Do you have a to-do list for your brand? Sure you do — must of us do. But, how about a “NO” list? It turns out; a “NO” list is just as important as having a to-do-list.

But, what exactly is a “NO” list? Your “NO” list is your list of bad habits or behaviours you should break.

Sometimes it can be illuminating to figure out what your brand should not do; a no list. Restrain is the mark of a focused brand. A no list can also be clarifying and can be used to highlight what your brand stands for. So, here are some things to get you started on your “NO” list.

1. The Kind of Customer you Do NOT Want

The type of customer you don’t want are those that might alter and damage your brand perceptions.

These customers:

Demand you do something that might not align with your brand behaviour. Your brand behaviour is what drives your results. It’s the way you reach out to your customers and how they respond to you. Sometimes, however, some customers can demand too much or expect you to make specific changes that don’t fit your overall vision or forces you to completely alter your brand strategy. In this case, it’s okay to say “no.”
Drastically change your price. Being flexible about price can be strategic and useful, but if a customer demands a change in price structure (not just a discount – but maybe pay on an instalment basis, something you have never done), the news could spread and new customers might be demanding the same.
Require you to change some aspect of your marketing (i.e., if you are brand that always shares the process on social media, but a new client says no – you might want to reconsider).

2. The Kind of Product and Service your Brand Should NOT Offer

For your product or service to succeed, you don’t want to offer products or services your customers don’t want or need. If it’s not right for them, no matter how great your product is, they’re not going to buy it.

Also, while it’s okay to periodically offer free products and services to retain customers and encourage future sales, what about prospects who haven’t bought from you yet? Should you offer them a freebie or free trial?

Before answering that question, you may want to consider this example:

A health company sells protein shakes. To attract prospects and hopefully, potential customers, they start a promotion where they give away a 14-day FREE trial to test their shakes. Of course, they receive many prospects wanting to try their shakes for free. But, when their representatives call these prospects back, they can’t seem to convert many into actual “paying” customers who would like to continue receiving a shipment of shakes each month.

So, instead, they decide to try a different approach. The company changed their ad to say, “Try a 14-day supply of our protein shakes for just $10.”

Because there is a cost attached to their promotion, they receive less of a response than they did when they were offering “free” shakes, however, out of the prospects that ended up paying the $10 for a 14-day supply of shakes, a higher percentage of them ended up purchasing more product.

“The lesson here is — most individuals don’t place value on “free.” But, the theory is, those who do pay a small amount to try something, typically pay more later on if they like the product or service. Those who don’t pay anything, never end up paying anything.”

You can try both experiments for your own business and see what type of results you get.

3. What Kind of Words your Brand Should NOT Use

Research shows that individuals have an eight second attention span; therefore, you don’t have a whole lot of time to grab the attention of your audience and get your message across.

Each word you say that’s not necessary for getting your message across should be removed from your copy. Eliminate filler words like “that,” “really” and “very.”

Clearly express your message and keep it succinct. Eliminate meaningless jargon, ambiguous terms and buzzwords which can confuse or even alienate those in your audience who don’t exactly know what you’re trying to say.

Use action verbs instead of passive verbs. Your marketing piece should drive some action from your audience. You should always include a call to action to encourage and motivate people to take the action you want.

Having a brand manual that includes a copy guide would be useful. A vital brand asset for any business is its brand manual. After all, you need to be consistent in your brand messaging for your brand growth and success. A brand manual will help ensure this consistency. Also, your brand manual should include a copy guide. Your copy style guide will control how you develop the text and copy within your brand design and messaging.

4. Graphics and Visuals your Brand Should NOT Use

Like words, visuals and graphics can be potent. However, you need to use them carefully. You want to enhance your branding and content — not detract from it.

Try not to cram too much into your graphics or visuals (i.e. a cluttered infographic, too much text, etc.).

Also, don’t put all your focus into creating amazingly striking images, but then forget what you’re looking to accomplish. Strategy comes into play here. What do you want your audience to do when they’re viewing your graphics? Your visuals and graphics is the “doorway” to information. You’re not just trying to catch your audience’s attention, but have them take some action.

5. How your Customer Should NOT Perceive you

As a small business owner, you should realize the effect your brand has on consumers. Your brand is the association of feelings and thoughts a consumer has when they’re thinking of your business. Your customer’s perception directly relates to your brand. Let’s take this example:

Which of the following do your customers think about your company and your brand?

“It’s a privilege doing business with them. My business/life is much better off because of it.”
“Oh, them. Yeah, they’re not bad.”
“They’re okay, but I really don’t have a lot of time to talk with them.”
“Oh, them. They’re an arrogant and condescending so and so.”
“Run away fast! I don’t trust them, nor do I recommend them.”
“Who?”

Which do you prefer?

Once you determine how your customer should NOT perceive you, then all your business actions should NOT be leading to that perception.

6. What Aspect of your Business you Should NOT Outsource

Thanks to the Internet, outsourcing has become accessible. We only have two hands, after all, and can’t do everything. So, we outsource. But, there are certain aspects of your business that you shouldn’t outsource, such as:

Outsourcing when there’s even a slight threat to security or confidentiality
Outsourcing a problem — this should always be your job
Outsourcing core competencies — this is your competitive advantage or what your company is good at; what gives it its edge
Outsourcing when it leads to a loss of control — you should always have the ability to make decisions on a project or have complete knowledge of its progress

7. What you Should NOT Say to Customers

As a business owner, you can’t please all your customers, all the time. And, a little secret — your customers aren’t always right. But, it would help if you still showed them the respect they deserve and that includes the things you say to them.

Some things not to say to your customers are:

“I Can’t Do That”

Even if you’re not allowed to do something, you don’t say that to your customers. It won’t resolve their problem and could affect their perception of you negatively. Instead of telling them what you can’t do, let them know what you can do.

“That’s Against Our Policy”

Same thing here and it might even be, but customers don’t care about your policy. They want their problem resolved and right now. Again, let them know what you can do for them to solve their problem.

“It’s Not Our Fault”

Your customers also don’t care whose fault it is. Don’t point fingers and solve their problem.

“I’ll Let you Know.”

You’ll let them know? What does that mean? Will you let them know in an hour? Tomorrow? How about a week from now? If you consider your customer’s perspective on this, it’s easy to understand why they become frustrated. Be specific as to when you can follow-up with them.

8. What Causes your Brand Should NOT Be Involved With

You’ll find plenty of research out there showing that consumers prefer brands that stand behind a good cause than those that don’t. Because of this, many companies are implementing cause-marketing. This is where you tie your brand to something much larger than your company, hoping to resonate with consumers and gain name recognition, all while contributing to a good cause at the same time.

However, you need to be careful with this one. You can also damage your brand’s reputation by becoming involved with the wrong “cause” or for the wrong reason.

An example would be you attach your business to a cause that doesn’t align with your business. Companies often tout their products as being “pink” to show support for breast cancer survivors and research. And, this is great if there’s brand-cause alignment — think Pepperidge Farm aligning with Goldfish brand.

But, the alignment isn’t so great with KFC and breast cancer awareness (what does chicken have to do with breast cancer awareness?)

And, what about perceived company intent? What’s your intent for partnering in with a particular cause? There’s more likely consumers will support and participate in cause-marketing efforts if it appears the company’s intentions are pure instead of merely trying to polish their brand.

“When you do have your “NO” list completed, it’s essential to revise this list continuously, as you and your business might change.
It’s okay to change your mind, but you’ll want your “NO” list to follow suit.”

Learnings and Insights from The Creative Audit

Start a NO list for your Brand