“It’s Not You, It’s Them (your customer).”- Startup Brand Building 101

Marty Neumeier, renowned brand expert and author of The Brand Flip and The Brand Gap once said:

“Brand will become the single most important tool since the spreadsheet.”

In fact, the value of intangible value assets has gone up from 17% to 80% over the last 30 years (The Brand Flip).

…..

I couldn’t agree more with Marty’s research. In today’s reality, the power has shifted from companies to their customers. Customers now purchase based on meaning as a way to build identity and they do as part of communities of people with similar buying behaviour and characteristics . It is the “BRAND” with the largest community that wins in today’s crowded marketplace.

Yet, as Founders, we spend little time understanding our brand strategy and taking the appropriate steps to build it. The most common misteps Founders face are:

1. Assuming a brand is a logo (it’s not, “logos” is actually Greek for “word” and is uses mostly today to refer to a trademark, not brand),

2. Not testing a brand with customers as part of customer development,

3. Purchasing a URL and igniting the marcom engine before defining brand strategy and speaking the language of the customer,

4. Not understanding brand touch-points and how the brand flows through them (physical, mobile and online channels), and lastly

5. Confusing branding for marketing.

So, what the heck is a brand?

“A brand a person’s gut feeling about your product, service or company.”

Sounds a little vague, doesn’t it? A ‘gut feeling’, really, am I serious? Absolutely. It is built with the customer development insights through discovery and will become the foundation from which all marketing efforts are released. This leads me to the confusion founders have between branding and marketing. Let me help clarify:

a. Branding is a pull tactic. Marketing is a push tactic.

b. Branding is who you are. Marketing is what you do.

c. Branding is long-term. Marketing is short-term.

d. Branding creates value. Marketing extracts value.

e. Branding is strategic. Marketing is tactical.

f. Branding appeals to emotion. Marketing appeals to reason.

So, to being building your brand. Start thinking through these key elements:

1. Differentiation: how will your brand stand out from the crowd?

2. Brevity: how are you going to keep it short and memorable?

3. Appropriateness: how can you align with your product or service?

4. Easy spelling and pronunciation: Fhtyeleiowgontheic.com is not good!

5. Likeability: Would you share it with my friends? Does it evoke passion and likeability?

6. Protectability: Can it be easily trademarked and live cross-border?

Naturally, we don’t have all of the answers to above, but answering the above questions will greatly increase your chance of building a successful brand. I highly recommend reading and doing the exercises in ‘The Brand Flip . Remember, every “big” decision you make in your startup, should also consider: Will it help or hurt my startup’s brand? #startup #branding