When we say Branding, we think of mega brands like BMW, Tesla, McDonald’s, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Rayban, and whatnot! Though these are some highly popular international brands, these all were small startups once and we are going to crack Branding For Small Businesses today!
If you come one step down and ask yourself, you always have a decided undecided preference for certain brands for everyday usage. Milk, bread, razors, spices, hair oil, etc. However, the most significant reason behind being a loyal customer of a particular brand is the quality of that product. Personally speaking, I always prefer Philips when I have to buy any electronic appliance because of their good quality and long life of products. I still am using an 11+ years hair dryer by Philips. But how did Philips spread their wings in the market in their initial days? That’s exactly what we are going to explore in this blog; Startup Branding!
5 Steps Branding For Small Businesses
I have worked on umpteen projects with innovative branding for small businesses and startups. I am familiar with the chaos any small business owner faces in the beginning: How will my brand look? What should I and my team convey as the brand’s pillar principles? What should be the tagline? What colors will suit my brand’s visual identity? And much more. Though startup branding is a long journey that needs every step to be taken carefully, in this blog I am going to try to put it in a simple way and in just 5 points. So let’s get started.
1. Startup Branding Needs Self Assessment
Have you ever tried a new brand’s products as some amazing features were highlighted on the packaging? Figure out what makes your business unique and what core values you want to convey through your branding. These will drive your messaging and visuals. For startups and small OEMs, having a solid differentiator from competitors is very important.
Startup Branding Example:
Canva is a design platform for non-designers. This was the brand identity it created when it was new! Their core brand message revolved around the extraordinary features of the online tool that Simplified Designing! Canva has been part of many branding for small businesses as it has always been an easy medium for creating aesthetic designs. They identified their Brand’s ‘Why’ i.e. the motto behind starting Canva. Today Canva is one of the most preferred online designing tools for non-designers and pro-designers!
2. Branding For Small Businesses Is All About Knowing The Audience:
In startup branding, first try to understand your own brand and then the audience that is going to use your brand’s products/services. Understanding your target customers is very important. Building a branding strategy that your target audience will understand and relate to is a crucial part. Especially when you are working on Startup Branding. Making people notice you and enquire about your services or purchase your products is a tough job and demands unique branding strategies.
For example, we are targeting a young college-going crowd from a metro city and our product is fashion accessories, we cannot settle for a decent & sophisticated brand appearance. It has to be vibrant, bright, lively, and bold!
3. Your Story Deserves A Hype
Every brand has a story to tell. It can be as simple as “we wanted to bring some innovative and fresh changes in the industry” to as detailed as “I was an introvert and have always faced challenges in making new friends and that’s why I built this introverts-friendly social media platform”!
Establish Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP):
It’s all about value addition. The reason why Uber, Zomato, Nike, and other giants are loved is because they add value to the customer experience. They give a solution that is ahead of time. Understand what value your product or service offers. Whether it’s top-notch customer service, ethically sourced materials, or an innovative product feature, your UVP should always be under the spotlight in your branding. Even if the value addition is somewhat similar to the competitors’ UVP, keep screaming! If you are adding value in a way no one is offering, you stand a chance to shine!
Emotions in Branding!
One thing every startup branding campaign must focus on is Emotions. Period. Let me explain this with an example. I always use this example to explain the importance of emotions in Branding.
Say a person named Vishal wishes to go from Location A to Location B. It usually takes 60-70 minutes to reach B from A. Vishal asks a cab service provider and he says I will send my latest top-end SUV and drop you to Location B in just 50 minutes. Vishal asks another cab service provider and he says he will send a small Hatchback and drop you to Location B in 70 minutes but he assures you a ‘safe’ ride. There is a good chance Vishal is going to choose 2nd cab service provider over the first one due to the word ‘Safe’! Now that’s the power of emotion. If you wish to dig deeper into emotions in branding, check out my blog- Emotions In Branding.
Content Is And Always Going To Be The King!
You have unique UVPs. You know your business idea is a definite success! You have excellent products/services. All this is like having a hammer without a nail if you don’t know how to turn your ‘concept’ into an appealing storyline. While branding for small businesses, we at Go To Clan make sure we have a story that holds people to the screen till it ends.
People remember people due to their touching/emotional/motivational/funny background stories. So write a good Brand Story. Let me quickly slip a million-dollar branding tip here- Make Your Consumer The Hero Of Your Brand Story. Nike wants ‘people’ to do it and not sports people to buy their shoes. Everybody’s fitness is their real desire.
4. Professional Designers Cannot Be Replaced
Loving those AI tools? Trying them out for your marketing and branding campaigns? Let me tell you a fun fact. A human mind (especially an intelligent mind) cannot be replaced by any AI tool. A professional Branding Agency understands the dos & don’ts of Startup Branding.
At Go To Clan, we brainstorm and ‘body-storm’ for the perfect results. Talking to the consumers, using the actual products/services, identifying market opportunities, and decrypting what the competitors are doing; all fall under Professional Startup Branding Campaigns.
If content is the King, then the brand’s visual identity is the Queen! Identify what is the centre point to which your entire brand identity revolves. Then design the brand visual language accordingly.
Colors Are Gamechangers!
Every color has some meaning. Red is for danger while it also represents energy. Instagram has used multiple colors in its logo as the nature of that social media platform is colorful! It encourages people to keep uploading a variety of content. Use the colors wisely. Not every time black is for classy and not every time purple represents royalness.
Logo & Tagline
Every entrepreneur wants the brand’s logo to stand out. What you must keep in mind is, the brand story we discussed in 3rd point, yeah that one, plays a big role in logo designing. Even if you are using your brand name in the logo, just the brand name, the font, the colors, the positioning of words, everything matters. Using round shapes & sharp shapes in the name-based logo says a lot about your brand’s personality. Will talk about this in detail some other day.
The long brand story, those big paragraphs of brand mission & vision, everything can be wrapped in 2-3 words. If at all you have a smart copywriter 😂
Again the same old examples; Just Do It | Because You’re Worth It | Fevicol Ka Jod | The Best Things Come To Those Who Wait… The list goes on.
Just Do It- Nike wants everyone to do something to be fit. It can be playing, dancing, running, walking, anything. They say you just do it and we are here to help you make that doing more comfortable!
Because You’re Worth It- L’Oréal knows that every person is beautiful and deserves all the good things to enhance that beauty. Cute isn’t it?
Fevicol Ka Jod- Thanks to the Legend Piyush Pandey, all Indians are very familiar with the line Fevicol Ka Jod. It is the unbreakable Jod that will not make the egg break or the kid run away 😂 IYKYK!! 😉
The Best Things Come To Those Who Wait- Many people complain that Heinz ketchup is way too thick and we have come out slowly. Heinz branding guy said hold my beer! Boom! One of the best taglines in branding history!
Branding for small businesses holds the potential to make a home in people’s hearts through a quirky-looking logo and a tagline that can be emotional, funny, triggering some memory or pain point, sarcastic, or anything but has to be strong.
5. Consistency Has No Other Option
I know you are thinking of McDonald’s. Though it is nowhere written that this is McDonald’s packaging, the colors, and the shape took you to the McD outlet in your imagination. That’s consistency. Everything McD does, TV commercials, online ads, social media, in-store branding, etc, maintains its consistency with its primary colors and the M symbol.
You must have seen many Pepsodent TV commercials. Some of you might have used it. The packaging uses primary colors Blue, White, and Red. If you notice their TV commercials, the models and actors in the commercials are wearing the same colored clothes. This is called ‘Brand Color Psychology’.
Starbucks uses Green and White. The brand commits to sustainability and environmental responsibility. The brand performs a lot of activities for environmental well-being. The color White represents calmness and cleanliness. If you visit any Starbucks cafe outlet, you will notice tidiness and a calm environment.
Consistency is not only related to colors and visual styles of your brand. Burger King is known to be the biggest rival of McDonald’s. Followers love seeing their witty posts and Burger King never fails to engage their followers with witty, funny, emotional, sentimental posts.
Source: https://twitter.com/BurgerKingUK
Conclusion
Branding for small businesses is an ongoing process that requires consistency, clarity, and commitment; the 3 Cs of Startup Branding. By understanding your audience, leveraging the right tools, and staying true to your brand’s values, small businesses can carve a niche for themselves in a competitive market. Remember, in the world of branding, authenticity and consistency are key. Contact Go To Clan for your startup’s branding!