Cheap branding is often viewed as a way to save money, but in reality, it can be detrimental to a business. There are valid reasons why to avoid cheap branding. Cheap branding services can save a few hundred bucks Initially. But in the long run, you will have to spend more in installments. And often it will have added frustration, time investment, and a final product that does not relate.
Professional branding on the other hand can be costly. But if you see that as an investment, you will find that professional branding has a much better RoI. Also, good branding is flexible, communicates and ties up, and enhances other marketing efforts seamlessly. A good RoI is a sufficient reason why to avoid cheap branding. But there are even more reasons.
Here are a few reasons why to avoid cheap branding:
Lacks Professionalism
It lacks credibility. Cheap branding often lacks the professionalism and sophistication of well-designed branding, which can make it difficult for customers to trust the business and its products or services. Most of the time a cheap design will forego the study of the brand and its audience. Also, there are chances that the logo is more of an ornamental icon without any real story behind it.
Does not stand out
Since most of the cheap branding and logo designs are made using pre-designed templates, they don’t effectively differentiate a business. In today’s crowded marketplace, it’s important for a business to stand out from the competition. Cheap branding often fails to do this, resulting in the business being lost in the shuffle.
No Emotional Connect
It doesn’t create an emotional connection with customers. Effective branding is about creating an emotional connection with customers. Cheap branding often fails to do this, leaving customers feeling unengaged and uninterested in the business. To emotionally connect with the audience, the designer has to study the brand and the audience minutely which often is not possible with cheap branding.
Does Not Communicate Value
It fails to effectively communicate the value of a business. Good branding is about clearly and effectively communicating the value of a business to customers. Cheap branding often fails to do this, leaving customers unsure of why they should choose the business over its competitors. Further cheap branding often implies a cheap brand. Can you afford that?
Damages Reputation
It can negatively impact a business’s reputation. Poorly designed branding can give the impression that a business is unprofessional and lacks quality. This can damage the business’s reputation and make it difficult to attract and retain customers. Just consider the branding of Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike, etc. They take their branding very seriously and go to any length to preserve the look, feel, and reputation of their logo.
Not Well Thought Out
Cheap branding is often not well thought-out or carefully designed, which can make it difficult and costly to change in the future if the business wants to rebrand. Also, at times, you might find that the logo becomes unusable. For example, a professional branding expert will understand the scenarios in which the logo may appear and will keep that in mind while designing the logo. But a cheap designer might fail in that. For example, an app development brand might have a logo with multiple colors and gradients. but a car manufacturer cannot have such a logo – as most cars will have a single-color metallic logo on the vehicle. So there are many technical aspects that have to be kept in mind which cheap design fail.
Inconsistent Branding
It can lead to inconsistent branding. Cheap branding often lacks the cohesiveness and consistency of well-designed branding, which can lead to confusion among customers and dilute the business’s branding efforts. Cheap branding means logo and stationery design. nothing more. However, actual; professional branding is much more than logo design. Logo design is just a small part of professional branding. So in professional branding, you get a brand guideline that dictates all other visual and branding aspects of the brand. this in turn makes the branding consistent visually and increases the brand recall value. For instance, whenever you see the green and white telephone receiver logo – you think of WhatsApp. Red and White mean Coca-Cola. and many more!
No Recall Value
It doesn’t effectively build brand recognition. Effective branding is about building brand recognition and recall among customers. Cheap branding often fails to do this, leaving customers unable to easily identify and remember the business. Cheap branding will provide you with a logo. But a professional branding studio (like ours) will provide you with much more than a logo. Like typography guidelines, color guidelines, design element guidelines, website element guidelines, and the story behind the brand, and the branding. These can increase the brand recall value immensely.
Not Unique
Cheap branding doesn’t effectively communicate the business’s unique selling proposition. Good branding is about highlighting a business’s unique selling proposition and communicating it to customers in a clear and compelling way. Cheap branding often fails to do this, leaving customers unsure of what sets the business apart from its competitors. Most of the cheap branding is just cut-paste or is inspired. As such they are always a second copy. And you don’t want your brand to be a second copy. Do you?
Does Not Support Overall Effort
It doesn’t effectively support the business’s overall marketing efforts. Branding is an important part of a business’s overall marketing efforts. Cheap branding often fails to effectively support these efforts, leaving the business’s marketing efforts less effective and less likely to succeed. In the long run, all the aspects of the business effort must focus on a single direction. if the efforts are not unified, they might just cancel out each other resulting in high costs and no results. A professional branding expert’s job is to streamline the efforts.
Cheap branding is Very Costly!
So, a roundup of ‘Why to Avoid Cheap Branding?’ Cheap branding is a bad idea because it lacks credibility, fails to effectively differentiate a business, doesn’t create an emotional connection with customers, fails to effectively communicate the value of a business, and can negatively impact a business’s reputation. Investing in professional, well-designed branding is essential for the success and growth of any business.
So if you are looking for a professional branding studio – look no further. We can help you. Join us for a free chat to discuss what we can do to help you.
