7 branding mistakes your food or wellness business is making
Sometimes it’s hard to create a great brand experience for your business when you don’t even know what to avoid. I feel ya. So I’ve put together a list of 7 common branding mistakes I see food or wellness entrepreneurs make when branding a company. Read on to see if you’re currently committing some of these crimes.
You don’t know your niche or your audience is too broad and/or non-specific
Here are a few examples that might seem narrowed in, but actually aren’t:
Gourmet. Gourmet how? Because you source or use ingredients cultivated in your own permaculture farm? Because all of your recipes and techniques have been perfected by a French-trained chef?
All-Natural. All-natural can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different folks. Get specific! Is your product organic? Pasture-raised. Both? Maybe you only create recipes with 8 ingredients or less or only use food you grow yourself or buy at farmers markets. There’s a big difference between saying “I make all-natural skincare,” and saying “I provide organic, natural skincare solutions using locally sourced ingredients.” Which one would you be drawn to?
Soulful. I’m looking at you health coaches, yoga studios and teachers. Listen, there’s nothing wrong with being or feeling soulful. It’s just that it can mean SO many things to so many different people. And words like “soulful” are overused to the point that they’ve lost all their meaning. Instead of “soulful yoga teacher” how about “A yoga teacher focused on emotional healing and wellbeing for her students.”
You’re not communicating how you’re different
Now that you’ve gotten specific about what you do or offer, are you actually communicating it to your audience?
Your point of difference should show up everywhere, so no matter where or how someone encounters you, they know exactly what you’re all about. It should be clearly stated on your home, about and sevices pages, as well as in any and all bios: social media, guest posts, blog bios, etc.
This distinction should also be something you regularly talk about in the content on your blog, social media posts, and email newsletters.
You don’t know who you’re speaking to.
Equally important to getting specific about your niche, service and/or product is getting specific about who you’re serving. I’m actually not a huge fan of the popular “Ideal Customer Avatar” exercises floating around the internet and in online courses. Sure, trying to come up with every last detail from where she lives, to what magazines she reads, to how often and where she vacations may help you out. But I think it’s WAY more important to get specific about what her problems and concerns are. Everything you create, from blog posts to free content, to your actual products and services should be centered around helping her relieve or solve these issues.
You’re giving off a bad first impression.
Humans are first and foremost visual creatures. We make split-second decisions about virtually everything in our lives by what our eyes are telling us.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you to hire a designer and spend thousands of dollars in order to make a good visual first impression. Is doing that a good idea? Of course! Just like hiring a plumber or electrician to help you rehab an old house is. And if you can, go for it!
But I know if you’re reading this blog, you’re the type of person who’s interested in learning how to do some of the brand “plumbing and electric” yourself too.
We’ll be diving deeper into designing your own branding in future posts, workshops, and courses, but for now, I’ll just say work on keeping things simple. A good place to start is by minimizing the number of colors, random shapes, or special effects in your logo or other branded materials. When in doubt, less is best.
You think your brand stops with your logo
Speaking of logos… many assume that once you have a logo, your branding is done. While logos are obviously important, there is so much more that goes into creating a compelling, magnetic brand. Mainly, your brand personality, mission, key messages, tone of voice and the emotions you want to evoke. These things should be infused into everything you do.
You have a poorly thought out name.
Names are SO tricky, and arguably one of the hardest things to come up with when you launch a new site, company, service or product. I feel your pain!
Here are a few mistakes to watch out for when choosing a new name:
Creative spellings: At first glance, creative spellings may look like a great way to set you apart, but the reality is you’ll have to spell it out every time to make sure people get it right. And that’s going to get real annoying, real fast.
Pronunciation: Humans hate looking stupid, so if people can’t figure out how to say your business name, they simply won’t say it at all. The pronunciation of your name should be simple and intuitive, so steer away from made-up or foreign names unless they’re really obvious and easy to say.
Negative connotations: Take it from someone who has spent a fair amount of time sitting on the other side of glass mirrors during consumer testing- you’d be surprised how different people perceive different words.
Now, at the end of the day you should decide what’s best for you, and certainly don’t make yourself crazy asking every Tom, Dick, and Harry their opinion, but do take a poll or get feedback from multiple, trusted sources.
Names with a ‘disconnect’: This is one I see a lot in food that makes me laugh. If it comes in a can or a box but has “fresh” in the name, do you really trust or believe that it’s fresh?
You’re not consistent with your branding elements:
Equally important to creating a cohesive brand- both with your brand identity elements like colors, fonts, etc, and with strategic and copy elements like tone-of-voice, mission, and personality- is to make sure you’re consistent with those elements. Remember, every time you deviate from your brand guidelines, you dilute your brand a little bit.
Consistency is what helps your audience recognize and develop a deep, trusting relationship with you. Brand standards help humanize and personalize your business by creating a story and narrative that will draw them in.
Brand standards can be a multi-page document or as simple as a one-sheet brand board. Common things to include are:
Logo
Colors
Fonts
Taglines
“Voice” used in branded materials
Imagery
graphics
Each time you (or any person you hire to help you with your business) create something new for your brand, you should be referring back to this guide.
While branding can seem complicated sometimes, my mission is to take the headache out of it and help you develop the engaging, powerful brand I know you have. Good intentions, and avoiding some of the mistakes above will go far in helping you connect with your audience.
Drop a line in the comments if you’re currently making any of these mistakes (no shame in it), and let me know how you plan to fix it!
AUTHOR: SARAH EHLINGER
Sarah is a blend of Los Angeles woo-woo meets Midwest practicality. She’s a photographer, design expert, brand strategist, and personal growth enthusiast who helps the culinary and wellness inclined show up beautifully online. Her career chocolate and peanut butter swirled together when she fell for food photography while designing and art directing for some of the world’s biggest consumer packaged goods & retail brands.
