Brand strategy is the long-term plan for the development of the company’s branding in order to achieve specific business goals. For most startups, their priority would be to become visible in their target market and draw more public attention. Many people say that “Visibility creates opportunities”; it is crucial for startups to develop a practical and effective branding strategy to differentiate themselves, so the target market will know of their existence along with the willingness to try their products or services.
If you are running a startup, not like those well-known companies which people already have a memorable and affirmative brand impression with, you might want to begin your brand strategy with establishing a valuable brand image and try to differentiate your company with competitors. However, before you jump into the office to write down the strategies, here are some tips you should consider first for your startup.
1. Understanding Startups
To begin with, it is important to know yourself. You might think it is irrelevant to your business but the truth is that the better you know yourself, the higher the chances of success there will be. It’s now time to ask yourself: What is your expertise and specialty? What kind of company culture do you want to build? What is your reason or purpose for starting this company? Questions like these can help you stay focused on your business plan and more importantly when your story is shared, people will be more willing to trust your company because you are credible and knowledgeable.
2. Understand Your Customer
It is also important to understand your target customers. Do some research and find out if there are trending topics among your target customers and if there is a way that you could relate your products/services to that topic. Identify their biggest concerns, does your products/services can help them solve the problem or help them relief? Once you figure out these questions and have a clear understanding of your customers’ expectations, you will see that it is much easier for you to build up a specialized branding strategy.
3. Understand Your Product/Service
As a startup, no one will understand your products/services better than you. And before you rush to the market trying to sell it, it is better for you to truly understand what your product/service is. First would be the product/service description, you want to make sure every target customer will understand it easily and clearly. Then ask yourself, why would people need it? And most importantly, why would they purchase it from you, but not any other places. Uniqueness is one of the most important things a startup should try to achieve, otherwise, your products will soon be buried in the market.
4. Understand Your Competitor
As startups, you probably will enter into a battlefield full of competitors. As a strategist in ancient China once said, “Know yourself and know your enemy, you will win every war”. In order to stand out and make yourself seen by your target customers, you will want to know what are your competitors features and how you are different. You may also check some case studies to see how some of them did in the past, is there anything you can learn from or avoid.
Above are the four major components you should consider before developing your branding strategy. The goal is to put your company on a unique and valuable position through branding, and in this way, set your company apart from your competitors. And this can only be done when you have a comprehensive understanding of all the factors mentioned above.
Developing an effective branding strategy can be time-consuming, especially when you run a startup and do not have much experience. Here at Mad Mind Studios, we provide a free consultation about everything you need to know about branding. Feel free to contact us and get your branding strategy done by professionals!