Knowing where to start can be the most challenging part for most new brands. You may get different tips and advice from various people, which can become overwhelming and daunting. You might also be spending countless hours researching on Google how best to succeed in your business. Here are three mistakes we see brands making at the start of their business journey. Avoid these mistakes and you are already on the road to success!

Social media strategy

Social media has become a must-have for nearly all successful brands over the past decade. Data shows that 72% of companies use social media data to guide their business decisions and 90% of marketers said that social data allows businesses to monitor their competitors. 

However, many businesses fail to use platforms to their advantage and struggle to develop a successful social media strategy that gives them ROI. Before building a strategy, it’s crucial for brands to establish their unique ‘Brand Persona.’ ‘Brand Persona’ is their depicted ideal customer developed by the whole team at the start of the business journey. Establishing your brand persona from the start; identifying their buying behaviours, location and age group will give you a defined target audience and market clarity. 

Once your brand persona is in place, this is when you can start building your marketing strategy. Think about your ideal customer, where are you most likely to reach that target audience? What do they do in their day-to-day lives?

TikTok has taken the marketing world by storm, with the algorithm allowing smaller brands to be seen equally to more prominent brands, leading to rapid scaling and fast growth for many business. 

Consumer behaviour has significantly shifted with consumers becoming less trusting towards influencers and bigger brands. The age of paying macro influencers is slowly fading with more brands collaborating with everyday people to produce more authentic content. Trust and authenticity should be a significant part of your social media strategy in 2022/2023. 

However, one mistake new brands often make is taking on too much too quickly. Many brands often think they need to get themselves all over social media, on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and Twitter etc. However, when starting off, it’s important to master one platform before expanding to another. Despite apps such as Tiktok leading the way in social media, this doesn’t always mean this strategy applies to every brand. If you are a brand that sells internationally rather than nationally, TikTok won’t be the right platform for you.

Website quality

Another vital piece to a successful start-up brand is a good quality website. This might seem like an obvious point, however, there is more to a good website than just some nice pictures! Compatibility is key to any good website. Being able to access your website on multiple devices is vital. You need your site to be phone compatible, allowing your customers to get the best experience no matter where they are. 

Have you ever been on a site that’s so slow you just leave? You’re not alone! Loading speed on your site is key to a good customer experience. Consider the little things such as the sizes of your images and whether they will slow down your speed. We want people to stay on the site!

At Riley and Thomas, we have years of experience in providing top-quality websites for our clients. Get in touch with the team for more information.

Pre-launch strategy 

Many brands fail at the launch stage with little exposure during pre-launch. Pre-launch is a great way to expose your brand and build a community of people who are ready to buy your product. Establishing what the brand is about prior to launching any products will build excitement around the product. This will also ensure that you don’t have too much products in stock and no one to sell to. 

Start building relationships with your potential clients. If you are waiting for a website to go live, why not create a landing page in the meantime for customers to sign up for early access to the product? Build up the client base before the product is available!