5 steps for a start-up brand
Launching a new company is an exciting time for everyone involved. It’s tempting to try and save money and do a bit of DIY branding – we understand that – so here are five steps you should consider to get your new brand in the best possible place.
Step one
Employ Navig8 to do the job. Seriously, I'm assuming the new company directors have chosen to eschew the services of a professional branding agency, perhaps because of cost* and take the DIY approach, if not for every step, at least for some of them.
Step one is naming your new company. Be careful with the trend of ‘disemvoweling’ your name. It seldom works, Scribd works ok but abrdn (Aberdeen) not so much.
It’s tempting to follow the herd, but it is better to carve your own path.
The key thing is to future-proof your name. Be careful with choosing a restrictive name. What that means is a name that describes your business too closely because you may diversify in the future.
I use the example of Pimlico Plumbers in my book Know Your Onions: Corporate Identity as an example of a name that isn’t future-proofed. The company still suffers from the brand decision made back in 1979 to include Plumbers and to this day, despite dropping ‘plumbers’ from their name, most people refer to them as Pimlico Plumbers.
Step two
Be wary of straplines. A strapline can be a useful way of affirming what you do, ‘we make great biscuits’ or they can add personality to a brand in advertising channels, for instance, ‘Vorsprung Dutch Technik’. However, in most cases, they are used as a ‘prop’ to fill a void in a poorly executed brand. Google doesn't say ‘We search better’ do they? Avoid straplines if you can.
Step three
Define why you are truly different. As I mentioned above to avoid following the herd, it is an important premise to set your new company aside from the rest of the organisation in your market. Last week I had a conversation with a new estate agent looking to launch. I tried to tease out a USP from the director and all I heard was we do the same things as everyone else, but better. That may be the case, but a potential customer won’t know that until they have been through the experience of working with said organisation. So my new client does not have anything to offer to a potential new client.
Back in the 1980s Foxtons estate agent launched. They did (and do) all the things estate agents do, or did. But the ‘small’ things they did to disrupt the market – changed everything.
What did they do? They got the branding right, first off. Then they applied it to Minis, branding their fleet of cars so they looked cool when an agent turned up for viewing. Before that, a guy turned up in a Vauxhall Astra and shoes that curled up at the toe.
They opened during the weekend. Let’s face it, if you are going to view a new home, your free time is after work or on the weekends.
The last thing they did was change their space, the place where clients come to talk to estate agents.
Foxtons had sofas, coffee and rooms branded to reinforce the whole experience.
It may be old hat now, every estate agent has a branded Mini, but Foxtons changed everything and everyone copied them.
No matter what company you are launching, seek and find the things that set you apart from your competitors' position. Even a little change can have a huge effect.
Step four
Establish a language. When I say a language I mean a way of speaking about your offer and a way of speaking about what you do.
No matter the industry, avoid too many industry-specific terms, it could alienate any potential new customers who may not know the industry language like you do. The AI industry is rife with this sort of thing at the moment. An example is LLM or blockchain.
Be careful how you speak to your potential clients or investors, industry speak may be usual in your parlance but it may not be obvious for everyone else.
The second part of this ‘language’ conversation is to deploy a visual language. It’s as important, if not more so, than the written definition of how an organisation speaks to the market.
What does that look like?
With a new organisation, establishing a brand that is instantly recognisable, is not an easy job. It requires a very strong identity and a marketing push to get your brand even to begin to be recognised.
The logo is only the beginning of the visual story. We are not going to discuss the logo design process. We do that elsewhere. We are going to discuss the other elements that form the visual language. These include:
A font
A colour palette
A visual scheme.
Be careful when choosing a font or set of fonts for your company. I suggest you stick to two fonts. One usually reflects the logo font and is typically used for headlines. The second ‘complimentary’ font is best chosen from readily available fonts which do not require purchase. They have an unrestricted license. This makes it easy for anyone to use and be deployed on the company website. Make sure your chosen font is legible and flexible. A font with too much ‘personality’ that will be mainly used for body copy will not add to your brand, it will retract from it.
Step five
When choosing your colour palette, less is more. Some of the most recognisable brands just use one brand colour. Think EasyJet, Virgin or Barclays.
If you can’t limit to one colour, keep you palette to as few as colours as possible. For instance, one or two core colours and one or two accent colours.
A visual scheme can be many things: shapes, icons or visual effects. We discuss what a visual scheme is in a longer article.
Step six
What! There are six steps? No there are a lot more than six, but the next step you should consider is consistency. That’s for another article.
I hope that helps and good luck. If you need more than luck, you know where we are.