Branding Tips for Startups

At the onset, every start-up owner is always excited about the possibilities that lay ahead for their start-up. Sometimes though, these owners have a rude awakening; when they are fast approaching business failure. Many times, the difference between a successful business and a failed one is the branding. Here are branding tips for start-ups:

1. Focus on the name: Brand names are very important. While you might want to create yours by playing on your names or those of your loved ones, a better alternative is taking your start-up’s core values and translating this into the name. Now, keep this name simple. The easier it is to remember and pronounce, the easier it is for customers to ask for it when making a product choice. On the flip side, if it is complicated, you would have to spend more to educate people on what it means and how it should be pronounced.
2. Don’t focus on only the logo: While having a beautiful logo is good, this alone isn’t enough. What you should focus on is having a brand identity system. This system is a long-term permanent marketing tool/guideline that dictates and sets the tone for your short-term marketing campaigns.
3. Know your brand’s purpose: Have a deep understanding of the value prop your startup offers. What problem your start-up is trying to solve or which customer job to be done is it making easier? Purpose will lead to a mission. Knowing this will help identify your target customers, create operating model, and a sustainable business model. 
4. Create a voice and a tone: A voice is your start-up’s verbal character while a tone is how this character adapts to speaking in specific scenarios to specific groups of people. Building an authentic brand attitude with a real voice and tone helps you engage better with your customers. People want to do business with brands that understand them and connect on deeper interests.

It’s much easier and cheaper to adopt good branding tips early on than to try to do this later when losses have already been made and/or opinions have already been formed about your start-up brand.
"Branding demands commitment; commitment to continual re-invention; striking chords with people to stir their emotions; and commitment to imagination. It is easy to be cynical about such things, much harder to be successful." – Sir Richard Branson