good intentions aside, they end up with a brand image that reflects who they WERE, not who they ARE, let alone what they ASPIRE to. If you’ve ever been afraid of sending a prospect to your website, you know what I’m talking about.
5. Me too marketing. I think there is a wide-spread myth that copying other firms in your industry is a shortcut to success. Or at very least, it’s a safe strategy… wrong! First of all, it’s risky. You are forgoing any competitive advantage that your firm may have. You are making yourself LESS memorable. Not a smart move. At best your firm will become ordinary and oh so forgettable. Failure to differentiate your firm will cost you money.
6. Jammed up with jargon. I swear that many — no, make that MOST — firms grossly over-use industry insider jargon. The result is that most folks on the receiving end of your brand messaging have no clue what you do or why on earth anyone would want to select you. Adding buzz words does NOT add clarity or make your brand more compelling. If a benefit is not understood, it cannot be appreciated.
7. Chasing the wrong strategy. Get your strategy right and everything else is easier. Get it wrong and you will be spending precious resources headed in the wrong direction.
   
   Sometimes folks get it wrong by misjudging their market. They try to build a premium brand while they are pursuing cost conscious target clients. Not a pretty picture. Other times, they fail to focus their efforts. By trying to be everything to everyone, you end up being nothing to anyone.
   
   I think the reason that this is so prevalent is that the best strategies tend to be counter-intuitive. We produced a research study on high growth, high profit firms that makes this point based on real data. If your strategy feels real comfortable, it is probably not a good one.

So, there’s our list. My colleague Aaron Taylor and I have written a white paper that explores these blunders in greater depth. You might find it helpful.

What’s your take? What blunder did we miss?