Mistake No. 1:Equating branding with communications.
Yes, branding includes communications. But if your branding strategy is
all about messaging and advertising and nothing about business strategy
or people, then you won't be able to deliver on your communications. If
you have lousy customer service, telling people it's great will only
drive customers away faster. But investing
in training and infrastructure to improve service will enable you to
market your great service and still look yourself in the mirror As more
information about companies and products is available online, a great
company and product are your brand's only defense.

Mistake No. 2:Branding on price.
Don't do it. Basing your brand on your low price is a race to the
bottom--and someone will always beat you there. Even if your prices are
the same as your competitors' prices, you need to give clients
compelling reasons beyond price to buy from you. The difference between
the product offered by Morton Salt and a supermarket's house brand? Not
much. The difference in pricing? Fourteen percent. That margin
is due to how well Morton has built up the intangible parts of its
brand. Establish trust with your customers, and you can breathe a lot
easier when the newest competitor undercuts your price.

Mistake No. 3:Changing your promise.
Like a dog sniffing at a fire hydrant, every time a new marketing vice
president is brought into a company, there's a risk she'll try to
change the brand, or put her mark on it. While your brand promise
should be relevant and up-to-date, making a wholesale change from, say,
being the educational leader to being the innovation leader will only confuse your market.

Are
you ready to change your tagline or logo? Companies get tired of their
own marketing way before the market does. (You live with it day in and
day out. They see it only once in a while.) Remember when Jack in the
Box killed its ping-pong-ball-headed CEO? Customer sentiment brought
him back, but the company was smart enough to do so in a new, updated
way. Whatever you do, don't let your visual brand identity and
messaging force changes in your brand promise (see Mistake No. 1).

Mistake No. 4: Overpromising.
The least expensive way to brand yourself is to have your customers do
it for you. How do you get them to become evangelists? By
underpromising and overdelivering. Fight the temptation to sound better
than you are: Promise what you can deliver, then do it to the nth
degree. Are you the fastest? Then don't give customers a long
voice-mail message to listen to before they can act. Are you the
friendliest? Don't let your employees bad-mouth clients behind their
backs. Are you the coolest? Then make sure your lobby looks awesome and
has wow power.
Alongside this advice, I recommend that you focus your brand
message--don't try to be all things to all people. Figure out the most
compelling part of your promise and build that up, rather than try to
communicate 10 different elements of your brand promise.

Mistake No. 5:Me-too branding.
I can't tell you how many entrepreneurs have said, "If I only get x
percent of the market, I'll be rich." You have to give consumers a
compelling reason to give you their business to get that percentage.
You can't expect to siphon off business from the market leader
without a substantive reason. Don't try to be like other companies: Be
yourself. There will be a subsegment of the market that likes what you
do better than what the market leader does, and that's the percentage
of the market you can skim off. Instead of emulating competitors, be
different. If you're competing against Starbucks, zig when it zags.
Make your décor unique, encourage customers to play board games, roast
beans on site or have coffee-tasting parties. Get your own buzz on.

Steer
clear of these mistakes, and you'll be well on your way to branding
nirvana--being known for your compelling and differentiated value.

Lynn Parker is co-founder ofParker LePla, a brand strategy consulting firm in Seattle. She's also the author ofThe Reluctant Entrepreneur, and co-author ofIntegrated BrandingandBrand Driven.

1. Find the inherent drama within your offering.
After all, you plan to make money by selling a product or a service or both. The reasons people will want to buy from you should give you a clue as to the inherent drama in your product or service. Something about your offering must be inherently interesting or you wouldn't be putting it up for sale.
 
2. Translate that inherent drama into a meaningful benefit.
Always remember that people buy benefits, not features. People do not buy shampoo; people buy great-looking or clean or manageable hair. People do not buy cars; people buy speed, status, style, economy, performance, and power. Mothers of young kids do not buy cereal; they buy nutrition, though many buy anything at all they can get their kids to eat -- anything. So find the major benefit of your offering and write it down. It should come directly from the inherently dramatic feature. And even though you have four or five benefits, stick with one or two—three at most.

3. State your benefits as believably as possible.
There is a world of difference between honesty and believability. You can be 100 percent honest (as you should be) and people still may not believe you. You must go beyond honesty, beyond the barrier that advertising has erected by its tendency toward exaggeration, and state your benefit in such a way that it will be accepted beyond doubt.

4. Get people's attention.
People do not pay attention to advertising. They pay attention only to things that interest them. And sometimes they find those things in advertising. So you've just got to interest them. And while you're at it, be sure you interest them in your product or service, not just your advertising. I'm sure you're familiar with advertising that you remember for a product you do not remember. Many advertisers are guilty of creating advertising that's more interesting than whatever it is they are advertising. But you can prevent yourself from falling into that trap by memorizing this line: Forget the ad, is the product or service interesting.

5. Motivate your audience to do something.
Tell them to visit the store. Tell them to make a phone call, fill in a coupon, write for more information, ask for your product by name, take a test drive, or come in for a free demonstration. Don't stop short. To make guerrilla marketing work, you must tell people exactly what you want them to do.
 
6. Be sure you are communicating clearly.
You may know what you're talking about, but do your readers or listeners? Recognize that people aren't really thinking about your business and that they'll only give about half their attention to your ad— even when they are paying attention. Knock yourself out to make sure you are putting your message across.

7. Measure your finished advertisement, commercial, letter, or brochure against your creative strategy.
The strategy is your blueprint. If your ad fails to fulfill the strategy, it's a lousy ad, no matter how much you love it. Scrap it and start again. All along, you should be using your creative strategy to guide you, to give you hints as to the content of your ad. If you don't, you may end up being creative in a vacuum. And that's not being creative at all. If your ad is in line with your strategy, you may then judge its other elements.

1. Post and keep regular business hours. Though it may seem obvious, many small businesses fail to do this.
2. Answer the phone. When you are unable to answer the phone, make sure there is an answering machine to take calls.
3. Return every call within 24 hours.
4. Change your answering machine message to let people know if your office is closed for a holiday or when you are away from the office, and when you will return.
5. Use a promotional recording as your hold message.
6. Don’t leave customers on hold for more than 45 seconds without getting back to them and asking if you can take a message or call them back.
7. Train employees to give customers their undivided attention. Employees should not conduct personal conversations with each other or take personal calls while waiting on customers.
8. Dress appropriately to greet customers.
9. Smile when greeting customers. Be enthusiastic.
10. Whenever you give a customer a business card, give them two – one to keep and one to give to someone else.
11. Have promotional materials readily available, including brochures, business cards, flyers, etc.
12. Keep product displays neat and clean. Clutter or dust will discourage buying.
13. Be sure to print your contact information on every document that goes out the door – invoices, receipts, envelopes, letterhead, brochures, etc.
14. Give away promotional items that people will use or see often (pens, magnets, coffee cups, calendars) that have your contact information clearly printed on them (name, phone number, address, e-mail address).
15. Make regular follow-up phone calls. After making a sale, make a follow-up call to see if the customer was satisfied. Make a follow-up call if you referred a customer to another business, to see if they found what they were looking for. Make a follow-up call if you can provide a substitute item for something a customer was looking for but couldn’t find. Follow up when you get in new inventory, or improve an existing item. Set aside one hour a week just for follow up calls.  
16. Ask customers for referrals, and provide an incentive, such as a discount coupon or a free item.
17. Have a drawing, where customers leave their business cards or fill out blank forms and drop them in a bowl. Give away small items on a regular basis (a gift certificate once a month) so that people will continue to give you current information. Use this information to send out regular newsletters or invitations to sales, etc.
18. Offer ‘frequent customer’ cards that customers sign up for, giving them special prices or discounts on purchases to build customer loyalty.
19. Have ‘invitation only’ events for regular customers (i.e. open early and offer discounts to invited customers).
20. Do a cooperative marketing effort with another business that shares your target market but doesn’t compete with you (i.e. a bakery and a wedding gown retailer; an office supply store and a computer retailer). Place fish bowls in both businesses and offer a prize from both; share the information and do shared mailings.
21. Display a magnetic sign on your car.
22. Go to a networking event and collect 10 new business cards.
23. Subscribe to trade/industry magazines.
24. Send birthday cards with coupons to your best customers; use regular mail and E-mail.
25. Create a statement that describes the value your company brings to customers and hang it up in your store or send it to your customers.
26. Save marketing materials you like and use them as ideas for your own marketing materials.
27. Ask your staff for ways to bring in new business.
28. If you find any statistics or fun facts about your industry, save them and use them when you can.  
29. Look at your advertising or marketing materials; replace negative words with positive choices.
30. Keep a customer log in your place of business or on your Web site and encourage customers to leave testimonials and suggestions.
31. Sell gift certificates.
32. Leave your cards or brochures in local stores, restaurants, and other places that allow it.
33. Contact the alumni association of any school you attended and tell them about your business or any new company developments.
34. Test a direct mail piece or brochure with a small audience before producing large quantities.
35. Enlarge copies of any ads you buy and turn them into flyers for distribution as promotional handouts.
36. Sponsor an event related to your business where all proceeds go to charity.
37. Follow the news. Donate products or services when the community suffers a tragedy, budget crunch, or other challenge.
38. Sponsor a local sports team or school.
39. Look your customers in the eye.
40. Have a firm handshake.
41. Treat employees well -- customers notice high turnover.
42. Contact membership coordinators at groups or associations that would benefit from your product or service; offer members a discount.
43. Meet once a month with other non-competing small-business owners to brainstorm.
44. Send your sociable staff members to networking events, especially if you're shy.
45. When you join a professional organization, get involved on a committee to meet more people.
46. Put a memorable sticker on your nametag at business events.
47. Call five of your best customers and offer them a one-day special.
48. Promote your business at exhibit booths at flea markets, road races, and community events -- and don't forget the free samples.
49. Invite or hire a local storyteller, or children's entertainer to perform for one hour every week during a slow time to generate traffic.
50. Get involved in your city by participating in cultural events.