Brand strategy for startups
How do we approach brand strategy for different organizational life-stages?
Doing brand strategy is not the same for every type of organization. There are different contexts, different sizes, different problems, and different ‘maturity’ levels' of an organization. In this article, we take a look at how to approach the different stages and what the difference is.
This article is also a podcast episode, if you rather sit back and listen, you can do that here:
What is the difference between a startup and a small business?
Startups and small businesses are not the same. A startup is a concept that was born out of the world of Silicon Valley like businesses. It’s associated with design thinking, lean startup methodology, break things, disruptive innovation, etc…
A small business is often also ‘starting out’, but not with the goal of ‘validating’ a new idea but with the idea of starting a business (obviously). It needs to have a different approach. It needs to get things right as much as possible, from the get-go.
The difference between startups and small business
A small business (e.g a restaurant) needs to be operational, needs to generate sales, and signal that it’s there to stay. That’s why brand strategy, branding, and marketing need to be as refined as possible for the number of resources available.
You don’t want to open a restaurant saying the food is ‘in beta’. That’s a completely different approach then startups trying to validate a rough idea or innovation. Here, the strategy is to build an ‘MVP’, a minimum viable product (or service). The brand is part of that MVP and thus needs to be developed in the same, lean mindset.
That means the brand strategy for a startup is a lot ‘quicker’ and dirtier. It’s based on assumptions. That also means branding and marketing efforts are aimed towards early adaptors. It needs to signal ‘we are a work in progress (if that is the case). So investing too much in branding or marketing or making it to refined can create a disconnect between how it looks and what it does.
It’s about risk and resources.
We can map out organizations on the ‘risk-maturity’ map.
The risk-maturity map.
As we can see, the lower the risk involved, the less we need to invest in brand strategy, and the less valuable it becomes for the organisation. The more risk involved, the more important validation becomes and the more we need to get it right from the get go.
Again, signalling is important here, a small business or big business both need to signal that they are here to stay by investing in branding and marketing. Startups are using branding and marketing as a way to ‘test’ things. The goal of a brand here is to get feedback, not to establisch it’s distinctiveness for the long run.
We can also divide this into a ‘resources-risk’ map.
The resources - risk map.
As you can see in the map above, we have for quadrants:
Top left: A lot of small business rests in this quadrant. The stakes are high but the resources are low. Here, you should focus on being pragmatic, focussing on the problem and helping the business on all levels. This is all about balancing the available resources and making sure you can get the branding right but also have money left to spend on marketing. Don’t go making a keynote presentation explaining every little detail or motive behind your thinking, use your resources to the maximum potential.
Bottom left: The startup space. A lot of startup ideas focussed on innovation and exploring new business models. Usually these startups have a long runway to experiment with some different variations of the idea (and brand). So go with the flow, be experimental. Build an MVB - Minimum viable brand.
Bottom right: There is money/time to be spent, but the risks aren’t all that high. This is fun place to experiment with new technology, tactics and get creative. Strategy still matters but it can be more iterative, based on assumptions. After all, the idea is to put something out there in the world and ‘see if it sticks’. A lot of creative agencies are in this space, creating experimental touchpoints (think ‘web-experiences) for big companies. A lot of these never see daylight but some of them can be really succesfull (similar to startups).
Top right: The stakes are high but the money is there to back it. With great power comes great responsability. Take your time, do the proper research and make sure you understand the problem. You’ll also have to get more people on board so taking the time to craft a narrative is valuable here.
The levels of strategy
As the maturity level and scale of an organisation evolve, the levels of strategy become more focussed, they get seperated, often get designated roles in management.
How the levels of strategy vary according to size and maturity of the organisation.
That means or role as a brand strategist is different in an organisation where brand strategy is clearly defined and seperated. It means you are going to get a clearer input from business strategy and understand what the expectations are concerning your specific role. It also means you will probably have to ‘stay in your lane’.
For small business or startups, it’s a lot more difuse. Your role can be really broad. Often being involved in product, brand, business, … That has it’s downsides and upsides. You can still create a lot of value but you are going to have to make your hands dirty and put on different caps.
Interestingly, some startups get out of the gates with a lot of maturity and resources, meaning they will have brand strategy, business strategy well defined. So don’t judge a startup by it’s cover. Often it’s actually a well validated idea by an entrepreneur that wants to take things to the next level, quickly.
In the end, brand strategy is about context. Realizing the ambitions, resources and amount of risk involved is crucial towards understanding the value and investment needed in brand strategy, branding and marketing.
This episode is supported by HolaBrief
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