You can notice that starting a brand is not a flowery path. Instead, you can guarantee that it will be full of changes and challenges that will make you doubt whether or not you can do it.
In such a case, you’ll need to find the best ways to make your brand unique and remarkable. Luckily, this article will guide you on how you can have creative branding for startups. Read ahead now to level up your business and make success possible!
10 Tips For Excellent Branding For Startups
Let us now introduce you to a few methods for successful branding. These steps are as follows:
1. Prioritize Your Brand
Establishing a brand will only work best when you focus on it. You cannot save the process for later and do it when only a little time is available. If you do that, you can expect everything to be flawed.
So, start your branding in your business’s early days. Allot enough time for it and encourage your team to share ideas. Besides, making a branding business plan is also a superb idea!
2. Identify Your Target Market
Branding a business has a purpose. What are your goals, and who are the customers you want to serve your products to?
If you’ve already created your business plan, it will be easier for you to determine your target audience. Nonetheless, you can consider a broader market and be inclusive of different identities to have more customers.
Moreover, you can also include journalists, influencers, or bloggers that may want to feature your brand in some content!Â
3. Determine What Influences Your Brand
Your brand will greatly reflect its personality and values. For instance, how you do business and how your team behaves affect the brand as a whole.
If your staff members fail to treat the customers right, these clients will think of your brand negatively. Accordingly, 65% of individuals say the company’s actions, beliefs, words, and actions influence buying decisions.
Hence, you must be careful of what you stand for and how you act. Otherwise, it will continue to change your brand’s image over time.Â
4. Choose The Best Name
Formulating a name is another thing you must carefully decide on when establishing a brand. It will determine how your customers will know your product and services.
In this case, think of possible names that can be meaningful or easy to understand. The terms must be simple, so you won’t need to explain how it makes sense to the customers. Also, ensure that it does not violate other countries and cultures.
5. Create A Moodboard
Mood boards are valuable resources when organizing a brand’s inspiration. Making one will help you produce a style that meets your brand’s purpose and nature.
Aside from that, they are a step toward creating the brand’s logos and designs. So, you can make a board on Pinterest and search for images using keywords related to your brand’s voice.Â
You can then hand the mood board to your digital marketing agency for startups so they can understand your brand’s goals better and easier!
6. Choose Your Colors
Brands have colors that make customers remember them only by looking at such palettes. In a research in 2019, 78% of people recall the colors more than their brand names.
Yet, this matter differs from some ‘your favorite color thing’ you can recklessly pick from the color wheel.
In this case, you’ll have to look at your mood boards because they usually tell you the colors appropriate for your brand. If you find lots of green shades on them, it is safe to say that these can be your brand’s representative color!Â
7. Select A Typography
Choosing appropriate fonts is also necessary aside from selecting colors. Nonetheless, while there are thousands of possible typographies online, picking one that reflects the brand’s voice, personality, and function can take some time. Hence, here are some tips you can consider:
- Use easy-to-read rounded fonts for friendly and cute brands
- Choose bold, condensed ones for a confident brand voice
- Pick more than one font style because you may need them for headings and paragraphs
8. Design A Logo
After creating a mood board and choosing colors and typographies, it’s time to design your brand’s logo. It must incorporate your brand’s voice and blend with the mood board.
If you need help designing, ask your startup marketing agency to make one for your brand!
9. Make Yourself Unique From Competitors
If you’re opening a coffee brand, you’ll notice that hundreds of businesses already offer the same product. But that does not discourage you.Â
Instead, study your competitors to identify their gaps and know what you need in yours to be better than them. You can also think of strategies that will make your brand more unique.
10. Formulate A Marketing Strategy Connected To Your Brand
Establishing a brand also come with learning digital marketing for startups. Here, you’ll have to align the brand and marketing strategies together.
You can think of different marketing channels, such as emails, websites, social media platforms, content marketing, and speeches. Then, select a few that will express your brand perfectly.Â
How To Make Branding For Startups
There are several ways to start a brand. These methods include hiring marketing agencies for startups, employing a freelancer, and doing everything on your own.Â
You can continue reading below to know them more!
1. Hiring A Startup Branding Agency
You can hire a startup branding agency to make your mood board, select colors and typographies, and design a logo. You can also ask for marketing strategies that will work perfectly. Nevertheless, this method can be more expensive because you have to pay the agency.
2. Do-It-Yourself
If you want to save some pennies, you can accomplish everything with your team and without the help of any agency. In this case, you’ll have to decide on the designs, marketing tactics, and the establishment of the brand as a whole.
3. Hiring A Freelancer
Employing a freelancer is a reliable yet cheaper alternative than hiring an agency. Here, you can have branding consultants to assist you in brand positioning. Web developers can work on your website, while graphic designers can focus on the logos and visuals.
Why Is Branding For Startups Necessary?
Branding is crucial for strengthening customer loyalty. It helps your business become more visible to prospective clients, partners, and investors. Also, it establishes authority and credibility in the market.
Moreover, customers will likely trust and buy from you if your brand becomes known for its quality and personality. So, successful branding for startups will also put success within reach.
Startup Branding Do’s and Don’ts
DOs:
Define your brand’s purpose: Clearly articulate the purpose and values of your brand. This will guide your branding decisions and help establish a strong brand identity.
Conduct market research: Understand your target audience, their preferences, and what they expect from a brand in your industry. Use this information to tailor your branding strategy accordingly.
Create a unique brand identity: Develop a visual identity that is distinctive and memorable. Design a logo, choose a color palette, and select fonts that align with your brand’s personality and resonate with your target audience.
Craft a compelling tagline or mission statement: Develop a concise and impactful tagline or mission statement that encapsulates your brand’s essence and communicates its unique value proposition.
Consistency across channels: Ensure that your branding elements, such as logo, colors, and messaging, are consistently applied across all channels, including your website, social media profiles, marketing materials, and packaging. This consistency builds brand recognition and trust.
Establish an emotional connection: Build an emotional connection with your target audience by evoking positive emotions and aligning your brand with their aspirations, values, and lifestyle. This emotional bond can foster loyalty and advocacy.
Engage with your audience: Actively engage with your audience through social media, email marketing, events, and other channels. Encourage feedback, respond to inquiries, and create personalized experiences to strengthen the connection between your brand and its customers.
DON’Ts:
Neglect your brand strategy: Avoid haphazard branding decisions without a clear strategy in mind. A well-defined brand strategy helps guide your actions and ensures consistency across all touchpoints.
Rely solely on trends: While it’s important to stay relevant, don’t blindly follow design trends or mimic successful brands. Instead, focus on creating a timeless and authentic brand that reflects your unique identity.
Overcomplicate your messaging: Keep your messaging clear, concise, and easily understandable. Avoid using jargon or convoluted language that may confuse or alienate your audience.
Ignore feedback and data: Embrace feedback from customers, monitor data, and track key performance indicators related to your brand. This information can help you refine and improve your branding efforts over time.
Underestimate the power of storytelling: Stories have the ability to captivate and connect with people on an emotional level. Incorporate storytelling into your branding to create a deeper engagement with your audience.
Disregard brand evolution: As your startup grows and evolves, your brand may need to adapt as well. Don’t be afraid to revisit and refine your branding strategy to ensure it remains aligned with your business objectives and target market.
Rush the process: Building a strong brand takes time and careful consideration. Avoid rushing through the branding process and instead invest the necessary effort to create a compelling and cohesive brand experience.
By following these additional do’s and don’ts, you can enhance your startup branding efforts and establish a strong and impactful brand that resonates with your target audience.
Final Thoughts
Indeed, branding for startups takes a lot of work. You can face failures and disappointments along the way. Yet, that does not hinder you from being successful in it.
With enough creative ways and strategies, there is nothing impossible in startup branding. You only need to trust your team or be with a digital branding agency to make your brand exceptional!
Branding For Startups: FAQs
Here are a few questions frequently asked by people to help you learn more about branding for startups!Â
1. What Is Branding For Startups?
Branding is a marketing strategy for startups. It aims to make people identify a brand and experience their products. Also, it allows a brand to make itself more visible, driving consumers to choose them over its competitors.
2. What Are The Steps For Startup Branding?
You can initiate startup branding by setting goals, writing your story, preparing a background, and designing your visual identity. Nonetheless, ensure everything is consistent with your brand’s values and mission.Â
3. What Branding Do Startups Need?
Businesses that have only started a brand need to reflect their values and mission. They must have a logo, typography, color palette, and design that expresses their brand’s identity. Furthermore, the brand must be consistent across all marketing channels to strengthen customers’ trust.
If you need help with this, you can hire a marketing agency for startups to assist you!
Waqar Hussain is the founder of The Business Goals. He writes about entrepreneurial strategies and is an SEO consultant by profession. He is a B.Com, GDM, and an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business.
