According to a study, 50% of the startups fail in their first five year.
But we are not talking about them. We are talking about 20% of the startups, that fail in the very first year. And you know why they fail? Now, this can be the reason for 50% of the startup too, but surely for the 20%.
They don’t take branding seriously.
Branding is one of the most important essentials in business, large or small. But how branding actually works and affects a small business like yours.
Let’s take a brief,
In simple words, your brand is a promise to your customers.
So, the first question that arises is, how to identify the theme of your brand?
Your brand is defined by four things :
- What is your company’s mission?
- What are the benefits and features of your product or service?
- What do your customers and prospects already think of your company?
- What qualities do you want your customers to associates with your company?
Once you figure out these four things, how will you present them to your customers?
This is where branding comes into work.
Let’s discuss some proven methods of branding and how they affect your business :
Create a visual idenity
A logo for example is something that gives you recognition. Your logo reminds the customer that you gave them the service and quality of work you promised to give them.
For example- when you see an apple logo what comes first in your mind?
It’s a premium quality, best experience, and luxury. And all these are the things that apple promise to provide, communicates through their visuals.
Integrate your brand
You can integrate your brand into every aspect of your business. Like, how you answer your business calls, it shows how professional you are. What your employees are wearing and what message they are giving to the customers, increase the experience of customers and builds trust.
For example- when you go for a coffee in Starbucks there are order takers who give suggestions for your order which is a very good thing to do to connect with the customer.
Create a voice/tone for your company that reflects your brand
A good voice should be applied to your written communication like website, advertisement, etc. it helps customers to connect with your company which results in making them permanent customers.
Be honest while branding
Don’t say something you can’t do or we can say don’t overhype your brand.
For example, if you are not the best in your field, then don’t say you are the best.
Honesty is the most valuable ingredient of customer experience.
So we can say that branding is the backbone of a business/startup. A good brand gets things like funding, investors, good employees, customers, etc very easily, but a local brand always struggles to get these things.
You must do branding, but do it great.