Is Branding Even Important for Your Startup?
In short, yes. In fact, we can’t overestimate the importance of branding! Your brand message is the way you define your company’s unique story, and it’s what will set you apart from your competitors as you seek out new leads and potential investors.
Branding isn’t something that should be an afterthought: it should be at the core of your business strategy. It’s not just about cutting through the noise. It’s about making some noise yourself and attracting the right kind of attention to secure your business's ongoing future.
Your Story, Your Brand
Startup branding is a way of taking the essence of your company and distilling it into something your target audience understands. Once you’ve defined your ideal customer profile (ICP), you can begin thinking about how your brand tells your story to this group of potential clients. Your brand should:
Be clear about what your business does
Show what your values are
Highlight what differentiates you from your competitors
Have personality
Present your solution in a way that matches the needs of the client
Talk to a marketing expert about ensuring your branding appeals to businesses within your industry.
Create Direction Within Your Company
Your brand isn’t just for clients. It can actually guide the culture of your company. At an early stage, businesses are often onboarding at a phenomenal rate. People who were with you at the start of your journey may have changed roles or even gone on to create their own enterprises. You may have started out as a tech visionary but now live firmly in the CEO’s shoes, away from day-to-day engineering or programming duties.
When you have a clear framework of what your brand is and who you are, you can use that to create an internal structure of values and expectations that empowers change without undermining the overall strategy of your business. This is especially important when hiring new talent. You and they can look at your company values head-on and make sure they align with your new hire’s personal values and goals. That helps head off disagreements later down the line and can even reduce employee turnover. Tech giant Oracle recently reported that one-fifth of exiting employees cited toxic culture at work as a primary reason for quitting — don’t be that workplace!
Use Branding for Longevity in Your Market
Arguably, the most important reason for startups to focus on branding is that once your brand is established and respected, it can keep you visible in the marketplace for a long time to come.
Think about the biggest providers of services you use: Whether you’re thinking of Microsoft, Apple, Google, major utility firms, or even your car manufacturer, the chances are this is a company with a very recognizable brand.
When you consider companies like these, you’ll also note that their brand touches every aspect of how they engage with customers. This includes:
Social media
Email communications
Direct marketing
Packaging of physical products
Articles in magazines or ezines
Branding becomes a part of everything you do, to maintain consistency and avoid aggravating clients by doing something out of character with the brand personality they've come to expect.
However, branding must also be adaptable and open to feedback and change. Think about cell phone pioneer Nokia. Its brand remained static, and as other tech providers advanced, it fell behind. Be prepared to evolve your brand and be as innovative with it as your clients expect your products and services to be.
Final Word
Here at Arch Collective, we’ve worked with numerous startups, helping them get their branding on track to support their ambitious company visions. Talk to us about our expert branding services or sign up for our Brand Messaging 101 course, a simple way to drive more revenue in just 10 days. Book your 15-minute introductory call and find out which offer will best suit you and your startup best.
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