The biggest mistake unsuccessful companies make is failing to clearly define their brand before doing anything else.
Everything flows from your brand. Everything.
That’s why it’s so important to understand what your brand represents before making any other decision about your company – including selecting products to sell, services to offer, or which platforms to use to promote your offerings.
Brand Mistakes
The decisions you make when forming your business shouldn’t define your brand. Instead, your brand should determine your choices.
But most business owners don’t understand this. It’s not something taught in most business schools. Instead, most enterprises are product-driven, or service-driven.
In other words, you may decide you want to open a bakery. So the first thing you might do would be to draw up a menu of offerings: Cakes, donuts, cookies, etc.
Wrong! Stop right there.
Instead, before you do anything else, the number one thing a new bakery owner should do … or any new business owner, for that matter … is to take some time defining their brand, not their products or services.
Branding Drives Business
Why? Because your future potential customers aren’t going to choose your business because it provides specific products or services. There are probably dozens of others in your area that provide exactly the same things.
Instead, these future people are going to choose your brand. And that’s why your branding should be the primary driver of your business.
Everything Follows
When you have a clearly defined brand that is appealing and unique, everything else follows from that: Your products or services, your space design, which marketing platforms you choose to promote your business, even the types of people you hire.
So before you do anything else when starting a new business, stop. Think about your brand. Come up with something new that people will like. Then build on that. It practically guarantees your success.