We all know that a strong brand is a key factor in business success.

Good branding is even more important for start-ups. Many Start-up have small marketing budgets which means their brand must work harder to grab a position in the mind of customers – unfortunately, many start-up leaders lose focus on the brand with so many roles to juggle.

To help start-ups keep their focus, I’ve put together my 12 rules of start-up branding. Print them off and read them every so often to keep your branding on track.

1. Be unique

A brands purpose is to position your business and differentiate you from your competition. You do this by being unique. Don’t follow everyone else – don’t run the same promotions, don’t sell exactly the same products – be different, be one of a kind.

2. Make a promise

Strong brands make a promise and deliver on it every time. What promise do you make? Make sure your promise provides a solution to your customers problems and live up to it.

3. Tell a brand story

So what’s your story? Why did you decide to open this business? Customers love to know your story and it helps them to connect with you. If you’ve come from a long line of bakers and just opened a bakery – tell people about it. It gives your brand personality and credibility – and best of all it attracts customers to your business.

4. Humanise the brand

I’m always amazed when start-up founders want to remain in the background and don’t want their image as part of the marketing of their business. I’ve got news for you – people want to see the person behind the brand. Have a professional photo taken of you and use it on your website and marketing materials. Customers are more likely to connect if they can see who they are dealing with.

5. Have a logo that symbolises the brand

Firstly, brands and logo’s are two separate things. You brand is a collection of perceptions people have about your brand and the logo is the symbol that represents your brand. You must make sure that your logo says what you want it to say about your brand. In most cases it is the first impression customers have of your business so you must get it right. Spend some money and get an experienced logo designer to create it. Don’t go cheap and nasty as it will just make your business look cheap.

6. Be consistent at all times

Do yourself a favour and write “Consistent impressions create successful brands” on a big piece of paper and stick it up in your office. The brand must look and act the same every time a customer comes into contact with it. This includes using the same logo and designs across all marketing materials for your business.

7. Protect the brand

I’m constantly amazed at how many start-ups don’t protect their brand. By protecting I mean registering the business name and logo as a trademark. Your brand is your most important asset and your trademark is your insurance. Would you build a house with insuring it? I didn’t think so. Registering your trademark prevents others from using your brand and ensures it remains an asset of yours as the business grows.

8. Monitor the brand

In this new marketing world of social media and “instant” communication, it’s more important than ever to monitor what people are saying about your brand. Years ago, you had to pay for expensive media monitoring, now we have more and more free tools that allow you to monitor what is said about your brand.

9. Keep the brand focussed

It is proven that brands maintain their strength when they are focussed. A common error made by some start-ups is trying to extend the brand too far. Know your brand, know what it represents and focus on it. Don’t try and be too clever.

10. Always be a brand manager

Building a brand requires long-term commitment from every employee regardless if you are a sole trader or a larger small business. The fact is everyone is responsible for the brand. Make sure that everyone who works in your business knows this and works with you to grow it.

11. Think about your ideal client

If you’re trying to reach everyone, you’ll end up appealing to no one. The more you narrow down your target audience, the easier it will be for you to establish branding that appeals to them.

In the Find Your Ideal Client workshop that I run with clients one-on-one and in my group programs, I ask my clients to build a picture of who their ideal client is, give them a name and an address, hobbies, dreams and struggles. This then informs their branding.

It’s not an easy exercise because it requires you to zero in on who you ideally want to work with and in what capacity. For businesses that have more than one target market, this can be a tricky process, but once they break through that barrier of trying to appeal to everyone, they start to come up with brilliant ideas for their branding and their marketing.

12. Your brand personality and story

Your unique story and brand personality is an important consideration. Branding is not a solo dance. You need to inject your motivations and personality into your brand so that you can present an authentic image to your ideal clients. If your brand personality matches your ideal client’s needs and preferences, you’ll find it easy to market your products and services. However, if you’re targeting the wrong people with the wrong branding, in the wrong way, you’ll struggle.

Where brand imagery and design comes in

Brand imagery and design is the by product of your brand personality and story, but a lot of businesses will come up with a name first and then try and fit the brand to the name, rather than the other way around. 

What does your branding say about you?

If your business is struggling, there could be many factors working against you, from gaps in your marketing system to poor customer service. Branding is just one of them, but it can impact on everything else you do.  Good design will be informed by your ideal client’s preferences, your personality and your story (your reasons for starting up, your motivations and your unique perspective).

About Musubi.

Musubi is a strategic brand agency and through a lens of Japanese design principles we create and design brands, workplace culture, workspaces and social environments.

We challenge established thinking and drive business and culture transformation. Seen through the lens of the inclusiveness, we identify, create, and implement a true point of differentiation.

We are an agency that consists of multidisciplinary team members across brand strategists, graphic designers, design thinkers, UX designers, workplace designers, architects, product designers, interior designers, and qualified financial project management that are dedicated to the highest levels of detail and creative expression and work to blend brand and human experience together to achieve better brands and stronger relationships.

Take the first step towards a powerful brand transformation and contact us today to unlock your brand's true potential. Partner with us for unbiased expertise, fresh perspectives, and optimised resource utilisation. Elevate your reputation, mitigate risks, and make informed decisions to position your organisation correctly.