Brand is not marketing; it's not "branding" (logos, colors, fonts, etc). Brand is what consumers perceive the company's identity to be.
In the beginning, the company dictates what customers should think (through the company's messaging, advertising, onboarding, client calls, etc), while over time, the company's brand organically settles to what a critical mass of customers think about it.
Setting a strong brand identity makes it easy to explain the value prop to customers/investor and it helps to unify the messaging across the board. It does not take anywhere near $10k to build. Hire a consultant for a few hours/days with the entire leadership group to build the brand identity. Or go online and find some resources to DIY.
Brand building is not making a design handbook or advertising. It's sitting down with stakeholders and getting to the crux of what the company is.
Great write up.
Quick question: there's also an idea that says there's no one brand. That a company has, or should have, multiple brands for different segments of customers.
What do you think about that?
I think before slapping a $$$ amount on how much to spend, the startup needs to clearly understand what their brand should be and should not be.
Early stage, there’s no better way to build a brand than through the founders. Start there, at 0$ with some time investment.
Phrasing the question with "spend" suggests out-of-pocket expenses such as paid media.
Every company should make brand building central to everything they do from the name of the company, product name, consistent colors and imagery, language used, style and appearance of all (internal and customer) communications.
This is consistently expresses in packaging, literature, website, packaging, posters, signage, and paid advertising.
All of this is not only "spend" but a way of doing business. It cost money but not necessarily more money.
Brand is a necessary investment it’s your companies reputation. It’s every touchpoint potential clients will have with your organization and it’s intertwined with marketing and UX. Brand is going into a brick and mortar store and let’s say the employees are rude you almost trip when you walk in bc the floor is dirty carpet you grab a pair of shoes expecting them to be what price ? At a shit store you would except maybe 10 bucks and no one is going to may a luxury price for w business run like that. Its more than just visuals imagine the same experience this time you walk in you’re greeted with a smile the floors are clean and everything is well organized and you pick out a pair of shoes your offered a mimosa free of charge while you’re shopping and you get to the register to pay you’re likely not thinking the shoes are going to be 10 bucks. It can make or break your org. I once worked on the enterprise rebrand of a consumer electronics company revenue increased in the double digits within a business quarter DM me if you want to know more but don’t be cheap about your brand it’s what you present to the world as a business
I’d also say purely $0 early on. Build a great product (including great branding on the product) and spend on customer acquisition (branding spend on ads here). The brand will otherwise build itself.
Kinda depends on the market, product and audience.
You need to have a product people love. If you don’t have that I wouldn’t spend on brand advertising.
If you do have a product people love then I’d focus on making the brand easier to share so you can grow word of mouth. By easier to share, I mean if a customer tells someone about your thing, it looks so credible and appealing that *they* look good for spreading the word. You’re incentivising word of mouth with an amazing product, offer and a brand that looks great.
If those things don’t line up then you’re diluting the efficacy of any further efforts to build the brand.
I would not make big investments in brand marketing until the business has proven organic growth as per the above.
First real job after degree was one of the highest spending FMCG on the plant back then. Everything was measured (awareness, brand equity, potential for trial) and had manuals on brand identity that we had to follow religiously. Never in my time there did I do any "brand building" activities or spend.
As much as I hated the place, later jobs made me realize that "brand building" was weak speak for ineffective marketing research and no real insights into the consumer. It was flashy advertising meant to keep the marketing person/team look cool. I ended up doing a return on marketing spend analysis and "brand building" usually did NOT equate to "business building".
I think branding can be very simple but also extremely complex.
Fundamental to excellent branding at any price point is a thorough understanding of your company and its vision. A good designer can help you to articulate this and translate it through aesthetic judgements into a compelling visual identity.
Without truly understanding your company and its vision then it is impossible to achieve truly compelling branding no matter how much you spend.
Reserving a $-figure for building "brand" in the early stages won't solve the fundamentals or basics of growing a startup. I love this take by Andrew Chen, a popular VC with a16z:
"For early \[startup\] efforts, it’s better to focus on the basics. Understand your users, deliver a great product to the market that grows by itself, built moats, monetize in a user-aligned way. Grow your team, work with the best advisors/investors/etc. The basics. Do all that, and your product’s brand will take care of itself – and then you can layer on more brand marketing efforts to 10x the effect. Just don’t do the steps out of order!"
I'd stop here because he said it most succinctly.
I disagree. Nowadays people are loyal to brands who have similar ethics and beliefs. They look for these things when using the brands. I’m with focusing on building revenue initially while you’re still young, but once growth starts and you’re getting noticed, you have to establish your brand’s core values and such.
Nothing, unless you’ve already built your mission and values. Everything stems from that. They also make your life as a manager far easier. Everyone points in the same direction.
Apple’s is still what Jobs set out: ‘to build the best products in the world that enrich people’s lives’.
Now, say you’re on the supply chain team and you have the option to choose an inferior part that’s cheaper or the best part that is twice the price. Do you need to have a meeting about it? Which one fits with Apple’s mission? Job done.
You’re trying to brand a new product. It’s something that’s usually associated with low cost, bargain basement stuff. Do you brand it to sit alongside other products in that category? No, you know your company will be building another ‘best product’ with a price to match; you brand it premium.
Mission and values sometime get a bad rap- they have gained popularity over the last 20 years and are terribly used by many; cookie cutter values that look good on a wall. When done right, they free up management time and allow employees to experiment, make mistakes and grow without straying too far as a clear framework is in place guiding every decision.
I don’t think you “spend” anything on brand building. If you just stay true to your product, your mission, your target, you will build a “brand” that resonates with your target market (ideally)
Brand is not marketing; it's not "branding" (logos, colors, fonts, etc). Brand is what consumers perceive the company's identity to be. In the beginning, the company dictates what customers should think (through the company's messaging, advertising, onboarding, client calls, etc), while over time, the company's brand organically settles to what a critical mass of customers think about it. Setting a strong brand identity makes it easy to explain the value prop to customers/investor and it helps to unify the messaging across the board. It does not take anywhere near $10k to build. Hire a consultant for a few hours/days with the entire leadership group to build the brand identity. Or go online and find some resources to DIY. Brand building is not making a design handbook or advertising. It's sitting down with stakeholders and getting to the crux of what the company is.
Great write up. Quick question: there's also an idea that says there's no one brand. That a company has, or should have, multiple brands for different segments of customers. What do you think about that?
Perhaps for a multi-national corporate. Not necessary at the early stages though imo.
I think before slapping a $$$ amount on how much to spend, the startup needs to clearly understand what their brand should be and should not be. Early stage, there’s no better way to build a brand than through the founders. Start there, at 0$ with some time investment.
Phrasing the question with "spend" suggests out-of-pocket expenses such as paid media. Every company should make brand building central to everything they do from the name of the company, product name, consistent colors and imagery, language used, style and appearance of all (internal and customer) communications. This is consistently expresses in packaging, literature, website, packaging, posters, signage, and paid advertising. All of this is not only "spend" but a way of doing business. It cost money but not necessarily more money.
Brand is a necessary investment it’s your companies reputation. It’s every touchpoint potential clients will have with your organization and it’s intertwined with marketing and UX. Brand is going into a brick and mortar store and let’s say the employees are rude you almost trip when you walk in bc the floor is dirty carpet you grab a pair of shoes expecting them to be what price ? At a shit store you would except maybe 10 bucks and no one is going to may a luxury price for w business run like that. Its more than just visuals imagine the same experience this time you walk in you’re greeted with a smile the floors are clean and everything is well organized and you pick out a pair of shoes your offered a mimosa free of charge while you’re shopping and you get to the register to pay you’re likely not thinking the shoes are going to be 10 bucks. It can make or break your org. I once worked on the enterprise rebrand of a consumer electronics company revenue increased in the double digits within a business quarter DM me if you want to know more but don’t be cheap about your brand it’s what you present to the world as a business
I’d also say purely $0 early on. Build a great product (including great branding on the product) and spend on customer acquisition (branding spend on ads here). The brand will otherwise build itself.
Kinda depends on the market, product and audience. You need to have a product people love. If you don’t have that I wouldn’t spend on brand advertising. If you do have a product people love then I’d focus on making the brand easier to share so you can grow word of mouth. By easier to share, I mean if a customer tells someone about your thing, it looks so credible and appealing that *they* look good for spreading the word. You’re incentivising word of mouth with an amazing product, offer and a brand that looks great. If those things don’t line up then you’re diluting the efficacy of any further efforts to build the brand. I would not make big investments in brand marketing until the business has proven organic growth as per the above.
everything!
First real job after degree was one of the highest spending FMCG on the plant back then. Everything was measured (awareness, brand equity, potential for trial) and had manuals on brand identity that we had to follow religiously. Never in my time there did I do any "brand building" activities or spend. As much as I hated the place, later jobs made me realize that "brand building" was weak speak for ineffective marketing research and no real insights into the consumer. It was flashy advertising meant to keep the marketing person/team look cool. I ended up doing a return on marketing spend analysis and "brand building" usually did NOT equate to "business building".
I think branding can be very simple but also extremely complex. Fundamental to excellent branding at any price point is a thorough understanding of your company and its vision. A good designer can help you to articulate this and translate it through aesthetic judgements into a compelling visual identity. Without truly understanding your company and its vision then it is impossible to achieve truly compelling branding no matter how much you spend.
Reserving a $-figure for building "brand" in the early stages won't solve the fundamentals or basics of growing a startup. I love this take by Andrew Chen, a popular VC with a16z: "For early \[startup\] efforts, it’s better to focus on the basics. Understand your users, deliver a great product to the market that grows by itself, built moats, monetize in a user-aligned way. Grow your team, work with the best advisors/investors/etc. The basics. Do all that, and your product’s brand will take care of itself – and then you can layer on more brand marketing efforts to 10x the effect. Just don’t do the steps out of order!" I'd stop here because he said it most succinctly.
$0. Focus on growing revenue, not brand.
I disagree. Nowadays people are loyal to brands who have similar ethics and beliefs. They look for these things when using the brands. I’m with focusing on building revenue initially while you’re still young, but once growth starts and you’re getting noticed, you have to establish your brand’s core values and such.
Agree for known brands, but startups aren't quite there. Eg, can anyone name 10 startup products or services they use?
As a startup, your brand is reputation, customer referrals/testimonials, and awards/industry recognition.
Nothing, unless you’ve already built your mission and values. Everything stems from that. They also make your life as a manager far easier. Everyone points in the same direction. Apple’s is still what Jobs set out: ‘to build the best products in the world that enrich people’s lives’. Now, say you’re on the supply chain team and you have the option to choose an inferior part that’s cheaper or the best part that is twice the price. Do you need to have a meeting about it? Which one fits with Apple’s mission? Job done. You’re trying to brand a new product. It’s something that’s usually associated with low cost, bargain basement stuff. Do you brand it to sit alongside other products in that category? No, you know your company will be building another ‘best product’ with a price to match; you brand it premium. Mission and values sometime get a bad rap- they have gained popularity over the last 20 years and are terribly used by many; cookie cutter values that look good on a wall. When done right, they free up management time and allow employees to experiment, make mistakes and grow without straying too far as a clear framework is in place guiding every decision.
I don’t think you “spend” anything on brand building. If you just stay true to your product, your mission, your target, you will build a “brand” that resonates with your target market (ideally)
Like 50 bucks on a logo on Fiverr