Branding is critical when you do business online. To promote your business and build a reputation, you need to be able to create your own online identity and separate your brand from the sea of other competitors trying to stake their claim on the same customers. A distinctive logo, a powerful message, innovative marketing campaigns and even product packaging can all help you create a presence in an industry that might already seem like it is flooded with too many players, but sometimes it is the mistakes that matter most. Even one small mistake can make a huge difference in terms of customer acquisition and retention.

Here are 5 simple brand-busting mistakes you need to try and avoid so that all of the efforts you are putting into the process will pay off.

1. Believing Your Brand is About Just Your Logo or Web Design

You have to know the power of your brand before you can actually define it. The problem is that many small business owners do not fully understand what constitutes a brand, and this makes online brand building exponentially more difficult. You should never just invest your attention to one individual piece of the brand. The logo is what the public will recognize and associate your company with, but so many other items will work in tandem with this. Your website design, the design or layout of your marketing materials and the tone of your message in YouTube videos all count. Do not have a one-track mind.

2. Feeling Forced to Have a Tagline

A tagline is meant to be a recognizable phrase that presents value and benefits your brand. It can be humorous, but it needs to develop the brand and emphasize the image you are trying to create. Some of the larger retailers in the world have memorable taglines that are used are powerful examples of the difference that a tagline can make, but remember where you are starting. Do not feel like a tagline is a must. If you put pressure on the tagline, it may not feel organic. Wait until you come up with a compelling one.

3. Failing to Hire Pros to Contribute Where it Counts

Professional digital marketers can cost a fortune to hire, but there may come a time where hiring the pros to do small tasks is the best choice. You can plan, develop, and design your entire marketing campaign, but if you take on every single task you will not be able to service the new clients that you are generating. If your goal is to reach an international audience with your online marketing, you need to appreciate the advantages of having professionals subtitle the videos you publish online.

Quality subtitling services ensure that translated information is free of errors and relays the right message. By hiring pros and not just trusting that YouTube’s automated service will translate without error, you can easily optimize your website with headers that have the right keywords and a message that is not being left up to interpretation.

4. Making Things a Bit Too Complicated

It might be tempting to use special effects when you are working on a logo or to use that graphic you have been trying to incorporate somewhere for years. Unfortunately, many business owners over-complicate logos or web design variables with different characteristics that become very hard to decipher or to blend together as one. If you want a lasting brand, you should always aim towards clean elements that will be remembered.

5. Forgetting That the Customer Experience is What Matters

There are thousands of companies that consumers can choose to do business with, but not each company can create a unique customer experience online. Since all companies can find a way to beat your pricing, you need to give your customers a reason to do business with you. The reason should be part of your promise to the customer. By focusing on customer experience during your planning process, you can develop a brand promise that you can stick by.

When you are branding your company, you must be flexible. If something is not working, you need to be able to fix mistakes or revamp. Make sure that you are aware of the brand-busting pitfalls that can have grave consequences, and avoid them at all costs as you build your reputation.