Tag: startup branding

  • Brand Strategy Checklist for Building a Successful Brand

    We all realize how tough it is to start a company or a brand, but letting the rest of the world know about it and promoting it in a positive manner is much more challenging. With the industry being so crowded and competitive, you’ll need to develop a brand strategy so you can work accordingly and supply all of the tools you’ll need to expand your business.

    A well-thought-out brand strategy may be extremely effective and profitable to a company, but it takes time and effort. With your approach, you must be patient and logical, and you must trust the process. But the most difficult element is figuring out how to create a strong brand strategy and how to implement it in the business.

    So, first, let’s discuss what a brand strategy is and how it works, and then we’ll talk about how to create one later in the article.

    What is a Brand Strategy?
    Importance of Brand Strategy
    Brand Strategy Checklist

    What is a Brand Strategy?

    A brand strategy is a plan or collection of tactics devised and implemented by a company in order to project a positive image of the company to the customer base. Image matters a lot. When a customer buys your service, they will look into the brand’s reputation since it gives them confidence in the purchase they are making and ensures that the service or product provided by the business is of high quality.

    So to make your brand look more legitimate and have a positive image for the customers, you must have a good brand strategy to perfectly build your brand. Customers will form an impression of your brand as a result of this, and your brand will stand out in the competition.

    What is Brand Strategy and How to do it?

    Importance of Brand Strategy

    An effective brand strategy emphasizes your brand’s message while also promoting a positive picture of your company. It will be difficult to track your company’s development and set goals for the long run if you don’t have a brand plan in place. If you want your firm to expand consistently, having a solid brand strategy and plans to implement it can be really beneficial.

    Following are some benefits of Brand Strategy:

    1. When you have a proper brand strategy and you are following it strictly, then you do not have to worry about all the useless advice people will give you to grow your company or make a profit.

    2. As you now have a solid brand strategy, assist you in focusing only on the plan and strategies you have mapped out for your business. You will save a lot of time and money now that you have a strong plan and know what to do.

    3. You will see an increase in the number of clients if you have a clear strategy and plan in place to improve the company’s image and generate an appealing brand. Positive branding and a good reputation are known to attract new customers and keep existing customers coming back for additional purchases.


    Brand Archetypes Ultimate Guide: What is it, History, Examples, Purpose
    Brand Archetypes are a way of presenting a brand. Here’s its History, Types, Purpose, and Why brands should use Brand Archetypes.


    Brand Strategy Checklist

    A solid branding plan should help spread the word about your company. An effective brand strategy should make people aware of what you’re offering and that you provide the best service, at least better than your competitors. But the difficulty is how to construct one and which tactics should be used and which should be avoided.

    Following are some steps one can follow to make a successful brand strategy:

    Understand Your Business

    If you want to build a strong brand strategy, you must first understand your business, what you want to get out of it, and how you want people to perceive it. The most important thing is to be aware of your competitors. Know your staff and how they may contribute to the company’s and their own personal growth by working more efficiently.

    Set Realistic Goals

    Set Realistic Goals for building Branding Strategy
    Set Realistic Goals for building Branding Strategy

    When you’re starting a business and don’t have a lot of devoted consumers, you should create clear goals and numbers for yourself and your company, and try to make them reasonable, as setting realistic goals for yourself and your organization is the main challenge.

    Know What Your Business’s Major Offering Is

    One should have a clear understanding of what their company has to offer and devise strategies for getting the information out to the public. It will be the best opportunity to build a dedicated fanbase if the company has a core offering and the quality is guaranteed.

    Having a Solid Brand Strategy That Attracts Investors

    It raises the value of your brand and confirms the legitimacy of your company when you have a sound brand strategy and present it to investors in a clear and simple manner. So, if you want to attract investors and grow your firm, you’ll need a brand plan. Your investors may not take your goals and opinions seriously if you don’t have a brand strategy.

    Know about the Target Audience

    It’s possible that your business may suffer if you don’t know who will buy the service you’re selling or what their purchasing habits are. Work hard to understand your target audience so that you can create a strategy and marketing plan around them.

    Conclusion

    The success of a brand is determined by its effective brand strategy and expertise in the industry. If you don’t have a clear brand strategy in place, you may find yourself making hasty decisions. Know your brand and the message you want to send through it, as well as the primary service you’ll provide to your clients. Branding strategy aids in the development of a better image and general validity. This is advantageous if you want investors to approach you and invest in your company.

    FAQs

    Why is brand strategy important?

    An excellent brand strategy aids in the development of a great reputation. It establishes who you really are as a company and concentrates your long-term objectives.

    Who invented brand strategy?

    Neil H. McElroy’s memo at Procter & Gamble is credited with launching the contemporary field of brand management.

    Why do you need a brand strategy?

    Maintaining a regular brand strategy makes it easier to connect with its customers. The more constant your advertising is, the more probable it will be successful in attracting and keeping customers’ trust.

    What are the three main types of Branding?

    Three main types of brands are:

    • Company Branding
    • Product Branding
    • Personal Branding
  • How to build a strong branding strategy for your startup

    This Article is contributed by Vivek Singh, Co-founder & CEO of ThriveCo.

    The startup world is tough. Every minute you are going to be faced with challenges. The rapid highs and lows of the startup world would enthrall and overpower you sometimes. Branding becomes an important tool to ground you in these overwhelming times. As an entrepreneur, your priority should be identifying and projecting your brand image to your audience.

    Branding is the first step a startup takes towards success. Creating a recognizable and powerful brand image ensures that your customers stay loyal to you and you remain in the public consciousness.

    What is Branding?
    Why is Branding important?
    Do’s and Don’ts of Branding

    What is Branding?

    Lisa Gansky, co-founder and CEO of Global Network Navigator and Ofoto says, “A brand is a voice and a product is a souvenir.” Branding helps create a positive image of a company and its products in the minds of a customer. It is a deliberate attempt at value-based communication through mission statements, logos, and design. Your brand is what you present to the world.

    As an entrepreneur, you have to remember that your brand is an overall experience that people get from your product. There is a lot of visual and verbal communication that goes into branding. ThriveCo, a brand that invests in highly specialized and clinical skin and hair-care products, bases its branding on how they help the Indian skin and hair thrive with their scientifically accurate products. Their logos, mission statement, and design indicate their values as a company, the experience that they are going to provide their customers with and this is how they differentiate themselves from all the other companies out there in the market.

    Why is Branding important?

    The world recognizes you based on your branding. Branding helps you connect with the customer and exist in the minds of your audience. It helps create brand loyalty and get customers back by making an impression on them. Branding is extremely important, especially for startups, because it helps make your company more visible. A powerful brand image also helps draw in investors and stakeholders. You can show your customers what makes you unique through your branding. You can use your brand identity to highlight what makes you better than your competition.

    Brand identity is important for marketing relationships with your audience. A strong brand image also imbibes a sense of trust in the minds of the customer and gains their loyalty. One of the strong points of ThriveCo. is their commitment to making their products environment-friendly and non-toxic. This brand identity has helped them cater to customers looking for sustainable alternatives to traditional skin and hair-care products.

    There are a lot of ways you can express your brand identity. It can be physical with the help of signs, logos, designs, and identifiers. This is what your customer will think of first when they think of you. Then, you’d have to consider your brand personality and how the brand expresses itself to the world. ThriveCo. has made sure that their cutting-edge technology-based research and their transparency with their products will signify their commitment towards the safety of their consumers and the efficacy of their product.

    You should also look at the values and principles that your brand will promote. These values sync with your target audience and help draw out people with similar values. The relationship that your brand shares with the customer are also very important. Having a friendly relationship with the target audience will help maintain brand loyalty and increase customer satisfaction. ThriveCo. especially markets towards its customers by constantly getting and working towards their feedback. These mechanisms are very important to establish customer trust and loyalty.


    Brand Archetypes Ultimate Guide: What is it, History, Examples, Purpose
    Brand Archetypes are a way of presenting a brand. Here’s its History, Types, Purpose, and Why brands should use Brand Archetypes.


    Do’s and Don’ts of Branding

    While there are numerous challenges, the brand’s identity is what makes a start-up stronger. Needless to say, the brand is the heart and soul of any business, and developing an identity from scratch is difficult. It should be distinct from competitors and have an edge as well as a unique feature. Every brand, like every individual, requires a personality, and developing one is the first and most important checkbox when developing a strong brand.

    • Do have a unique value proposition. It is critical to have an interesting brand approach that extends beyond the realms of just business. Maintaining consistency aids in the development of a brand’s uniqueness, which aids in catching the attention and impacting potential customers.
    • Don’t have a product or service that fails to meet a certain virtue that your brand embodies and look for ways to incorporate that virtue into the product to create a cohesive branding approach. A critical factor around branding is developing a belief system around what the brand has to offer. It is critical to articulate the brand’s philosophy; demonstrate how the brand can improve the lives of those around you.
    • Do remember that a recognizable brand is a huge asset, so figuring out how to create one is critical. It is critical to use the right logo, a catchy name, and a set of colors that reflect the brand’s personality and messaging. While there are big names in the industry, having uniqueness throughout the brand’s products is critical. It is critical to figure out how to stand out. This will assist customers in perceiving the brand in the way that the brand owner desires.
    • Don’t rely on the “fix it later” strategy with branding. It will only lead to monotony and mediocrity for the brand. Long-term planning should be the goal. It is another important aspect of establishing a strong startup. Long-term planning, immediate action, quick solutions, and sincere effort are thus required to build a strong startup.
    • Do focus on refining your customer experience. You should constantly interact with your customers and establish a point of contact to maintain brand loyalty. This includes return policies, marketing, the in-store experience and discounts, and giveaways. The customer should feel like a priority and the customer should be the focus of your branding.
    • Don’t neglect your brand audits. Having a brand audit every 6 months is extremely important and will help you understand where you stand as a company. Brand audits are an evaluation of your brand’s position and perception in the market. You can perform brand audits to determine what your strengths and weaknesses are so that you can work on them.

    Branding Strategies of Successful Brands
    See a bottle with red and white, you know its coke, 2 minute noodles, you know what’s cooking, lots of colours in a “G” here’s the know-it-all Google, see a swoosh tick on a product, Nike is the name. Brands so iconic that they stand apart. Branding is