How to build a strong brand for your startup

When you want to start a business, you obviously have to land on a business idea and figure out who your target audience is, but you shouldn’t forget about building a strong brand. Here’s why!

Building a strong brand is important because it differentiates your business from your competitors and makes sure that your clients remember you.

A well-defined brand helps attract your target audience, fosters client loyalty, and lays the groundwork for long-term success. Let’s dive into what a brand is, why branding matters for your startup and how to wow your clients with that personal touch. 👇

What is a brand?

A brand is basically identity and personality of your business. It’s what sets you apart from your competitors and makes a lasting impression on your clients. When you build a brand, you create cohesive and appealing identity that attracts and retains clients.

A brand can be a name, slogan, logo, design, colors or a combination of the above. If I say Coca-Cola, you probably picture the swirly-lettered logo and think of that distinct red. Maybe you even remember the slogan: Taste The Feeling. You want to achieve that same brand recognition on a smaller scale, for the clients you want to entice and retain.

Why visuals matter

Visuals incredibly important for startups looking to establish a strong brand presence:

1. First impressions: A well-designed logo, professional website, and cohesive color scheme can instantly convey credibility and attract potential customers.
2. Brand recognition: Consistent and distinctive visuals help people recognize and remember your brand. Over time, customers will associate specific colors, logos, and design elements with your business, making your brand easily identifiable.
3. Communication: Visuals can communicate complex messages quickly and effectively. Images, infographics, and videos can convey information more efficiently than text alone, making it easier for your audience to understand and engage with your content.
4. Emotional connection: Visuals can evoke emotions and create a deeper connection with your audience. The right imagery and design elements can make your brand more relatable and appealing, fostering loyalty and trust.
5. Differentiation: In a crowded market, unique and compelling visuals can set your brand apart from competitors. A distinct visual identity can highlight your brand’s uniqueness and make it stand out.

In summary, visuals create a strong, memorable impression, help you communicate more effectively, as well as building an emotional connection with your audience, all of which are essential for the success of your startup.

Don’t forget a strong brand guideline

A brand guideline can help your business to ensure consistency through communication and visuals. A brand guideline is a rulebook which creates rules and parameters, and is helpful when creating content, posting on social media, communicating internally and setting up web pages. The guideline should include logo, colors to use, typography and other visual elements. When your brand has a clear brand guideline, it will be easier for customers to recognize you and more likely that they’ll remember you.

Adobe has a great step-by-step guide to helping you create your first brand guideline.

And don’t forget about written content. You should have some guidelines for how to refer to your startup, products and services, and what kind of language to use: Formal? Informal? Young? Old? Solid or playful? We recommend taking some inspiration from Mailchimp’s style guide—it’s a simple and straightforward way to do it.

5 steps for building a strong brand

Building a brand can be challenging at first, and knowing where to begin might seem overwhelming. To help you get started, here are five steps to start with when building your brand.

1. Define your brand identity

Establish your brand’s mission, vision, values, and unique selling proposition. You should clearly know what sets your brand apart from competitors and how you want your audience to perceive your business. This can be done alone or in a workshop with your team, but it’s a good idea to have some sticky notes ready, and

2. Create a visual identity

Create a cohesive visual style including logo, color palette, typography, and design elements. Ensure these elements are consistently used across all marketing materials and platforms.

3. Craft your tone of voice and messaging

Determine the tone and style of your brand’s communication. Whether it’s professional, friendly, or quirky, ensure that your messaging matches your brand identity and aligns with your target audience.

4. Build an online presence

Establish and maintain a professional website and active social media profiles. Share valuable content that reflects your brand’s identity, engages your audience, and builds a community around your brand.

5. Engage with your audience

Create relationships with your customers through great customer service, personalized interactions, and community engagement. Encourage feedback and use it to refine your brand strategy and build trust with your audience.

Why a strong brand matters

By creating emotional connections with customers and building loyalty through a specific brand personality, your startup can gain success and stand out in the marketplace. Prioritising branding is important for startups for differentiating, attracting and retaining customers, and ensuring growth.

Another way to create branding for your business is to send out professional-looking invoices. With Conta, you can make invoices for free and keep track of payments, products and clients—all in one place. You can, of course, upload your logo so that your invoices maintain that personal touch.

Send professional invoices for free