The Real Monster in the Closet
Spooky season is here and there’s plenty of ghosts and goblins popping up all over. Surprisingly, not all the dastardly demons roam in the moonlight. Instead, they are in plain sight. Printed and digital, these monsters wreak havoc on businesses brands, customer engagement and, worst of all, your bottom line. Let’s take a look at some of these not so delightful frights.
The Frankenstein
It looks and sounds exactly how you would expect. Mishmashed graphics and messages are stitched together and thrown into a swarm of mailers, landing pages, ads, and slicks. With no clear direction, this piecemeal brand stumbles along, confuses onlookers, and mutters incoherently. Customers are wary of this monster because they have no idea who or what it really is or how it will behave.
Ghosts in the Machine
What’s behind the websites that are full of broken links, confusing layouts, transactions that don’t work, and annoying pop-up AI assistants that haunt every page? It’s no ghost. It’s the spirited people behind the digital curtain who have no clue about all the moving parts of a website. They randomly click buttons and push plug-ins in hopes to fascinate everyone, but like an annoying poltergeist they only manage to scare customers away.
Soul Suckers
The soul suckers are great ideas and back burner tasks that clutter your inbox, pile into your need-to-do lists, and bore their way into the back of your head. Their misdirection and need for attention derail your train of thought. Over time, they become overwhelming, cloud the path forward, and leave you lost in your own forest of despair. This stagnates the business and brings it to a standstill so customers think you are unable to change with the times, not relatable, and antiquated.
Zombies
Everyone knows about these stinkers. Zombies are those outdated business cards, brochures, ads, and landing pages still being circulated. With bits and pieces of dead information, the zombies freely roam and rot your brand. Now, because of your brainless appearance, customers will find you unreachable, disingenuousness, and worst of all, untrustworthy.
I could go on into the night about more monsters like the doppelgängers, unoriginal businesses who merely copy their competitors, and mad scientists, who are the DIY masters of disaster.
I do think I’ve conjured my point. It doesn’t take four kids, a dog, and a bag of Scooby snacks to sleuth out why so many businesses lose customers and slash their success potential. So, if your customers have become ghosts of their former selves, it might be time to banish the real monster – your bad habits.
- Patrick Baxter, Chief Creative, Baxter Branded
