Last Updated on Tue-Sep-2024 by Robert Bogere
When I started my journey, startup branding was the last thing in my mind. I was tasked with improving my skills and finding the complexities of my niche.
It wasn’t until I faced the issue of many competitors that’s strategists, designers, consultants, and agencies. That’s when I knew the power of branding. A memorable brand is the key to standing out among ruthless competitors.
This year, a founder asked a question that related with what I do: “At what stage should start-ups focus on branding?” As a brand strategist, this question sparked my curiosity and reminded me of my duties to startups and small businesses.
In this article, I’ll share insights from my journey, opinions, and case studies to help startup founders know at what stage they should focus on branding. Get your seat as I take you through this journey. Shall we Chief? Then let’s go….
Discover: Looking at developing your startup brand strategy? Find away how you can do it yourself
It’ll be so bad if I take you straight to the core of this article without taking you through the nit grits of the stages of developing a startup. Here are the early stages of startups.
Stages of developing Startups
Before we go into other details, When you’re developing a startup, it’s better to know the different stages you need go through to build up a stand-out startup brand. Below are some of those stages;
1/ Ideation phase
2/ Pre-seed stage
3/ Seed stage
4/ Post seed stage
Let’s go through these stages chap chap.
1/ Ideation phase
This is a phase where your journey starts. At this stage, your main focus is on validating your idea and market fit of your product. As a new founder, you’re busy;
1/ Brainstorming your ideas
2/ Finding potential market needs fit.
3/ And assessing the feasibility of your ideas.
Branding, at this phase, isn’t something you should think of as a new founder. You shouldn’t get much bothered about it at this stage. Branding at this stage is too minimal.
However, having an idea of your startup brand is the most important. At this stage, you should consider things like a product name and domain name for your startup for SEO issues.
While it isn’t necessary to invest much in branding during this stage, keeping your future startup brand in mind will offer direction and avoid future challenges and problems later on.
Like Uber, it started with an idea of connecting riders with drivers. They focused on creating a user experience and had a basic logo but with a brand concept in mind. Their brand concept kept changing into a global big brand.
2/ Pre-seed stage
As your startup idea moves to the pre-seed stage, your focus should shift to creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This stage involves developing a starter version of your product to test with early adopters.
With Minimum Viable product, I expect you to develop a landing page having your product unique value proposition. Your target customer pain points and how your product will solve your customer struggles and challenges.
Although your core goal is developing your product, early branding plays a role here. Developing a basic brand identity like;
- A Startup logo
- Startup color scheme
- And an initial website/landing page
This can create a sense of brand credibility and trust for your startup. A report by Startup Genome, startups that scale invest about 30% more in brand development and marketing compared to those that do not scale.
Did you know 97% startup founders are stuck with 0 sales because they focus much on product development and fail at marketing their products?
Early branding help you attract new investors and build startup trust with early adopters. The above data suggests early branding is an important aspect for attracting investors and securing funding.
Startups like Dropbox launched with a basic logo and many others do the same. However, you need to ensure your branding is reliable and simple, this helps you attract more early product users. Let’s look at the third stage and that’s……
Discover: Standing out from ruthless competitors take time but with a unique positioning angle makes it more easier. Find out more here.
3/ Seed stage
The seed phase is about improving your product based on your user feedback got from your 1:1 interviews who signed up to use your product. This is where branding starts to gain more traction. You got that? Let’s move on..
Your early users are interacting with your initial product, and their perception of the brand can influence its future success. Now creating your brand story and identity becomes an important aspect.
How? You need to start drafting your story how your idea came into play. The problems and challenges you passed through when developing your product. That’s all branding. You thought it’s what?
You also need to create a visual identity and messaging relating with your would-be customer’s pain points. Improving your initial product unique value proposition. At this stage you’re differentiating your startup from ruthless competitors and now building a loyal customer base.
Nielsen said, 59% of consumers prefer to buy new products from similar brands, showing the importance of brand recognition in customer acquisition.
The above shows the beauty of brand recognition in influencing customer buying decisions, suggesting your early investment in branding can lead to good positive returns. Now let’s get to our fourth stage and this is…
4/ Post Seed Stage
You’ve achieved your product market fit. Now your focus should shift to brand success and scaling. This stage is for expanding market reach and solidifying your brand presence. Think of your go-to market. Coming up with lead list and qualifying them. You go that?
At this stage, you can think of developing your brand guidelines, creating your brand voice, getting your unique positioning angle, and then maintaining consistency across all your touch points.
Forbes report states that brands are responsible for more than 20% of the market value of S&P 500 companies. As you scale, a well defined startup brand can attract new customers, retain existing ones, and enter into new markets.
Investing in branding during this stage can bring positive returns on investment in terms of building loyal customers and market share. Let’s look at the elements of branding for startups.
Discover: To help you get started on your branding journey, I’m offering you a FREE brand audit. Grab your chance today.
Elements of Branding for Startups
1/ Visual Identity
A startup visual identity includes its;
- A brand logo
- A brand color palette
- A brand typography
- And design aesthetic.
Maintaining the same appeal in your visual elements across all your touchpoints—such as the website, social media pages, and marketing materials— is needed but also being adaptable is required.
A solid visual identity will not only improve your brand recognition but also showcase your startup professionalism and reliability.
2/ Brand Messaging
Brand messaging comprises of;
- Mission statement
- Value proposition
- Vision statement
- Product unique selling point
- And overall communication style.
Creating a good and focused message helps your product to stand out and communicates what it offers to customers. Playing with authentic messaging builds brand trust and relates with your would be target customers.
Edelman found that 81% of consumers say they must be able to trust the brand to buy from them. For startups, being trustworthy at day one is so rewarding in building a loyal customer base. Let’s look at our third branding element….
Discover: Looking to avoid unnecessary branding mistakes with your startups? Check out this Chief.
3/ Customer Experience
Branding is beyond your visuals and messaging. It shifts to also customer experience. Uber did a great job here when starting. Having a good experience across all your interactions—whether online or offline—is needed.
A stand out brand fosters brand trust and loyalty. Turning YOUR customers into advocates to drive word-of-mouth referrals and repeat business for your business. All this is because of having a good customer experience.
Key elements needed here;
1/ Making your product to be user-friendly and meets customer needs.
2/ Offering good customer service to improve your brand perception.
3/ Maintaining brand consistency in all customer interactions, reinforcing brand identity, etc.
Examples of Startups and Their Branding Journey
Airbnb branding journey
Here I’m looking at the branding path of some startups. Let’s start with one of Airbnb. It focused on creating a user-friendly platform for booking accommodations.
As Airbnb grew, it allocated a 1/3 of its in branding and marketing to build now a global identity. Its rebranding activities included a new logo, a new voice, and brand message focusing on belonging and community.
Their focus on branding helped them stand out from ruthless competitors and build loyal customers. After rebranding in 2014, Airbnb its revenue grew from $500 million to $2.6 billion in 2017.
The above example showcases the impact of branding on a startup growth and success.
Slack market penetration
Slack began with a functional product which addressed workplace communication needs. As the platform got traction, it started investing in branding to create a stand out identity.
Their branding activities had a playful logo, a solid color palette relating to their solution, and a unique voice positioning them apart from traditional communication software businesses.
Focusing on branding helped Slack’s growth and fast customer adoption. Slack reached a valuation of $1 billion within 8 months after launch in 2014. All because of the power of branding.
Its branding helped to differentiate it from its competitors and achieving a quick market penetration. Let’s move to the best practices in branding startups. Shall we Chief?
Startup Branding Best Practices
Finding the right time to focus on branding is a balancing approach. Branding essentials—like a brand name, domain, a logo, and creating a starter website—should be done early to develop your startup foundation.
However, don’t over invest your funding in branding at your early stage, especially when you’ve limited resources and your product is changing.
Your seed stage is the time to start building your brand identity, while at post-seed stage investing in branding should resonate with your business growth.
Gartner said companies spend 10.5% of their revenue on marketing, with a portion of 10.5% attributed to branding activities. You also need to re-evaluate and improve your startup brand as the business changes you need to stay relevant in your market.
The above insight is a benchmark for how much you can invest in branding your startup in line with your budget.
Balancing approach
Balancing your branding activities with other things is also good. As said, much investment in branding at early stage can divert funding from critical areas such as product development and market research hence affecting the output of your solution.
Your core focus should be on getting a product-market fit. Once this is got, I mean getting people signing up on your waiting list, scaling your branding activities now becomes more important.
A good product with a startup brand creates a synergy that drives brand growth and success.
Startup Branding Conclusion
Branding is a business component of your startup path to success. While it may not be your core focus in the early stages, having its idea offers direction and avoids future challenges.
As your startup grows through other stages, investing part of your funding in a solid brand identity becomes important. A well defined startup will position you;
1/ From ruthless competitors
2/ Build brand trust with loyal customers
3/ Facilitate brand growth and future scaling.
You need to observe branding as a changing process. Focusing on your branding at right stages, you’re building a foundation for long-term success.
Startup Branding Offer
I’m offering you a Free Brand Audit today. I’ll review your current branding activities and offer insights to solidify your brand identity and current strategy if you have one in place. If you don’t have any strategy, I’ll be helping you to get one. Isn’t this something you want?
What’s included in this offer?
1/ Assessing your brand visual and verbal identity across your touchpoints.
2/ Comparing your brand with your competitors to identify opportunities for standing out.
3/ Knowing how your target customers perceive your brand and its messaging.
4/ Reviewing your current brand positioning angle if it aligns with your business objectives and messaging.
Why you take this offer?
1/ Discover areas where you’re lost in branding and learn how to address your issues.
2/ Receive recommendations to your business to improve your brand impact.
3/ Benefit from my branding expertise and experience of working with other startups and small businesses.
How can I get started?
1/ Click here to get started.
2/ Complete a brief questionnaire about your business and current branding activities.
3/ I’ll review your submission and schedule a free consultation to discuss the results of your brand audit. Let’s go Chief.
A determined soul who battled with self-doubt. Feeling trapped in rut race for 8 years, he struggled through careers and lost confidence.
On edges to give up for good. One day, he decided to show up and started on LinkedIn where he started studying FREE online courses plus making sales noise.
The above changed his life and now offering proper strategic guidance and direction with customized brand solutions to 2x clients and revenue growth to purposeful startups and small businesses.
