Top 5 Mistakes Brands Make that Confuse Customers
Confusion is never good in marketing. Confused prospects don’t become customers.
Confused prospects don’t know what you offer, what makes you different, or why they should buy what you’re selling.
Even the world’s biggest brands make mistakes that confuse customers. Some companies spend millions of dollars on marketing – only to create a muddled brand image.
Today, we’re highlighting some of the most common mistakes brands make that confuse customers.
Lack of Clarity
Clarity is like the ‘location’ of the real estate world. Just like realtors emphasize the importance of location, marketers frequently emphasize the importance of brand clarity.
Most people know that clarity is important. But few companies understand how to clarify their brand. Some of the questions you should answer when clarifying your brand include:
- What can customers expect from your product?
- Who is your product for?
- How does your product improve a customer’s life?
- What makes your product better than competing products?
- How can customers access your product?
If your brand doesn’t quickly answer these questions for customers, then you have a problem with brand image. Lack of clarity leads to confused customers, and confused customers are bad for business.
Don’t Explain the Offer
Tell the prospect exactly what they’ll get when they buy your product or service, what’s included. Be specific. The best example that I can think of for this is the classic infomercial style advertisement.
Think of the end of the infomercial where they’ve already explained the product, what it does, how it helps you, and now they’re giving you a laundry list of what you’re going to get when you order.
“When you order today, you get the entire set of 42 Ginsu knives, the extra paring knife, the sharpening steel, the apple corer, the mandolin, the travel sharpener, the decorative carry bag, and today only, the Ginsu branded backscratcher as our gift just for trying this amazing set of high quality Japanese precision cutlery. The backscratcher is yours to keep even if you return the knives.”
Ok, so that’s an example of telling them exactly what they’re getting and also value stacking, but it’s a good example of being specific and explaining to the prospect what they’re getting. Don’t be vague or unclear when you communicate your offer. Tell them what they’re going to get.
Failure to Apply Brand Messaging to Everything
This tip is linked to clarity. When you fail to apply your brand messaging to everything, you have a confusing brand message.
Yes, you should maintain coherent marketing across your advertisements, sales pages, and other media. However, coherent messaging goes beyond that: you need to apply coherent messaging to every social media post, every headline, and everything you publish.
Customers interact with your company in countless ways. If your Twitter account has totally different messaging than, say, your official website, then prospects and customers will get confused. Why is the Twitter account marketing to individual customers when the rest of the company’s brand focuses on enterprise customers?
Sometimes, this involves conducting a complete review of all company content. Your brand message should be obvious in every headline, tweet, and blog post. Customers should be able to understand your brand message no matter how they find your brand.
Fail to Explain How the Product Solves a Problem
Your customers have a problem. They come to you looking for the solution to that problem.
Unfortunately, too many brands fail to explain exactly how their product solves that problem. Think of your product or service as a medicine that cures the ill that is your prospect’s problem. Think about the primary problem that your product or service solves for your customers, and then think about how your product or service solves that problem for them.
Understanding your prospect’s primary problem and how your product or service helps solve that problem is the first step. Then you need to explain clearly what the problem is and how your product or service solves it.
Being able to clearly communicate the problem lets prospects know that you understand what they’re going through. This empathy is what gets their attention and signals to them that you may be able to help them.
Clearly communicating how your product or service helps solve their problem builds their confidence that you can help them and moves them closer to making a buying decision.
Don’t Explain What Customers Can Do Next
You might do all of the above steps right with your brand – but if you fail to explain what customers can do next, how they can take action and get what you’re offering, you are likely to lose the sale.
This is called the Call to Action and it’s a critical step in the sales process. You need to explain the exact steps prospects should take to buy the product. Click here to order, for example.
Too often I see brands that assume that the client will know what to do or that they’ll figure out how to order or what they’re supposed to do. Don’t make that mistake. Be very clear about what you want your prospect to do and tell them exactly what that is. Make it easy for them to follow the path to get the help you’re offering.
Clarify your Brand with Renew Marketing Today
Even the largest brands make mistakes when marketing to customers.
Eliminate mistakes and solve your brand problems today with Renew Marketing. During a free consultation, we’ll provide actionable advice for improving your brand message and eliminating problems.
