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There are all sorts of reasons why brand fail.

New Coke, MySpace, Blackberry, Blockbuster—the road to branding success is littered with the corpses of literally thousands of brands that just couldn’t hack it.

So, in this post, we’ll look at some of the most common reasons brands fail, and give you some tips for how you can avoid the same fate.

CONTENTS

Why Do Brands Fail?

For every brand that redefines its industry, there are hundreds more that fall victim to branding’s myriad pitfalls.

For every Instagram there is an Ello, for every Uber a Sidecar.

The hard truth is, in spite of the best intentions, 96% of businesses fail within 10 years.

One of the main reasons brands fail is that branding is just hard. It’s a complex and nuanced science centered on in-depth research and strategy.

If branding were easy, the world’s most valuable companies wouldn’t spend billions of dollars every year to ensure their brands remain relevant.

Avoiding a branding disaster doesn’t have to break the bank, though. It starts with understanding the top reasons that brands fail, so you can do the opposite instead.

5 Reasons Brands Fail (And How to Do the Opposite)

A closing down sale sign hangs outside a Blockbuster store
A full list of all the reasons brands fail would require more time and space than we have here.

But, there are a handful of issues that bring down even the most promising brands, time and time again.

The following are the top 5 reasons brands fail, so you know what to steer clear of on the road to branding success.

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1. Break Your Brand Promise

Customer trust is at the heart of every successful brand. And customers trust brands that keep their promises.

That’s why the number one reason brands fail is because they break their brand promise.

The first step in keeping your brand promise is to clearly define a pledge to your customers that you know you can keep.

Whether it’s around speed, cost, or service, the best brand promises are meaningful and measurable.

The next step is to clearly communicate your brand promise to customers.

Use it as fodder for brand messaging, marketing campaigns, social media content, and more.

Finally, find small ways to remind customers when you make good on your brand promise. Think personalized emails, follow-up phone calls, and the like.

The best way to build brand loyalty–and avoid brand failure–is to never make a promise you can’t keep.

2. Become Irrelevant to Customers

The moment you no longer meet your customer’s needs is the moment those customers start looking elsewhere.

It’s also the moment brand failure begins.

Relevant brands are those that stay one step ahead of customer needs.

They do regular customer research initiatives, including one-on-one customer interviews to better understand how customers perceive their business.

They keep their finger continually on the pulse of customer perceptions, conducting surveys to get insight into market trends and unexpected shifts.

Remember, brand relevance is not the same as trendiness.

Relevant brands are those that offer uniquely valuable solution to their ideal customer’s most important problems.

3. Do the Same Thing as the Other Guy

Good branding isn’t about the value you provide to customers. It’s about the unique value you provide.

Customers are looking for uniquely effective solutions to the problems that keep them up at night.

That’s why competitive differentiation is so important.

The brands that can’t hack it are those that get lost in the sea of sameness.

They repackage the same value propositions offered by their closest competitors and hope that customers will understand the difference.

But if you haven’t meaningfully differentiated your brand, you can’t blame your customer for choosing another option.

In order to set your brand apart from the crowd, you have to have a clear understanding of what the crowd looks like.

The best place to start is with a competitive brand audit, which will give you a better sense of how your top competitors are differentiating their brands.

Only then can you hope to define your competitive advantage and claim a unique position in the marketplace.

4. Don’t Adapt and Evolve

One of the best qualities of a strong brand is consistency.

But too often consistency meets with complacency, which leads to one of the worst qualities a brand can embody: stagnation.

Now, more than ever, the marketplace waits for no one.

Your brand must be nimble, dynamic, and relentlessly abreast of current trends. Avoiding failure means avoiding irrelevancy.

The world turns. Markets shift. Customer needs change.

Your brand should change along with them. Don’t get caught flatfooted.

5. Chase Trends and Lose Sight of Who You Are

One of the most under-appreciated reasons that brands fail is a lack of authenticity.

Trends come and go. But authenticity will always matter more to customers. Never compromise your brand for a trend that will be irrelevant next week.

Focus on who you are, what you do best, and who you serve.

It takes courage to build a truly authentic brand. But just remember: You can’t please everyone.

In fact, if you’re not offending a few people, you’re probably doing something wrong.

Sometimes you have to lose a few customers in order to attract the ones who matter most.

The Takeaway

Knowing what to watch out for is the best first measure in guarding against brand failure.

Keeping your brand promise, staying relevant to customer needs, setting your brand apart from the crowd, making sure to keep pace with market changes, and always staying true to who you are…

These are the best ways to make sure you brand goes down as among the rare successes in the branding world. Rather than as one of its many failures.

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The Ultimate Guide to Rebranding

Everything you need to know about rebranding your business-and avoiding costly mistakes.

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A prolific blogger, speaker, and columnist, Brian has two decades of experience in design and branding. He’s written for publications including Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, HuffPost, and Brand Quarterly.