Want to stand out? These branding tips for startups will help you find your mojo
November 7, 2022
From deciding what coworking space your business will thrive in, to choosing what songs to add to your new ‘We’re The Coolest Startup Ever’ playlist, things can get pretty hectic pretty fast as a startup founder. Having enough energy to focus on things like branding can sadly slither to the bottom (and sometimes right off) your list.
For a lot of startups, getting their branding sorted can transform their business from potentially diving to definitely thriving in just a few weeks. When your branding is on point, you’ll feel it throughout your entire business. It’s like putting on a new pair of sneakers – they don’t just look good – you know they’re helping you sprint better, jog further and give every single step plenty of extra spring.
So, what is branding?
Ask some people what branding is, they’ll say, “choosing the right colours to represent my business” or, “uhm, like, having a logo and a good business name, I guess”.
They’re not half wrong (but they’re also half wrong). Branding includes choosing what colours will best represent your business and creating a logo that lets people know what you’re about at first glance. But branding is about so much more than that. It should give your brand direction and support. It should create traction. It will help you grow faster and differentiate you from your competitors. Sounds good? It is.
Attract the right kind of attention
To attract attention from the right people (investors with 💰) you need a strong, clear brand strategy and consistent branding. That means you need a concise, compelling pitch for those elevator situations. Actually, you want to impress whether you’re in an elevator or not.
A clear message won’t just be helpful in attracting investors – when your branding is on point, you’ll attract the right talent too. And that’ll help you grow faster. Put bluntly, low quality branding will likely get you a whole heap of low quality candidates, which will hinder your growth.
Do your people know what your value proposition is? Do they understand what your values are and how they align with your goals? It’s not just about how you appear to your external audience – when you create an effective brand strategy, it ensures your whole team is on the same page.
When’s the best time to do startup branding?
At Taylor & Grace, we think branding should be looked at from the very beginning of your startup journey. In other words, the best time to get your branding on track was approximately yesterday. Failing that, today will do.
To launch your startup, you will need a brand strategy to figure out your differentiation in the market, your purpose & mission statement and value proposition. To do this you need market research and testing. Taylor & Grace will work with you to do both qualitative and quantitative research to validate every branding choice you make.
Then, as your business grows and changes, so too should your branding. The nature of startups is that they grow and change quickly, so it’s important to review your branding strategy often. That’s why we help you create branding that has flexibility in mind. You don’t always have to know what changes are coming, but one thing’s for sure – change will come, so design with flexibility in mind.
What does startup branding involve?
To create customer-centric branding that you’re proud of, we recommend getting your founders all in one room, grabbing some snacks and plenty of coffee, and hitting up Taylor & Grace.
We’ll help you:
- Define the key statements that will drive your brand strategy and define the essence of the brand you want to build. These internal and external statements will guide your brand, culture and communications.
- Clearly communicate your brand purpose. Your why. Your reason to exist.
- Outline your brand vision, mission and Big, Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG).
- Craft a compelling Unique Customer Value Proposition (UCVP).
Stop winging it
Having consistent, remarkable and distinctive branding is crucial if you want to make a big, hairy, audacious splash (BHAS) in your industry. That means you’ll need to hire a brand designer rather than winging it in Canva. We also recommend staying at least 10km away from all business name generators. If your business name sounds like it comes out of a generator (PetFoodly, OatMilkly, iWater, Aircash, DataFlowy), ask us for help.
An expert branding team will help you get your brand out into the world with a schmick look backed up by testing and research and a clear direction that really blows your hair back (in a good way). Trust us, it works.
It all starts with a chat
Ready to see how Taylor & Grace can transform your brand?
