Six Tips to Simplify and Strengthen Startup Branding
(PRWEB) January 28, 2014 -- Best friends: reliable, intuitive individuals with personalities that click perfectly. The same feelings often apply to favorite brands because the genius innovators behind them got into consumers’ heads, figured out what they really need and offer a clear, easy-to-use solution to the problem at hand. Thanks to this strategy, consumers trust solid brands and are eager to purchase, recommend to others and continue buying from the same company when new products and services are introduced. Obvious example: Apple.
So how does this apply to startups? In every way! Aveya Creative, DC's only boutique branding agency dedicated exclusively to entrepreneurs, sticks to this guiding concept for success: when it comes to branding, remember to keep it simple and sincere.
1. First things first ... No matter how innovative, the concept must be sellable in order to start building a brand around it. Even the most beautiful logo in the world is not worth the investment of time, effort and money if it’s for a useless product or service. Legendary branding goes well beyond visual identity. The concept driving the brand must provide a solution to a pain point or fill a gap in the target market, and offer a memorable experience to go along with it.
2. A brand is a special promise; it conveys the passion of its creator and represents the value to connect with consumers emotionally. Think of Johnson & Johnson baby products; parents trust this brand above many competitors because of the clear promise it offers to take care of their precious baby’s skin.
3. The brand must be simple to understand: any consumer, at least within the target audience, should be able to comprehend within seconds what the brand does and how its proposed solution is worth their time and money vis a vis the problem it solves. For example, Google is instantly synonymous with searching; when a someone needs to search for something, they “Google it.”
4. The product or service offered by the brand must be simple to use: the term “user-friendly” applies to more than just websites. If consumers cannot use something easily they’ll stop using (buying) it and - even worse - spread negative feedback that will keep the brand from gaining new customers. A limited number of features leads to a captivated audience. It is important to resist the temptation to bombard consumers with attributes. Focus!
5. Sincere communication is key; successful brands say what they do and do what they say. A brand makes promises to consumers; those promises must be kept or that brand will disappear. Basically, make sure the solution functions, is reliable, actually solves the problem it says it will, and that the branding aligns with these deliverable promises.
6. Sincere dedication means the brand will stick around for generations. Customer service is imperative - preferably in the form of real people answering phones, chats and emails, not bots. Representatives of the brand at every level (especially the customer facing employees) should be empowered to improve a customer’s situation on the spot without making them wait for a manager or get looped back into a dead-end conversation with that dreaded automated voice. Redbox is great at this: for any issue with a DVD rental, one can call their toll-free number and speak to a real person who gives a code for a free rental in seconds to make up for the inconvenience. Done and done.
Strong branding is key for the success of products and services across a variety of industries. It is the foundation that sets the course for all marketing activities. Social media and the proliferation of online platforms have made it a lot easier for consumers to connect with one another - that is, to share positive and negative word of mouth. Be sure to implement the tips above to ensure positive feedback all around for a successful top-of-mind brand.
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Aveya Creative is proud to be the only boutique branding and marketing agency in the nation's capital dedicated exclusively to entrepreneurs. Our mission is to transform ideas into top-of-mind brands. Core services include brand strategy, logo design, optimized copywriting, advertising creative, press releases and social media engagement. The team at Aveya Creative is proud to have developed branding and marketing for entrepreneurs in diverse industries across the United States, including prominent tech startups at incubators such as 1776 DC.
Mariya Bouraima, Aveya Creative, LLC, http://aveyacreative.com, +1 (202) 617-8647, [email protected]
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