Although branding sounds like a lot of work, it isn’t something confined only to the established businesses today. Startups also need to invest as much effort in creating a brand so that they can stay competitive and get the recognition needed to move to the next level.
However, with the budget constraints and limited experience they have, they cannot expect to create winning strategies easily. Still, there’s a lot they can learn by following the bigger players in the market because these players too probably started from scratch. If you are a startup entrepreneur looking for some actionable branding lessons, here are the ones that can inspire.
Narrate a story
Branding is all about storytelling, you can expect to win only if you have an authentic story that connects with the potential buyers and engages them enough to push them down the sales funnel. It is a narrative that describes the journey of your business and highlights the value of your offerings. More than that, storytelling is committing to the buyers that your business will be there for them, delivering value through your products and services. Rather than selling straight away, it builds trust with the buyers and forges a relationship with them. That’s how big brands become bigger because they use stories to keep the buyers hooked to them.
Content is the key
When it comes to consolidating your business in the competitive landscape, content plays a vital role. No wonder, big brands focus on churning out large volumes of content consistently. This is the secret that answers the question of How to brand marketing, so startups that follow suit can expect to make it big quickly.
Content has the potential to promote visibility and even increase leads and conversions for your business. Another cue that you can take from the biggies is to produce versatile content that drives engagement. Ideally, you need to focus on a mix of stories, images, and videos, anything that your audience may want to consume. User-generated content like testimonials can take things to the next level.
Build a community
Another lesson that you can imbibe from the big players is to strengthen your presence by building communities. Remember that selling is not just about offering a great product or superlative services to your customers. It is more about spreading the word, letting people know what you sell. While you may rely on traditional advertising and marketing techniques for promoting them, nothing works better than the word-of-mouth recommendations of real customers.
The best way to leverage these recommendations is by building a community of like-minded customers, who share an interest in your brand and offering. Several big brands invest in community building on social media, where they build conversations and promote themselves subtly.
These lessons from the big players show that branding need not cost a fortune, so even startups can afford it despite their tight budgets. It is all about being creative with the way you present yourself because that’s the way your customers would perceive your brand.
This article was written by Steve Jones. Steve is a marketing specialist and a content writer, working with Outreach Monks from the past 1.5 years. Over the decades, he has helped 100’s of businesses worldwide to build massive publicity using content.
