5 Overlooked Branding Mistakes (And How a Fractional Creative Director Fixes Them)

In today's competitive market, many companies are choosing to hire in-house designers and content creators to save time and reduce costs. However, this approach can lead to significant challenges, even for large organizations as all to often their in house design team can lack the education or creative experience needed to maintain brand consistency in a crowded marketplace. Below, we highlight five often overlooked aspects of branding and explain why a fractional creative director can work with your in-house team to ensure your brand achieves its full potential.

1. Clear Messaging and Headlines

   Mid-size businesses often fail to prioritize concise, impactful messaging, leading to customer confusion. According to Lucidpress (2021), 87% of consumers value brand consistency, which starts with clear communication.

   Solution: A fractional creative director crafts compelling headlines and messaging that align with your brand’s identity, ensuring customers instantly understand your business’s value, enhancing recognition and trust.
   

2. Consistent Corporate Colors

   Many mid-size businesses use inconsistent color schemes across platforms, diluting brand recognition. Studies show consistent branding can increase revenue by up to 23% (Lucidpress, 2021).

   Benefit: A creative director establishes a unified color palette and brand guide which reinforces your brand identity across digital and printed touchpoints, making the brand instantly recognizable and professional from signage to digital ads and your website presence. Learn more about color theory
   

3. A Clean, Memorable Logo Presence

   Businesses often underestimate the power of a well-designed logo, settling for outdated or generic designs or clipart. A strong logo can boost brand recall, with 46% of consumers favoring recognizable brands (Nielsen, 2022). Does your logo pass the 'squint test' for memorability?

   Solution: Hiring a seasoned professional can re-design or refine your logo in a fraction of the time in order to to create a simple and memorable brand, ensuring it leaves a lasting impression in a competitive market for many years to come. Learn more about what a quality logo is.
   

4. Consistent Typography and Font Usage

   When creativity is lacking many junior designers will throw a host of type faces into their designs in order to make them appear more interesting. Unfortunately inconsistent fonts across marketing materials can make a brand appear unprofessional, yet mid-size businesses often neglect this detail. Consistent typography enhances credibility, as 94% of first impressions are design related (WebFX, 2023).

   Benefit: A creative director can work with your company to standardize typography by selecting fonts that align with the brand’s personality, ensuring a polished and cohesive visual identity across all platforms.
   

5. Quality Graphic Designs Supporting an Uncluttered Brand

   Many businesses use cluttered or low quality graphics which undermines their brand’s perceived value. It may be easy to source clipart or other low quality photos to be placed into newsletters or website graphics, but all too often your brand is negatively impacted. High-quality visuals drive engagement, with brands seeing 20-40% higher revenue per customer through effective design (Sprout Social, 2022).

   Solution: Utilizing someone with experience can create a strategy for your team to follow. Having clean, high-quality graphic designs that support your brand’s message will ensure an uncluttered aesthetic that strengthens market presence and customer appeal. Once these guidelines are established your team will gain inspiration for other marketing materials by seeing a clearly established direction to follow.

If you think your company would benefit from hiring a fractional creative director, contact us today to find out how we can help your brand reach its full potential!