“Your brand is what people say about you after you leave the room” — Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Most startups during the early stages of their development make the huge mistake of ignoring the importance of branding. Many entrepreneurs tend to obsess on the product, and rightly so. But what is also important is researching and defining their target customer, and then creating a brand identity that will focus on the product’s benefits for them, before just pushing it into the marketplace.
You can think about a brand in the way you think about a person. Just like a person, a brand has its own identity, voice, values personality, beliefs, story, character, attitude, and soul.
What is the importance of branding for your startup?
One of the main importance of branding for startups is that it helps the new organization establish its own identity. As stated earlier, the brand is not just the company’s logo, it involves much more than the name or design. It is the whole personality of the organization. That’s why it is important for the company to choose and promote a brand that represents their business methods and core values. Having a clear vision will ensure the success of the startup in the long run. By stating its goal right from the start, it is much easier to follow through on the plans.
What can branding do to motivate customers? Marketing is all about ultimately influencing the behaviour of customers. They will be far more inspired by a brand that offers relevant content with an emotional promise and has an appealing personality, effectively communicated in marketing and sales. To grab the attention of the average consumer, a new company has to challenge itself to devise a unique marketing campaign. The more so if you are targeting today’s millennials, who are not as responsive to normal advertising, but want to be engaged. Without customers, of course, the business cannot succeed, that is why it is important to have a brand which will inspire loyalty and promote engagement with the customer.
Startup marketing and branding also helps a startup set itself apart from the competition. A great brand name can be a solid competitive advantage for your company, especially when feature sets between two or more brands are roughly the same.
Formulating a brand identity requires that a new company conduct research into their customer base and the surrounding market. This in turn helps companies articulate what it is that makes them unique, and what particular gaps they are filling in their respective markets. The ability to then effectively sell their unique contribution can bring in a variety of new customers who are looking for the specific product or service offered by the startup.
Establishing a brand ensures your customers that you are here to stay. What do you think when you log in into your Facebook account or use Google? That they are companies that are shutting down tomorrow or next week? Of course not, that is because they have established a brand and clearly marketed an identity that serves as an assurance to customers that the companies will be in business for a long time. By developing a strong startup branding, the company demonstrates that it is ready for the long haul. It shows that the company intends to be one of the recognizable and reliable businesses in the industry.
Startup branding is the initial introduction of what your company can provide to investors and customers. A carefully crafted branding strategy can go a long way in etching a solid identity for a new venture and can define its success. When done right, the company will experience success.
Have I left something important out? What are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment in the section below.
