When most entrepreneurs launch their startups, they are pressed with various other matters that they schedule branding for a later time. This often results in problems with marketing or product-market fit. Good brand development can easily mitigate these risks. So startups need to prioritize branding in their early developmental stages.
This blog tells you why brand development is necessary for startups and how you can work on your branding.
What is Brand Development?
Brand development involves taking measures to make the product and experience of a brand quickly recognizable for people so that they would select the brand’s products over its competitors’. It is done by working on the visual elements and marketing content of the firm so that those are easily identifiable as belonging to that firm.
A company’s brand has to be its genuine representation of who they are as a business, their values and missions, and how they want their prospects to perceive them.
6 Reasons Why Brand Development Is Necessary For Startups
1. Branding establishes a unique identity for your business
“Announcing that you aren’t just another company in the same business- but you are an entity of your own, helps.”
Brand development facilitates introducing your startup. It helps convey who you are and what you stand for. While communicating this, always be customer-centered. This helps create awareness among your consumers of the gaps your product fill and how it can be beneficial to them and lay a strong foundation for your new brand.
The personality you thus establish helps your prospects, venture capitalists, and investors to relate to you and follow you. This sets you apart from your competitors and also gains you, loyal customers.
2. Gains you a long-lasting place in the market
“Early branding of your startup early enables people to relate to you rightly from the very beginning.”
Branding is the first step you need to take towards becoming one of the most trusted and identifiable names in the industry. With an established brand name, you send the message that you are here to stay. So, incorporate professionally-designed visual elements to subconsciously make people trust in your commitment and dedication to them.
This might also increase the likelihood of investors trusting you. Wealthy shareholders become willing to fund you as they tend to judge you as worthy, secure, and reliable.
3. Instils feelings of trust and goodwill
“Establishing a one on one connection with your brand is necessary to sell”.
It is challenging to accumulate a loyal customer base, particularly when there is heavy competition in your niche. So, you need to connect with your target audience to persuade them to buy from you rather than your competitors.
You can build a relationship with your prospects via brand development. It helps promote feelings of goodwill and strong belief in your brand. People will find you more reliable than your counterparts. So, they’ll opt for your products even if they are a bit costlier than others.
4. Creates that aesthetic appeal and trend
“You need to create the buzz about your product to be noticed”.
When you ponder over all the companies that are trending today, you’ll find that they all have one thing in common, and that is outstanding branding. Two different firms dealing with the same product might be equivalent in product quality, but the one with the most noticeable branding will excel in sales.
So, you need to put due emphasis on your brand development. It brings your brand to light and enables people to recognize your existence. You become visible to your prospects, investors, and stakeholders.
5. Increases your customer base
“Branding generates new customers, returning customers, and loyal customers.”
Brand development helps your brand gain familiarity. Since people prefer being connected with and buying from a reliable and familiar firm than a less known brand, start-ups need to focus on their branding. People need to find your products and services trustworthy to fulfill their current needs. This will help them stick to you to continue getting their requirements met.
Further, happy customers will be glad to refer you to their friends, family, and colleagues. Your brand’s reputation will be boosted via word-of-mouth marketing.
6. Boosts employee morale and motivation
“Branding encourages your employees to work toward a common good.”
Brand development not only builds trust with your customers but also reinforces employee motivation and loyalty. A firm with a strong brand identity and working culture keep its employees happy. Studies say that people are happy to work for firms with good brand reputations and most of them wouldn’t join a firm with a bad reputation. Additionally, millennials like to work for a firm whose culture and social views align with their own.
So, make your brand identity and values evident to your employees via your mission and vision statement. This will encourage them to work toward a common good. Your mission statement should express your market, function, and competitive advantage. And, your vision statement should explain how you stand out from the competition and how your customers benefit from this.
Statistics That Convey the Importance of Brand Development
- 94% of people report that they’d be happy to recommend a brand to their circle if they feel emotionally connected with it.
- 94% of the world’s population recognizes the logo of Coca-Cola. So good is their branding.
- 86% of people favor an honest and authentic depiction of brand personality (Stackla, 2019).
- 81% of consumers report that they buy only from a brand they trust (Edelman, 2019).
- Using a signature color can boost brand recognition by 80% (Forbes).
- 77% of B2B marketers agree that branding is vital for a business’ growth.
- 64% of consumers would purchase from or abandon a brand owing to its position in a political or social issue (Edelman, 2019).
- 61% of consumers are more likely to purchase from firms that deliver unique content (Contently).
- 68% of men and 64% of women have felt an emotional association with a brand (Consumer Thermometer).
- Brand consistency across different marketing channels can boost revenue by up to 33% (Lucidpress,2019).
- It takes 5 to 7 impressions on an average for people to remember your brand (Pam Moore).
- Visitors take only 0.05 seconds to form an opinion about your website (8ways, 2019).
- According to 66% of consumers, one of the most appealing attributes of a brand is its transparency (Accenture Strategy, 2018).
- 73% of consumers mention customer experience as a crucial aspect in their buying decisions (PWC, 2018).
- 77% of consumers purchase from brands that have the same values as theirs (HavasGroup, 2019).
- 59% of shoppers will go for new products from a brand they trust (Invesp).
How to Work On Your Startup’s Brand Development?
- Memorable name: Your brand’s name is your first identity. Choose a memorable, easy, and relevant one. For, you get only 10 seconds to make the first impression.
- Visuals matter: Branding is a lot about visuals than text. So, create a professional guideline for your logo, colors, typography, images, etc. This will help develop your brand’s visual identity.
- Text matters: Come up with emotional guidelines for writing website copy, taglines, social media content, marketing campaigns, etc. Write to evoke emotion in your audience. This will help them remember things associated with your brand.
- Have a purpose: Make promises and keep them. This has an impact on the scores of customers. Define your purpose by asking this question- “What’s the special thing only you offer that your customers will lose out on if you didn’t exist?”
- Write a mission statement: Your mission statement should have your brand voice in place. Everything aspect of your business should link to your mission statement and convey your brand voice.
- Align your website with your brand identity: People check on your website before doing business with you. So, communicate your messaging and brand identity through your website. Employ a tone that reflects what you want your audience to connect with your brand.
- Social media presence: Today, a strong social media presence has become inevitable for brand development. Get on those platforms where you can find your target audience actively involved and create your company’s profile there.
- Consistency matters: Make sure that your brand’s visuals and voice and tone of messaging remain consistent across all your marketing collaterals like website, social media posts, brochures, business cards, advertisements, etc.
Wrapping up
A big mistake that startups tend to commit in their early developmental stages is leaving out on branding. While they work on other core business matters, they should remember that branding and advertising their startup are also incredibly vital to its overall success.
Effective brand development will help a firm stand out from the crowd, reinforce soundness within the firm’s mission, and motivate customer loyalty.
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