I have been working with startups and early stage companies for the past 3 years helping them grow and scale their businesses to the next level. I work as a technology hub manager at Buni Hub, which is the innovation space established by the Tanzanian Government and Finnish government to foster innovation and technology entrepreneurship in Tanzania. Buni Hub runs different kinds of programme and training events targeting entrepreneurs.
Buni mentoring programme is the programme which is targeting entrepreneurs at mid-stage when they have a tested product and have managed to secure early stage adopters (consumers) of their products or services. The programme is distributed in 12 meetings with mentors whereby the entrepreneur will have to meet with the mentor at least once a week. The meetings are divided into 4 groups; Ideation meetings, Product (service) development meetings, Market entrance strategy meetings and Launching (scaling) meetings. In these meetings we use concepts like Human Centered Design, Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas to help these entrepreneurs to work on improving their products.
One of the key things they learn during the market entrance strategy meetings is early stage branding. They learn how to brand their product with minimum resources possible. They learn the concept of digital branding on creating their digital (online) brand presence. They learn tips on how to build young brands but with the strong reputation. One key learning from working with the startups on branding their companies is that brand needs to communicate (talk) to the customers. The brand needs to constant engage with the beneficiaries of the brand. One customer dissatisfaction equals to all.
In the book, TATA, “The Evolution of the Corporate Brand” by Morgen Witzel, Morgen explains “the consumer needs to fill the brand owners respect and treat them fairly”. This is supposed to start at the very early stage of the business when the brand is still very young since this is the time people start to define and understand your brand values. When explaining the difference between sales, marketing and branding, brand experts always say the last is more of what your customers say about your product (services) rather than what you say to them.
Competitive strategy, when listening to tutorials by Prof. Tobias Kretschmer from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Tobias explains, the need for innovation to early stage companies (new entrants in the market) is high compared to a monopoly company which has been existing in the industry for years. New and young brands need to create innovative and competitive brand identities or they will be phased out. The challenge is they will have to do that with the minimum budget possible.
A tech startup working on a project management product shouldn't worry about other products such as Trello, Team Work and Asana but it should care. A brand can be a fish on a big sea or a frog in a small pond in both situations a brand needs to act accordingly. Failing to act accordingly is what makes most of the startup collapse and die. Again from my work experience what should the young startups do when it comes to branding? Here is what they should do;
Brand Definition, define your brand what should I choose your brand, what is your key value proposition. Whether I’m the new adopter of your product (services) or existing client I will always want to understand the individual values I’m getting from your product.
Brand communication and engagement, how does your brand communicate, consumer don’t like brands that don’t talk or engage with them. Consumers want to be treated as alphas when it comes to choosing their favourite brand. Brand should make them believe they have total control over the product (service) they are getting. For startups, they can start by replying email and replying messages on their official social media pages.
Brand should compete, every final sale is the result of one brand being chosen over another. You want to be the chosen brand. As a startup, you shouldn’t worry much about the competitors you should compete with your own standards and make sure you deliver quality service. Most of the time people shift from one startup to the other not because the other startup have a strong brand name but they get the quality service they are looking for.
Brand agility, startup branding strategy needs to be agile like the river stream it takes the shape of every path it takes very quick and easily. Don’t be rigid, being small and flexible is the only advantage startups have against larger well-established companies. Your startup needs to behave the same.
Proximity, startups brands needs to be close to their customers, they should focus on what customer want to hear and how they hear it. It’s difficult for Microsoft to share my name on their official social media pages after I purchased a new server from them but startups can share names of all people who have purchased their products for the first time on their official social media accounts. It doesn’t cost anything but it can make a huge difference.
Collaborate, you don’t have to do it alone. You can Google Samsung Armani if the big guys can work together why not your young startup. You can always find a brand partner that you can complement each other. One important thing, don’t be desperate they will always come and you can find your perfect match.
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