Top Five Most Common Brand Challenges

Sometimes the problem is obvious, sometimes a diagnosis is required. But ultimately, brand is at the core of your organization, so a brand problem can cause deeply-rooted and far-reaching headaches. Think race-to-the-bottom pricing, disgruntled employees, stagnant growth, or investing hundreds of thousands into the wrong customers.

We put our heads together to define the five most common challenges we come across and created a short quiz to help you diagnose your own brand problem. The good news? You're not alone, and we have resources to get your brand back on track.

1. Your brand is ready to level up.

You started from scratch, now you’re here. Your company has come a long way since your earliest days, but your brand hasn’t grown with it. It’s clear: Your brand could use a little attention. So give it the love it deserves, and watch your customers and followers give that love right back.

Handpicked Resources

• How To Identify Your Competitive Landscape: Your brand is ready for the next level, which means going up against some B2B big dogs. We have every faith in you, but you need to know exactly what you’re facing and be attuned to any untapped opportunities.
• Popl Case Study: Poised to disrupt the event lead capture landscape, Popl needed a more mature brand to match its vision — without sacrificing the cutting-edge spirit of its team.

2. Your brand is outdated.

Whether it’s a visual identity that doesn’t match where you are today or a website that’s stuck in the previous decade, it’s time to dust off your brand’s cobwebs and update things a bit. Now’s the right moment to consider not only the obvious, externally facing touchpoints of your brand — color palettes, your logo, hero headline — but also elements of your brand strategy, such as your organization’s mission, its values, and the audiences you’re trying to reach.

Handpicked Resources

• Pull Your Team Through a Rebrand: Legacy brands tend to have a soft spot for employees and the C-Suite alike: "This brand got us this far! We're going to abandon it now?" But sometimes you need to Marie Kondo your brand, thank it for its time, and move on.
• Marketo Case Study: Marketo’s content-rich brand experience needed clear hierarchy and strategic streamlining, and the visual and verbal identities warranted a fresh face for a bold and best-in-class company at the top of its game.

3. Your brand is undifferentiated.

If you’re struggling to see any compelling difference between your brand and your competitors, chances are that your customers are, too. The best brands don’t just offer a better product or service — they are loud and clear about how and why they’re different from the rest. Customers remember (and reward) that.

Handpicked Resources

• Three Steps to Determine if Your Brand is Competitive: A strong, best-in-class brand can be the factor that catapults you from the commodity battle and positions your organization for success.
• Salesloft Case Study: As the No. 1 Sales Engagement solution in the market, Salesloft is beloved by its users, but the previous brand lacked energy and prominence. It was time for the world to immediately understand its distinction.

4. Your brand is too complicated.

It’s your job to explain to your customers who you are, what you do, and why that matters to them. The trick is to do so in a way that doesn’t oversimplify your offering — but doesn’t overcomplicate it, either. If there’s a chance you’re confusing your customers, they’re going to turn to someone else who does a better job explaining how their products and services improve people’s lives.

Handpicked Resources

• The Complete Guide to Brand Architecture: If a brand family includes more than one type of offering, brand architecture is a good idea. Without it, organizations that grow rapidly through expansion or acquisition will soon find themselves becoming a strange concoction of contemporary and legacy brand identities.
• Luminate Case Study: Through the powers of cohesion and focus, the new brand would eliminate any past confusion, clarify Luminate’s differentiators, and inspire both internal and external audiences.

5. Your brand is misaligned.

It’s your brand’s job to explain to customers what you do, how it’s different from your competitors, and why that matters. But it can be a challenge to do that with consistency. Whether your brand’s touchpoints simply need touching up or there’s a deeper organizational complexity, it’s time to get aligned on what your brand is and how it shows up.

Handpicked Resources

• The Game Changing Power of Brand Stories: This is an article about brand stories — what they are (and aren’t), why you may (or may not) benefit from one, and some examples from major brands that could very well inspire yours.
• Zuora Case Study: Like other established brands at a turning point in their growth, Zuora’s story had become fragmented. They needed to position the brand as the only choice for enterprises working to build, run, or grow a subscription solution in its industry.
  

We’ve outlined the most common brand challenges we see. How does your brand stack up?