How important is brand?

[BeLucent]

Hi there,

I’m in the process of building a suite of tools to help startups define and build their brand. But I need help in understanding how important entrepreneurs think their brand is or isn’t and what challenges they’ve faced.

Could you fill out the poll and let me know why your brand is important to your business, how you went about defining and deciding on what your brand should stand for and what problems you had along the way.

Luke

 

[ethical PR]

Marketing Donut has useful blogs about start ups and branding and also free advice to help smaller businesses develop their brands.

http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/mar...e-branding-behaviour-of-high-growth-start-ups

 

[BeLucent]

Thanks for that reference. I'm building a suite of tools and information that will be much more comprehensive. What would be really helpful is to understand the from the entrepreneurs perspective how they view brand and what challenges they have faced in relation to brand.

Thanks again

 

[easidoo]

metaphorically, we're all "branded", with a name, the day we're born..

 

[ethical PR]

Hello

I posted up the link because it directs you to research carried out around start ups and branding which is what you indicated you were interested in.

In terms of the wider free resources around branding, this was aimed at the small businesses and start ups here who might find it of interest. I appreciate as someone from a PR/marketing background wanting to develop branding tools this wouldn't be aimed at yourself.

 

[BeLucent]

Yes you are right thank you. There are some associated articles that give some good case studies about how startups have been reluctant to invest in brand but have found it useful.

 

[fisicx]

...how startups have been reluctant to invest in brand....

Why would a small business need to investing brand (as opposed to investing in branding which is a totally different thing).

 

[BeLucent]

Why would a small business need to investing brand (as opposed to investing in branding which is a totally different thing).

Interesting question - say more?

 

[fisicx]

It's the difference between a brand (to identify the product) and branding (the associative aspects).

So you have 'St MIchael' (the brand) which is associated with M&S, childrens clothes, quality, the logo, colours, availability and so on.

The two are inter related but you can have a brand (Nike) with different branding depending on the marketing campaign (using a pink swoosh for young girls or red for an exclusive product).

 

[BeLucent]

You are right to draw a distinction between brand and branding. I find that people often interchange the two where as they do refer to different but related things. I've always found it helpful to define it in the following way:
Brand equity = the thoughts and feelings that exist in the hearts and minds of your audience
Branding = the visual and experiential aspects that are designed to evoke a certain set of thoughts and feelings.

So things like name, look and feel, messaging (branding) are tools to evoke a set of thoughts and feelings (brand equity) amongst a target audience.

The reason I'm asking the question is I believe although people have heard of brand it all gets misunderstood and sounds a bit fluffy and unnecessary.

When infact it can significantly impact your business. Brand done well should increase your sales, and reduce your acquisition costs.

The process should be: What do we want people to do (try more, buy more, refer more, pay more) > therefore what do we need them to think and feel about us (brand equity) > therefore what should our branding be (name, logo, visual identity).

I believe most people jump straight to name and logo without thinking about what they are trying to achieve.

But I want to know what people think which is why I'm trying to get a debate going.

 

[javismiles]

Brand is key, can make all the difference between being noticed in a big way or not

 

[Nuno]

As a startup branding is what people worry about when they aren't concentrating on building their business. A name suffices. The product/service should be all consuming with a wary eye on cashflow. Branding is more for SMEs, and still often a waste of time when companies decide to listen to a marketing muppet.*

*I'm not saying all marketing is rubbish. Good marketing feeds a business.