BRANDING FOR STARTUPS

I think it’s a great idea to start by stating the obvious fact that the business clime today is saturated with emerging start-ups. And with this increasing trend of ‘Entrepreneurship’ are the accompanying tales of success, and the not so happy endings.
While branding is not the sole determinant of the success of a business enterprise, it plays a major role in contributing to the growth of start-ups.

A brand is generally viewed as a name, term, design, symbol, or any other element that distinguishes a company and it’s products or services from other competitors in the business. This broad view is correct, but does not paint an exact picture of the concept of branding; it is more intricate than just the features that make up a brand.

Think of it this way, a start-up company is a person, and the brand associated with it introduces the identity of the company and what it has to offer.

Branding is a good way to communicate the uniqueness of your business in a saturated market place. It ultimately influences the consumer’s perception of your company, its services and products.

This means that to get expected returns on the efforts and resources contributed to get your business up and running, a lot of attention needs to be paid to your brand.

A common mistake of most start-ups is to steal the identity of other brands and tweak them a bit to create new brands in an effort to create a niche for themselves. This mostly ends up like a poorly copied descriptive essay.

Branding requires originality and creativity on deck, and leeching off another business’s identity doesn’t successfully portray who you are and what your brand stands for, or has to offer.

While there might be a lot of similar products and services as yours, there is always room for every brand to stand out.

Two key factors in building up a successful brand for a start-up company are understanding the target consumers, and then understanding the core values and personality of the start-up founder(s). Understanding the personality and core values of the founder(s) gives a very good idea of what inspired the start-up, what the core values of the company are, and what needs the products or services offered can meet. It helps in defining the brand. Understanding the consumers helps in deciding the best strategies to employ in successfully communicating the identity of the brand, and the benefits to be gained from associating with the brand, in such a way that it resonates with them.

Many start-up owners do not realize that when advertisements, sales promotions, marketing, and public relation activities are done without care to ensure that a deliberate message is passed to consumers, there could be an inadvertent message passed to the public; and it might be a poor representation of the business and all that it offers or stands for.

The importance of branding as a channel for reaching out to the target market and means to achieve expected results cannot be over emphasized

And the first step to having a successful brand is to invest in building your brand; not just tagging a name, getting any logo, or thinking of a ‘catchy phrase’ to associate with your brand.

If you are a start-up owner (or prospective owner) reading this, my random guess is that there are a million and one things money can be used for other than paying branding consultants. I agree. The good news is, you can invest your time (instead of money), to build a brand your clients would love and totally relate with.

Here’s a link to an article about ‘Building a start-up brand’ on Medium by Alex Chuang, a co-founder and chief Strategy officer @launch_academy.

All the best with building your start-up brand!

Image Source:louhammond.com
Article Written by: Esieboma Oghenerobo Joy