10 Tips for a start-ups Branding Strategy

Branding as a process is more than just designing a logo and having a catchy brand name. A branding strategy in most cases can make or break your business.

Your branding strategy should involve steps to find differentiating factors between your product's promise and its advantages over that of your competitors.  It involves creating a brand message which is not only the Holy Bible for the company, but also involves communicating this message across to your consumers through advertising and promotions. Having a successful branding strategy ensures a steady growth in loyal customers and thereby translates into growth in financial returns in the long run.

Below are some tips at how to formulate a good branding strategy, being a start-up.

1.     Do an exhaustive preliminary research

Before you get started on creating your branding strategy, you first need to research about your target market, your competitors, their market share and the problems they’re facing.

The first step is to research on your target audience which is going to form your customer base. Find about as much as possible about their demographical aspect such as location , age group, motivations, their realized and unrealized needs and problems.

You also need to gauge what value your products and services will have in the minds of your customers. How much of your customers’ needs and problems can be solved by your products and services.

2.     Create a distintive logo, tagline and voice

In today’s day and age, consumers remember brands by their logo. Hence, it’s important that your logo be modern, recognizable and symbolize what you stand for. It’s advisable you hire a professional to design your logo.

Keep your tagline simple, short, memorable and catchy, if possible. Your tagline should be in sync with your branding message. Your logo and tagline form an inportant part of your brand’s identity, use it as frequently as possible. More the consumers see it, higher will be the brand recall

Right at the onset, you need to decide if your communication is going to be formal, informal or comic and you need to ensure you follow it consistently.

3.     Keep it simple and avoid cliches.

Avoid using cliches. Consumers are getting smarter by the day. You need to find creative and innovative ways to reach your consumers. Avoiding trying to cram your consumer’s head with too much information about your brand. Keep your communication with your consumers simple. Most brands are now walking down the road of ‘minimalism’, when it comes to communicating with the consumer.

4.     The three building blocks

a.   Brand Identity: is “who” your brand is. It’s represented by the colors, language, origins, ethics, symbols, etc.

b.     Brand Promise: is “what” the customers are going to get in terms of benefit and value when they buy your offering.

c.     Brand Experience: is “how” the consumer feels, when interacting with your brand. The interactions can be before purchase, during purchase and after purchase.

These are the three building blocks of any branding strategy. For any start-up, these three components need to be well defined and aligned with the mindset of the customers, if you want your business to succeed in the long run.

5.     Branding Strategy is an investment.

Don’t look at creating a branding strategy as an expense. Having a professionally done branding strategy, logo, tagline, etc. is like an investment which is as important as your product or service. Your branding strategy helps determine the fate of your brand. If not done professionally the first time, you might end up delivering the wrong communication and damage your brand.

6.     Take guidance from experts

Don’t be afraid to ask for guidance when building your branding strategy. Experts are called so, for a reason. Their expertise of designers, marketeers, brand solution providers, etc. can help you create the right branding strategy for your offering.

7.     The reasons to believe in your brand and its point of differences

Being a start up, it’s difficult to get the customers to believe in the value of your products and service. You need to prove it them by means of case studies, testimonials or by asking previous customers to spread the good word.

You need to highlight what makes your offering different from your competitors and why that is better for the customer. You need to make them believe that the value of your differences is greater than that of your competitors.

8.     Ensure you deliver on your promises

One of the key ingredients of a branding strategy is the promise of value you make to the customer. Only make promises, that you can fulfill. If you fail to deliver, you might lose that customer forever. As a start-up you need to keep in mind, that failing to deliver on promises will bring disrepute to your brand, which in turn will create a huge dent in revenues.

9.     First impression is the last impression.

Being a start-up is always hard. You seldom get second chances. The fact that everything you do, might be the first time you’re doing it, makes it even harder. But you can’t let that be an excuse to not making a good impression the first time. Always remember, there are no second chances.

10.  Have an emotional connection

To create an emotional connection between the brand and the consumer, you need to make the consumer feel involved with the brand, using new marketing ideas such as crowd-sourcing.  You also need to make the consumer believe that buying / using your offering will make him feel special.