Your business is your business. And it is likely an expression of your likes and dislikes, personality, and goals. Design and writing are essential in order to communicate this. But there are design mistakes your small business is making that prevent you from accomplishing your goals.
If you are making one of these design mistakes, it is affecting your business’s success. Design and branding are crucial to communicating to your customers who you are, and if a potential customer is confused by your brand, they will probably never turn into a real customer.
Here are five design mistakes your small business is making. You need to correct these mistakes immediately to help your business achieve its goals.
Designing for everyone
If you don’t know who your target audience is it will affect everything in your small business, including its design and branding. It will be like randomly casting your fishing line into the water without knowing what kinds of fish are under the water or what bait to use to catch them. You might catch something, but it won’t be what you want and it will be the kind of fish (customer) that bites at everything. Choosing a target audience is essential to determine design elements like your logo, fonts, colors, website, copywriting, layouts, images, social media presence … and the list goes on.
Confusing branding
This mistake is so common you can probably find it at the business down the street from you. Your brand identity is determined by all of your colors, fonts, logos, copywriting, and more. And if you don’t make it cohesive and clear, your customers will be confused about what you do, sell, stand for, what your goals are, or why you are even in business.
Designing for more rather than less
Business design favors less rather than more. Simplicity is critical to communicating clearly and quickly to an audience that is overloaded by content. Logos are a common example of this. Look at the logos of some of the top brands in the world and you will see their simplicity. For example, Target, Google, FedEx, McDonald’s, Nike, and Amazon. These logos use one or two simple design elements to catch the viewer’s attention and help you remember them. If the design is too complex or has too many elements, the viewer is confused and will move on without becoming a customer.
Designing by committee
Design is a subjective process. It is often an expression of someone in the small business, likely the owner. For this reason, adding too many people to the process will slow it down and create brand confusion. Keep the process simple, and only reach out to a committee when you have narrowed your branding down to 2-3 possibilities that you are happy with. And don’t let the committee sway you in a completely different direction when they come up with their own branding ideas—because this will likely happen.
Designing based on trends
Trends fade quickly. If you base your business designs on trends, your business will look dated within a year or less. Business design needs to hold up over time to save you money, keep your business relevant, and make your direction clear. Trends can be fun for short-term marketing design such as advertisements and social media. But don’t let them affect design elements that need to withstand time such as your logo, fonts, colors, and other branding.
