Why Brands Fail in Business

Failure is inevitable in the words of Steven Spielberg. Every business will encounter hardships and even failures at some point, in fact, 31.8% of businesses encounter failure in their second year according to a study, and the strong ones survive at a 68.2% rate. For brands like Apple and FedEx, failure is not a stranger, they have experienced it but now they are celebrated businesses. How is it that some businesses never get back up with the hardships that come their way? Keep reading.

When you are about to travel to an unfamiliar place, what’s the first thing you do? You conduct research and learn about your destination to avoid getting lost or the worst that can possibly happen. The same analogy can be applied before running a business. We have emphasized the importance of understanding your market and consumer behavior patterns in order to meet their needs. To better understand your market, you need to identify whether the target market needs your product or service by conducting market research. In addition, observing those who are in the industry will give you an idea of how to enter the market and create your own value proposition, pricing, and promotions.

Imagine that you’re a business owner and you’ve come up with this amazing concept that has never been conceived, and you proceed to develop your product. As you celebrate your achievement, you have to understand your place as the founder and the role of those who will help you to achieve success. Finding a great and experienced agency or marketing consultancy is important for the product to be marketed successfully. As a business owner, the best thing to do is detach your feelings and personal preferences from the product and allow the experts to handle it in the best way they know. For instance, when you are ready for video production, trust the experts to execute the video in a way that can sell. Some owners feel it’s important to highlight every detail of the product but listing all the product specs and details may not move the viewer to buy the product when they watch the commercial. Allowing the creative team to fully handle the marketing project can result in massive success because they acquired years of experience to know what works and what doesn’t. In essence, your business has a greater chance of succeeding when you do not make it personal but allow others to give you perspective and advice that will make your product appealing to customers.

As businesses face saturated markets and fierce competition, launching a product that has proved successful in one market into another geographic market may be more advantageous. Small and medium-sized enterprises brands draw inspiration from big successful brands and copycats are born whenever a business venture succeeds and this is not a secret. In some cases, businesses that emulated others found success, for instance, Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone brand known for its devices and operating systems that are similar to Apple’s. Xiaomi succeeded in drawing inspiration and emulating Apple making a fortune out of this. However, copying a successful business doesn’t guarantee success. We have seen this recently on Instagram wanting to become like TikTok. Tiktok is well known for its short videos where users create different types of videos; entertaining and inspiring, educative, and so forth. TikTok has become a number one preferred app compared to Instagram and YouTube. Instagram started copying its features and functions to better cater to people’s preferences however this did not go in their favor. Because the Instagram algorithm changed constantly, using the app was not enjoyable. Users all over the world started complaining with the likes of Kim Kardashian calling Instagram out to remain Instagram and not copy Tiktok, simply because people love the original purpose of Instagram the photo-sharing app it’s always been. Illumitati, a user decided to initiate a movement that eventually made Instagram reverse and become Instagram again. Had Instagram not listened to the petition and complaints by its users, it would have been on its way to failure. Instead of copying other businesses, more time can be invested in market research to better understand how to meet the needs of clients and sharpen the unique selling point of products or services.

The process of starting and establishing a business is similar to that of raising a child. There are different steps to running a business, which generally comes one after another. However, some processes take time to manifest growth and results. For instance, before a business is launched, the business has to be visualized and a strategy has to be formed so that the business has its unique position and personality in the market. In marketing and selling, patience is a virtue, it takes time and it doesn’t happen overnight. Some businesses may have a big marketing budget and want to advertise and gain their RIO as quickly as possible but in the long run, it may be harder in the future to make sales without establishing brand awareness. A vital underrated marketing practice that businesses need to consider is building repeat business. Business owners may be excited about quick results, but repeat business ensures their sustainability in the long run.

Knowing what works and what doesn’t work in your strategy is vital. Success in marketing doesn’t happen instantly. For instance, if you run a promotion for five months and sales haven’t been boosted, it means either your messaging was ineffective or you didn’t reach the right audience. Such problems can be fixed by closely observing and restrategizing to make your efforts fruitful. Many business owners don't realize that marketing is a trial-and-error process, however, when you find experts who’ve worked on many projects, you can be guaranteed success because they know how to maneuver different situations to bring the best outcome. It is also vital to know which social networks are suitable for your business to avoid ineffective marketing. Being on all social networks may not be necessary especially if your target markets don’t spend time there. Therefore choosing suitable platforms will be worth the investment of time and money. During the pandemic, Bird Buddy, Birdfy, and Birdie Cam Smart feeder launched their smart bird feeder crowdfunding campaigns with anticipation in on to raise money to further develop their products. Discover how Bird Buddy and Birdfy were able to reach success when they launched their product on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Birdie Cam ran a crowdfunding campaign hoping to achieve success but its strategy was not effective.

In the digital marketing era, technology has leveled up the digital marketing landscape, and this requires flexibility and adaptability to the new way of operating. If you’re a millennial, you probably remember Kodak. At some point, it became a household name for its good cameras as it controlled 70% of the highly lucrative US film industry. However, in the 80s, photography evolved from analog to digital. Kodak conducted research to tap into the minds of its customers and it came up with the flexibility and costs of what digital photography would take. It even went further to develop a digital camera but it quickly neglected the idea of digital photography because it was used to film cameras. Kodak failed to adapt to trends and because it had invested in equipment that produced film chemicals and paper, decided not to pursue market research further. It is vital for companies to be flexible enough to cater to the ever-changing consumer tastes, preferences, and needs and remain running.

Business failure can be attributed to a wide variety of factors. By now, you may have an idea that marketing plays a significant role in the success of a business however success doesn’t happen instantly whether you have a big budget or not. Choosing the right team of marketing strategists, launching your product after thorough research, investing in the right platforms, knowing your limits, and remaining flexible will contribute greatly to the success of your business.