NU
Signs Your Business Looks Unprofessional
When marketing a business, you want to put your best foot forward to make a great impression on prospective clients. But that's easier said than done when people have become more perceptive of the way they see brands online.
We are visually driven creatures and what we see affects how we perceive things, including online businesses. If you haven't perfected your branding yet, you are not making a great impression on people. Worse, some may perceive your brand as unprofessional and unknowingly putting off potential customers! In this guide, we're dishing out tips to create a polished brand and make the best impression on customers:
5 Signs Your Business Looks Unprofessional
Inconsistent Branding
A consistent personal brand matters because established businesses provide a consistent user experience. As a brand, you want to stand out from the crowd, and you can do that by providing a consistent user experience. If your branding is all over the place, you're not making a great impression on clients.
Consistent branding starts with a defined strategy. If you find yourself unable to decide what graphics to use, you’re constantly updating your brand colours and branding elements because you are feeling uninspired by your existing branding; your branding lacks consistency. To create a strong brand, try these tips:
- Define your brand values, vision, and mission
- Create a brand story
- Define your brand personality
- Determine your ideal client
Consistent branding conveys your brand message in a fraction of a second. It's key to making the best first impression. To do that, your branding should look polished and trustworthy.
No Brand Identity
The connection between your business and your target audience should be easy and natural. If you are having trouble attracting customers and connecting with your target audience, it's a sign that you are not presenting your brand identity clearly. You can't connect with your ideal customer if your brand identity is vague or nonexistent.
To create a defined brand identity, you must be clear about what your brand is about and figure out a way to convey this effectively. You have to know who your target audience is, what they want, and how to present your marketing messages in a tone that they resonate with.
No Web Design Strategy
Creating an attractive brand identity design helps define your identity as a business. Your website must be beautiful, intuitive, and enjoyable to interact with. Many website building services offer attractive templates, but the thing is, not all of these designs suit your business. The branding elements may look nice, but they might not work for your business.
So what can you do? Start by developing a defined design strategy.
- Base your design elements on your brand mission, vision, and values
- Develop the right vibe and tone
- Keep the brand colour, font, and photography consistent across all platforms and touchpoints
The logos, visuals, and branding elements you'll use on your website should look visually appealing while reflecting your unique brand personality and values. When designing your website, always consider your ideal client – what designs will they respond to?
Disjointed Branding Tone, Personality, and Visuals
Are you struggling to attract the right people with your marketing messages? Do people visit your website only to move on to other stores before checking out? Do you find yourself attracting people who are not 100% interested in whatever you have to say or sell?
If the answer to all of these questions is a yes, there's a good chance that your brand voice and personality do not match your visuals. This would explain why people are looking for a more relevant brand; you are not offering the product they are looking for, and yet, your business keeps cropping up on their online search. To attract your target audience, you need to:
- Define your branding voice, and make sure it is consistent with your brand personality and visuals
- Create content that connects with your ideal audience
- Create branding elements that represent your brand well
- Create clear, concise, and consistent content
Disjointed branding will affect the trustworthiness of your business. You will end up losing sales because you are creating confusion among customers.
A Misleading Image
Building trust requires transparency, consistency, and predictability – you don't want to stray away from what your brand is all about; otherwise, you will end up losing customers. Worse, some customers might feel misled by how you present your brand because there is a conflict between their perception of your business and what you think your business is about.
A great example would be selling high-end products and premium service, but the customer service is abysmal. Another example would be selling eco-friendly products packed in layers of plastic packaging – this sends the wrong message.
Making decisions that compromise your brand will lead to confusion and disappointment from customers. Think Kylie Jenner selling expensive swimsuits only to disappoint (and even anger) her most loyal customers by offering poorly stitched, low-quality swimwear that becomes virtually see-through when wet.
You must be mindful of how you present your brand image; you should back it up with equally impressive products and customer service to earn people's trust; otherwise, you'll be wasting a fortune on marketing.
Personal branding isn't just about a nice logo or a unique font style. A strong foundation is key to successful branding. You need to invest time, energy, and money in creating a smooth, efficient, and pleasant user experience to tie up your personal brand's elements. People won't take your business seriously if it looks unprofessional.
Consistent branding, a well-defined brand identity, an attractive yet easy-to-use website, + flawless customer service make for a memorable, professional business. All of the branding mistakes we’ve listed down are avoidable. It’s just a matter of planning your marketing and design strategy well to elevate the look of your brand.
PLEASE COMMENT BELOW