How To Become An Industry Leader (creative process series: part 6 of 6)
From Newbie To Top Dog
As a startup or new business, you’re likely familiar with the distinct struggles regarding financing, especially during the development phases. Investors are looking for the highest potential return on investment and why only a select few get the necessary funding to move forward. This is when selling your new product, service or idea becomes crucial to your success and why implementing strong branding can mean the difference between long-standing success and failure.
Below, I have outlined 10 tips to help pave the way for success in becoming an industry leader.
Solve An Actual Problem
In order to soar as an industry leader, you must ensure there is a real need for your solution. All too often, startup businesses develop products for the sake of creating something new, but the problem is no one really wants or needs it. Those who provide solutions to real-world pains are the ones that become leaders in their industry.
Commit To Success
The formation phase of a new business should include defining the company mission and vision with key milestones to achieve over a set period of time. This is the earliest point of a startup, upon when team members commit wholeheartedly to the business venture and sign shareholder agreement (SHA) contracts outlining each person’s responsibilities.
Invest in Brand Strategy From The Start
Don’t wait until there you’re having problems selling your product to invest in marketing. To maximize success with your high-growth business goals, develop a strong brand strategy to implement before the validation phase. Creating a brand is important for consistently communicating your company’s purpose with authority and authenticity to achieve credibility and long-standing success.
Provide Value To Target Customers
As your new business begins to lean out, you can begin to test the value of your product through a validation process whereby you’ll create a minimum viable product (MVP) to pitch your potential to a room full of investors and early adopters. Don’t cut corners in your presentation assuming they’ll see through the mess into the grand vision. This is where a strong brand strategy must come in to play.
Stand Apart From Competitors
Branding is all about creating meaning and making clear distinctions. The world’s strongest brands have demanded ownership over their distinctions so well to the point they often have a single word with which everyone associates them. If you had to narrow it down, what is your one word for which you will be known?
Surpass Other Solutions
Key performance indicators (KPI) can be determined through the validating process, helping to identify what works well. Focusing on KPIs to measure growth in users, customers and revenue will help scale your business to earn market traction and market share in fast-growing markets.
Attract Attention
Once you’ve successfully validated your product and proved there is a market need for your solution, you can hit the ground running from there to become well-known. Advertising your business is your ticket to becoming known by your target customers. Launch an online advertising campaign for the opportunity to come up in search results when consumers out there are surfing the web looking for what they need.
Earn Trust
You can’t just launch advertising and flail in the wind with it. Every bit of communication must be strategically formulated to relate back to your core values, mission and main purpose as a business. By being clear and consistent with your messaging, you will earn the trust of consumers.
Connect With Your Audience
Don’t just talk at your audience by sharing ads only. Implement social media marketing strategies to engage them. Provide opportunities for your consumers to start discussions, ask questions and bounce around feedback.
Become Sought-After By Many
The ultimate end goal of a brand campaign it to become wanted by people, and of course, sought-after by many. This can be achieved throughout the longevity of your brand. By establishing and upholding certain standards from the start, consumers will learn to associate your products and services with reliability and worthiness.
