Nail It Before You Scale It

Or, why (a lot of) startups get their product right but their brand wrong.

Branding is a key component in launching a startup, but it’s an area that’s easily (and often) overlooked. And I get it; the goal of startups – as the name implies – is to go to market. Go live and start generating funds, either before seed funds dry up, or as to set a case for obtaining more investments.

What makes any company a startup is the willingness to move fast and furiously, and to leap ahead of a few steps that would appear to slow things down. So once a top line strategy is set, and a product feature is planned, a majority of startups tunnel-vision on getting it all launched.

For this new product they created, they list out the usual elements of a brand identity; a logo, a website design, maybe a box or possibly even a tone of voice or social media template kit. Not that I argue with the credibility of these particular resources. All are valid aspects that help make up a brand’s communication efforts.

But there is a problem. Is a brand not something more than a logo, a color palette, or a graphic system?

For one, a logo is not a story. It is a common request, or sometimes even expectation, when working on an brand for clients to want their logo to somehow explain their business, their purpose, their story. What the brand does, what it is, and who it wants to be. I think that is simply asking too much of something that is aimed to be as little as possible.

The purpose of a logo is to serve as a mark. A mark that can be instantly memorable and recognizable. And that can add to the story as a whole. For this reason, the most successful logos are short tracks to becoming icons, because they are easy to recognize and it is simple to remember them. They act both as anchors and as sparks. Nothing more than conversation starters or signatures to own that conversation.

So it is not the logo that makes branding.

Branding is a link between product and people. That link is what us-industry buffs call ‘experience’. So by extension, getting the essence of your branding right means bridging the spaces between company, its product or service and the customer. While it is certainly an old-school practice to start the brand inwards, and define what the company wishes it to be, today’s relevancy is found by understanding what the customer or user loves about the product or service. What drives them to engage should inspire the brand’s visual identity.

It’s only fair to call out that this is not a shortcoming that only startups display. It is the mistake incumbent and established brands make. Hence three out of four brand can disappear tomorrow and no one would care. Nothing is more frustrating then seeing the same mistakes made by those who set out to change the way of doing things. How can startups avoid the pitfall of falling short on brand experience design?

Start by assuming nothing. Startup entrepreneurs are so close to the product, they are essentially in love with their idea. And that is fine; all that energy, money and caffeine gets invested in creating what has their unwavering belief. I say let them channel their efforts in doing just that. But not when developing a brand awareness or experience. Because quite often they operate on the assumption that their target audience needs, wants and understands the product already. That the painpoints are understood, and expectations surpassed. There is simply nothing they cannot not know already.

What this results in, is that the wrong engagement is pushed forward, usually the rational why their creation is better then another's. “The world’s only”, or “Asia’s first”. Regardless of the brand and marketing looking shiny and on trend, the customer is not reflected, even ignored, and the brand experience will always suffer.

Launching a product or a brand on what is assumed to be ‘the reason of being’ is a risk that will undercut the potential to resonate with the target market. And it is that failure to connect with customers that causes startups to fail or fall miles short of the mark.

Today’s customer has one hell of a benchmark question for you; “So what?”. Attempts to launch a brand, product or service – or improve these – without a clear vision on how to evidence the So What answer will lead to developing and fine tuning stuff that no buyer or user cares about. I’ve seen my share of start ups run out of time and funding before they accepted what was ultimately missing: a branded experience.

Startups have the flexibility and agility to focus on what matters first; designing a brand experience before developing a brand identity or awareness. So that they can avoid spending years of marketing a product customers do not really care for. A logo or brand identity guideline system does not cover that up. In fact, until you get the brand experience design right, does a brand identity even matter? Is there a point in force feeding a market with information about a product they do not care about?

Begs the question; how do you design a branded experience? As hinted earlier; that is not done inwardly. Neither the founder, the marketing lead, nor the agency or designer that got hired to develop the brand’s identity are qualified to evaluate this. Because each will fall back on their own assumptions.

Brands are brought to life to connect with customers. To measure a brand experience, go meet and talk with real customers. That is where perception and value of your brand can be observed and documented. This is where the feedback is found that can help improve and calibrate a brand rapidly and accurately. Aka, startup-like.

Establish a customer-centric culture of brand development and marketing. Design your brand experience first. Nail it, before you can worry how to scale it.