5 Reasons Branding is Important to Start-Ups in 2021

What is a brand?

According to the American Marketing Association, a brand is “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identity’s one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for a brand is a trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If you used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is a trading name.”

Branding for an organization carries from print to the online realm, helping you to gain exposure for your organization in the process.

How is a brand different from marketing?

This is a question that we often get from our start-ups, which is understandable as it can be hard to differentiate the two. The term marketing refers to the processes and tools that your organization utilizes to promote your business. Marketing encompasses SEO, social media, and digital and print advertisements. Branding can be thought of as your company’s DNA. It is the culture that encompasses it and helps layout your business’s rules and processes.

 

5 reasons branding is important to start-ups.

1. Branding provides your start-up with a unique identity.

Branding promotes recognition and forms a focus for your business, which ultimately provides value for your business in the public eye and the eyes of your employees. This unique identity should be shown through visual expression and how you intend to present your brand to the marketplace. If your brand is unique, it will allow it to become a fixture in the marketplace instead of allowing it to fall through the cracks.

2. With proper branding in place, you can stay in the market for a long time.

Branding gives you the tools to set you apart from the competition, giving you the ability to stay in the market for a long time.

Branding is not just a logo or a slogan; it is how you choose to communicate with your audience consistently. Over time, your customers will be able to recognize your consistent communications no matter what channel they are on.

3. Brands create motivation and work to provide clarity for your staff.

Strong brands impact customers, but would you believe it if I told you that solid brands also motivate employees? It’s true!

Employees spend a significant amount of time at work, so motivating and setting clear expectations for your staff through a strong brand is crucial, especially when you view your employees not just as employees but as brand ambassadors.

Now, we should tell you that simply having a strong brand won’t guarantee motivation for your staff. Still, it does help when it is associated with salaries, working conditions, and career opportunities. A strong brand works to shape staff internalized brand image to project that image on customers.

4. A strong brand gives customers a sense of knowing what to expect when doing business with your organization.

As simple as it sounds, your brand works to provide a promise to your customers. It’s your declaration or promises as a company that tells the world what your organization stands for. This positive perception allows customers to get the feeling that they are genuinely getting to know you and what you represent, and in turn, it is also what customers come to expect from you.

When a business promotes its values through its consistent branding campaigns, there are no questions about how its employees act. For example, the much-loved fast-food chain, Chick-fil-a, is a prime example of an organization whose branding has shown the world their love for chicken and christen foundation. No matter where you go to a chick-fil-a to eat, you can expect the same service and food.

Their branding has helped them achieve incredible success, and it can help your start-up as well!

5. Branding is essential because it creates consistency and traction for your start-up.

Having a consistent brand allows you to grow your audience on all platforms, as consistency is crucial for your company’s growth and longevity in the market. When your start-up creates a strong brand, it allows customers to understand what a company is all about, what it stands for, and how it can benefit their life.

Brand traction isn’t created overnight, but through consistent branding strategies, it can be achieved.

How does one establish a brand for their start-up?

Please grab a pen and paper and write down your answers to the questions we have listed below. The answers to these questions will put you on the path to creating a branding guide for your start-up. Branding guides aren’t just crucial for marketing departments to utilize; they are an excellent rulebook for employees as they align five critical components with your start-up. Those components are mission, vision, audience, voice, and values. Now, let’s break those down a bit further so that you can create your branding guide.

1. To create a brand for your start-up, you must first establish your purpose.

Your purpose and your mission go hand in hand. It is said that the purpose guides you, and your mission drives you. Your purpose is your cause, your reason why your organization exists. Then your mission statement details how you plan to accomplish your purpose.

2. Now that you have your purpose and mission laid out, it is time to write out your vision.

Your vision is where you want to take your company in the future. In a perfect world, what is your five-year plan for your start-up? What about your ten-year plan and your twenty-year plan?

We want to encourage you to make bullet points on your paper for your company’s vision. Know that your companies’ vision may alter slightly, but that is okay. You have to start your vision somewhere.

3. It is time to think about your start-up’s target audience.

One of the biggest mistakes companies makes enter the world thinking their product or service appeals to anyone and everyone. If that is you, let us stop you right there. Your company WILL NOT appeal to everyone, so how can you better spend your time and energy targeting individuals who are more likely to become customers?

You can start discovering your target audience by looking at your existing customers’ individuals who have bought from you. Chances are, if you look at those individuals, there will be a common thread among them that leads them to you. This will help you discover how to target a customer base further. In the long run, it is key to track your customers geographically and demographically to understand better the behavioral instincts that lead them to need your product or service. When this behavior is discovered, it is easier to market to customers of the same caliber.

4. Then you must choose the voice in which you want to use throughout your business.

Have you truly given thought to the personality or voice you want behind your organization? When you do not have a unified voice, your company looks inexperienced, weak, and indecisive. Now, we both know you are a start-up, but just because we know that does not mean that you have to share that with the world.

When you create a branding guide with specific guidelines for your brand, you are giving a unified message that allows customers to recognize you, and if you have done this well, you will create a likable and engaging brand.

5. Lastly, it would help if you outlined your start-up’s values to define the culture within your organization.

Your organization’s values can be considered the heart of your companies work. Your company’s values are an essential part of your brand guidelines as they work as a reminder to your employees and customers alike that a human is behind the business.

As you work to create your company’s core values, it is important to use action words or phrases such as “diversity,” “respect,” “customers first,” “act with integrity,” and “make a difference every day.” These values will integrate flawlessly with your customer engagement strategy and help you to develop loyal customers in the process.

We have given you the tools you need to understand why branding is important and how you can create a brand guide that will propel your start-up towards success. If you have any questions or concerns about this material feel free to contact us, we would love to help you!