Is brand important for growth?

This week I did a Keynote exploring the question: In an era of abundance for B2b , Tech and AI startups, is brand important for growth? I thought it might be useful to share some of the key points in a blog post, so here it is.

Let’s start by defining what a brand is.

Do you think of a logo, colours, design assets etc? Most people do.

While this is an important part of a brand - the brand identity - it’s the design aspect, what people call the ‘branding’. It's not the full articulation of a brand, and without understanding fully what the potential of brand is, it can easily be pushed aside and seen as a secondary requirement in terms of budget allocation.

I’m sure you’ve heard founders or COOs having conversations about their branding saying

“Yeah we’ll sort that out properly later, just get a logo and a website live” or “We’re a B2B fintech company, we just need a colour to work with, how about blue? That’s finance-like isn’t it?”.

Are founders missing a trick here? Would they say the same thing about sales? No, of course they wouldn’t, because they understand that sales are crucial to any business.

But sales is just ‘messaging’ and ‘messaging’ is a key part of the brand piece. So, if you’re doing sales, then you are effectively doing brand. In which case, I imagine you want to make sure you’re doing it properly and getting the benefits of doing it well.

Let’s look at a definition of what a brand is, I like this one as it’s short and sweet:

It’s an identity and story of a company that makes it stand out from competitors.

And in an era of abundance. I think this is something that all start-ups and investors are looking to do.

One of my favourite ad agencies, Wieden+Kennedy created the slogan ‘Just do it’ in 1987 to accompany Nike’s first major TV Ad campaign, which included ads for running, basketball and walking. Each spot was developed by a different creative team and was markedly different from the others.

In reviewing the work the night before the client presentation, Dan Wieden, the creative director felt that they needed a tagline to give some unity to it, one that spoke to the hardest hardcore athletes as well as those taking up a morning walk.

Legend has it that the inspiration for this iconic tagline, came from him having recently watched a documentary on a convicted murderer in Utah, Gary Gilmore. Who, facing a firing squad in his last moments, said: "Let's do it."

Little did he know the impact and longevity that this one liner would have for Nike. You can view the very first Nike Just Do It commercial here featuring the marvellous Walt on YouTube here.

Why is this tagline so powerful? It means something to people. It hits them emotionally. It motivates people who have little or no connection to sports. It propelled Nike to be a dominant player in the market, and it became an iconic lifestyle brand.

Coming back to our definition, it is the ‘story’ part where the creative game-changing stuff happens, and to do this you need to take the time to create a solid brand strategy. How do you get to a brand ‘story’ like Nike has? The short answer is: It takes some work.

In 2024 it’s easier than ever to get some design assets together from a freelance designer (and I am not here to bash designers - I have worked with some hugely talented people) on Upwork or through an AI. I see a lot of early-stage start-ups skipping the strategy phase and going straight to a logo, and a colour palette and then applying these to their website, thinking "Right that's brand sorted. Job done".

But this is not a full brand, it’s just the design aspect.

What’s the difference between ‘design assets’ and creating a ‘unique and own-able’ brand? The answer is: brand strategy.

When you start with a brand strategy session, this needs all the key stakeholders to be present and it requires a more informed design immersion with design territories, before you work up the brand identity and apply it.

With a brand strategy you also create a brand expression and evolve the messaging stemming from the brand purpose and audience insight, perfecting your product-market fit. This can lead to game-changing creative advertising campaigns and help you to grow faster than your competition.

Brand strategy can help start-ups to win market share and investment and it helps investors achieve ROI on their portfolio. How?

1.???? A brand strategy crystallises your purpose.

It asks what might seem like the simplest set of questions ever, and yet it is the most overlooked area of creating a brand, sometimes ignored, sometimes outsourced, and sometimes left in the hands of a junior marketing assistant.

But it is crucial. If you are a founder, CEO, chairman or Director of a start-up, then this is a conversation you need to be in. It will single-handedly change your business. The questions you need to ask are:

What problem are we solving?

Why do we do what we do?

What do we stand for?

Who do we do it for?

What makes us different?

2.???? It gives you a clear positioning.

Carving out your place in the market and providing defensibility as you grow.

3.???? It’s your ‘North Star’ for decision-making.

It stops you from doing stuff that isn’t right for your business, helping to shape your growth in line with your vision and your values. It helps you attract the right investors and the best talent. We all know that people are your biggest asset and what do we know about the best people out there?

They can do whatever they like, everyone wants them. It’s the same with investors, in a sea of AI start-ups, it’s the marginal gains that make the difference - how do you make your company stand out and look better than the competition?

4.???? It gives you a consistent look

Whether you’re looking to impress investors or acquire new customers, a consistent brand makes you look professional and helps with brand recognition and single-minded messaging. Less than 10% of B2B businesses say they have consistent branding, so you can get one step ahead of the competition by sorting out your brand comms.

5.????It gives you a ‘messaging matrix’

This is one of the most important pieces to build the foundation of your sales and marketing efforts. It is a simple grid outlining who your audiences are, and why they should care about your brand and your products/services. It can be used by your sales and marketing teams across every acquisition and retention campaign they create.

How is your company relevant to the problem the audience is facing? If you understand what this segment of the population is really struggling with then you can tell a story that reflects how well you understand that, and that’s the game changer for brands that become super successful – you’re no longer just selling a product.

It gives you a clarity and simplicity across sales, marketing and investor messaging. If you understand how to talk about your business in a way that is relevant to specific people and it resonates e.g.: "We’re a new fintech start-up, we make it easy for x customers to do x in x situation".

6.???? It’s the springboard for creative ideas.

This is something I feel hugely passionate about. With Tech and AI becoming more competitive each day, having a distinctive brand is essential to stand out and build content and meaningful engagement, whether you are in B2C or B2B.

When you are clear on your brand mission, tone of voice, what sets you apart and the message you want to convey - then you can conceptualise a creative campaign idea to use across all your brand communications and cut through the noise.

It takes you from a product sell to creativity – which can move the dial for growth in an exponential way that defies logic. Creating customer affinity and loyalty which can improve retention rates and protect pricing wars with competitors etc.

7.???? It can solve sales and revenue issues and drive growth.

We can use data from an ad campaign and go back to our brand strategy to figure out some ideas to solve problems across low CTR, CVR or the need to increase average order value etc.

In my opinion brand strategy is the key to unlocking your true potential and differentiating in a sea of tech, AI and B2B start-ups. Good luck with it, and if you need any help, feel free to set up a quick intro call with me on Calendy.

I am also looking to run an online webinar with the full keynote presentation from the Cap Circle Wholesale Investor event + downloadable how-to-guides, so if you're interested please email [email protected] and we'll send through the details.