When you are worried about where your next seed capital will come from or how you can possibly patent your ingenious idea, branding will be the last thing on your mind. According to all start-up CEOs, the logos, images and marketing can wait for later. What they don’t realise is that branding is more than this. A brand strategy is the core essence of the entire organisation and we have listed below 5 reasons why you should not undermine your brand development.
Branding eases the turbulent journey of start-ups as it forces the CEOs to go back to square one: the mission of your start-up. As the CEO, you are forced to re-value your reason for being. This brings about more confidence and clarity in your foundation and the decisions you will make in the future. Everyone in your organisation will work around this one solid reason for being – thereby truly aligning the works of your organisation towards its ultimate aim. You will get a much required far-sighted view of the future in a very short term environment. In this way, the purpose of the brand far outlives goals such as market share and turnovers.
Many CEOs have claimed their products seemed more real and approachable once they had a brand strategy in place. Branding turns your beloved idea into something more tangible and which can be objectively discussed with others. It allows you to put a safe distance between the brand and yourself to make better and unbiased decisions: you will naturally make decisions from your customers’ point of view, rather than what you think is good.
Branding plays a key role when it comes to successfully securing funding in the start-up investment scene. A brand strategy really shows that you have holistically thought about every aspect of your product. It allows you to properly articulate why your start-up matters to your customers. A well undertaken branding exercise is proof of your seriousness in acquiring and keeping customers. In the cut-throat competition for investment, your brand will positively stand out.
As a bonus, a well-developed brand strategy will help you define your company culture. This means you will know exactly the kind of persons to recruit from the first day. You need not waste a lot of time and money on a trial-and-error method to figure out the right candidate that will perfectly fit in your organisation.
In the future, start-ups will spring up faster due to businesses being driven increasingly by cloud technologies. Competition is going to get tougher. Only those start-ups who have done their branding homework will be able to connect to and retain strong customer bases on an emotional level.
A meaningful brand strategy brings about extraordinary changes in your start-up. It is the foundation for your company’s attitudes, behaviours, product developments and communications. When your start-up, as a whole, embraces your brand’s core essence from the beginning, it will give the focus and motivation to truly stay relevant to your customers and to scale up faster.
